I spent the holiday weekend chasing surfperch up along the Marin coast. On Saturday, the seas were lumpy & the surf was up - the northwest winds were howling, so I headed to Drake's Bay to fish the late afternoon incoming in relative calm. The water cleared up nicely since last weekend - no redtide or significant floating debris to contend with. Things were pretty slow during the early afternoon, but I eventually located the fish after about a 1/2-mile hike down the beach. I wound up C&R'ing a little over a dozen BSP's & calicos for the day:




On Sunday, I plowed the waters at Stinson. The waves were manageable with clear & clean surf - the wind laid down nicely all day. It was rather pleasant to fish without the usual breezy weather. There wasn't a lot of well-defined beach structure present, but the sandy beds contained some nice shallow troughs & riffles to hold fish during the late afternoon incoming. The first hour or so produced some good pulls on the rod...




I had a lot of fun battling & subduing some of the larger BSP's in the 10-11 inch range...




...though the majority of the fish were hand-size or smaller. I wound up C&R'ing a total of 42 BSP's for the day from about noon to a little after sundown.

Things are definitely looking better with each passing week along the coast - hope to experience more of the same in the weeks ahead.


TL's,

- Mark