Southern California Christmas season

[DonCooksey]

Snapped this photo while surf fishing before a meeting in San Diego a few days ago. It was not a huge fish but was the largest surf perch I have caught (12"), and I thought the photo turned out pretty well.

[PaulC]

Nice BSP there Don.
They're definitely a blast when you get into some of the larger models like that one.
We're you fishing Torrey Pines, Blacks, ?
With the surf right now...all I can do is tye and wait.
-Paul

[DonCooksey]

Paul:

It was at a secret spot on an island somewhere north of the border.

[PaulC]

I was wondering if I should bring a flyrod out there. My wife keeps wanting to head out there, and its a good thing she sleeps late. lol.
-Paul

[jbird]

Actually, thats a beautiful photo of the hotel coronado. I could picture that one on the counter at their gift shop as a postcard.

Nice perch by the way.

Jbird

[DonCooksey]

OK, I guess my secret spot is out of the bag. I took that photo at low tide, when you can walk right around the little jetty that protects the hotel's beach. There are rocks to the left (north) of there that form nice pools and currents that hold a lot of fish when the tide is up a little higher. The guys at Andy Montana's fly shop there on the island put me onto that place this past April, when I caught seven or eight perch (two species), two halibut, and a small shark of some kind within about 1.5 hours. It's a great place to go in the early morning, but the backcast gets pretty tough when tourists start to populate the beach as the day progresses. While on the island, you can also fish the bay side at several spots. A nice uncrowded beach is on the bay side of Silver Strand State Beach. Caught spotted bass there and saw some nice corvina cruising around. I've also heard that guys use float tubes in the bay at a place called tidelands park, just to the right of the bridge when you drive onto the island. It is definitely worth bringing a fly rod if you get down there. Seems to be good all year round, especially in summer when corbina are there on the ocean side.