Winter redtails in the Pt. Reyes surf...

Last Saturday & Sunday, I ventured to the northern end of Pt. Reyes to fish Kehoe Beach with high hopes of tackling those phenomenal redtail surfperch using the 0-wt Sage TXL. The waters off the exposed, west-facing shores of the Pt. Reyes peninsula had the clarity of gin & were absolutely pristine despite the rainy weather that swung through the SF Bay area late last week. Fairly mild offshore winds & relatively flat seas prevailed on both days, providing near-perfect conditions for fishing the late afternoon incoming tide into the early twilight.

I fished Kehoe with Craig on Saturday afternoon, then returned on Sunday to pick up where I left off the prior evening. Both days started off somewhat slow - a handful of silver surfperch provided some light entertainment while the tide was still out. Most of the silvers were caught on small flies that I refer to as the Golden Bandits:




There was a wide assortment of beach structure to fish before the tide flooded the shoreline late in the day...




It's been my experience that the redtail tend to bite best just before dusk, especially during high tide. Under graylight conditions, large, dark-colored fly patterns are very effective at triggering the fish to pursue & grab a slow-moving fly in the suds. Consequently, I replaced the Bandits with the high-contrast #12 Slinky Seducers as the sun sank low over the horizon. On both days, the redtail schools arrived within a couple hours of sundown, often moving from one hole to another. The fish appeared whereever a sandbar or sandy shelf dropped off into a deep trough, channel or other depression. At times, the redtails grabbed the flies as the tippet drifted with the current over a sandy ledge. When the bite was really hot, the fish struck on near back-to-back casts, striking with wild abandon & putting up a tremendous struggle on the 0-wt:




The average fish ranged somewhere between 9-11 in., but there were also quite a few larger slabs pushing 15 in. or so in length:




All told, I brought a total of 27 redtail & 13 silver surfperch to hand over the weekend - all fish were released back in to the surf to fight another day.


TL's,

- Mark

[fallriverfish]

Man
Your posts are awesome!!! I used to surf at the estero when I was younger. It is real spooky out there.
How are you getting your pics on the website? Are you on a mac or p.c?

[mike N]

Nice stuff. I didn't make it to the salt this week, but maybe Thursday?

MN

[Anne Vitale]

Great Report Mike! I've been too busy to get to the beach the last couple of weeks but I notice that there will be some good mid day incoming tides later this week.

I've never fished Kehoe but you got my juices flowing with your report so if you are up here next weekend, maybe we'll run into each other out there. ........Anne

Thanks for all the great complements, guys & gals! Yes, I'm using a Mac to post the pictures. The redtails are certainly one of the liveliest gamefish to battle in the NorCal surf on light fly tackle. If you're just getting into fishing the suds from Marin & points northward, you've got to experience one of those hard-hitting redtail grabs - truly an arm-rattling pull compared to those made by the other perch species, IMHO.

- Mark

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Wonderful post....again, I thought this was a summer fishery?

If surfperch fishing is a summertime fishery, yesterday's mild weather along the coast certainly felt like it. The offshore winds made for warm & pleasant conditions for fishing the suds at Kehoe once again. A bunch of us (Loren included) made the pilgrimage to the north end of 10-Mile Beach & soaked a few flies during the afternoon slacktide...




The water was clear with a light smattering of marine vegetation that collected in the slackwater. Otherwise, the current was moving pretty fast through the rip channels, troughs & holes until the tide bottomed out late in the evening. The bite was pretty light, with most grabs coming from a few small redtails, silver & walleye perch scattered in the sandy pockets throughout the surf. We wound up covering a long stretch of beach before locating some decent fish during the early outgoing tide...




I guess we could've stayed indoors & watched the Superbowl in the comfort of our homes. But sometimes, cabin fever gets the best of us, especially when beautiful, mild & sunny weather blesses the Nor Cal coast around this time of the year.


- Mark

[k.hanley]

Keep up the good work Mark. I agree that the redtail grab is sharper, and the fight a bit stronger, than barred surfperch. It might be because of the pronounced rise of the back and shoulder area of the redtail surfperch. They also have a larger caudal fin surface than barreds. In fact, their whole fin structure is slightly more surface area than barreds. It all adds up to a body style that would appear to have an advantage working in the surf zone.
Cheers, Ken