Their Turf is the Surf
Anglers are never short of fishing stories, but ask about favorite fishing spots and the talk usually dries up.
That was the case during a search to discover Orange County’s best surf fishing locations. Talking about fishing is one thing. Revealing where they are biting is another.
Just ask Mike Gray of Huntington Beach. As he cast a line over and over into the choppy Huntington Beach surf just north of the Santa Ana River, Gray went on and on about croakers and corbina, bait and tackle. But he declined to have his picture taken and he bristled at the thought of sharing his favorite locations, such as a sandbar in ankle-deep water loaded with sand crabs not far from where he was casting.
“I don’t mind talking about it,” said Gray, who buys and sells office furniture for a living. “But I don’t want a lot of people coming down here.”
Perhaps he need not worry too much about competition. Surf fishing isn’t as popular as it once was, although if the last month or so is any indication, this might be the best summer for it in a long time. Driven off in the past by dwindling supplies of ocean species and concerns about the quality of ocean water because of toxic runoff, anglers have hit a run of halibut in the last month, as well as corbina and sargo, according to several bait shops along Pacific Coast Highway.
“Right now the surf fishing in unbelievable,” said Bob Lienau, owner of Norm’s Bait and Tackle in Seal Beach. “We think the halibut is spawning three or four times a year now that gill nets have to stay three miles off the beach. And last month, we saw a corbina caught inside Anaheim Bay that weighed in at six pounds.”
A lot of the fish caught along the surf line should not be eaten; others have to be thrown back because they are under-sized, according to state regulations. For many anglers, reports like that were reason enough to hang up the rod and reel.
“For whatever reason, surf fishing has dropped in popularity,” said Pat Walla, owner of Angler’s Bait and Tackle in Dana Point. “I don’t think as many people are fishing like that as they used to.”
That doesn’t mean hardy fishermen who enjoy the solitude of a windy beach aren’t catching their limit on a good day. And the new halibut bite offers promise.
“It’s kind of an untapped resource for a person who wants to get out and fish without much cost or tackle involved,” Walla said.
But where to cast your line? Last November several striped bass--known as “stripers”--were landed near the Santa Ana River mouth. Stripers are a popular fresh-water fish that put up a good fight, according to Patrick Moore, a spokesman for the state Department of Fish and Game. They aren’t found too often in salt water, but sometimes they migrate from streams and rivers into the ocean, Moore said.
Gray, wearing shorts, a hooded sweatshirt and ball cap, said he saw four stripers hooked last November. Word of the strike spread quickly around the bait-shop grapevine and that brought a horde of new faces to fish the river mouth and the adjoining Talbert Marsh inlet.
Lienau said he weighed two stripers a month ago and both were more than five pounds.
On a good day at the river, Gray said, he has bagged as many as 70 fish, mostly halibut and corbina.
Bagging a parking place during the summer just to get to the river might not be that easy, though. Newport Beach streets to the south fill up quickly with bathers and surfers. The state charges $6 a day to park just north of the Talbert Marsh on the Huntington Beach side. But on a visit last week, gates to the parking area were locked and rangers were nowhere to be found.
Nonetheless, the beaches north of the river mouth are particularly popular at low tide. Anglers there have occasionally caught trout that meander down the river from stocked lakes in the San Bernardino Mountains, according to Jack Brown of the bait and tackle shop, Let’s Go Fishing, in Huntington Beach.
But Brown said pier fishing is more popular these days.
“You just don’t see surf fishing as much anymore,” he said. “It’s so easy to fish off piers nowadays. Piers have all you need, potties, groceries, bait. You can’t get all of that when you’re surf fishing unless you carry it with you.”
Several anglers and bait shops recommended Cherry Beach southward to the T-shaped Belmont Shore Pier in Long Beach for some fine halibut and occasional bonito fishing because the area is inside calm waters along the city’s seven-mile long breakwater.
For Orange County anglers wishing to stay closer to home, Lienau said Sunset Beach is a good choice. Right now, he said, there aren’t a lot of sand crabs, so the fish are looking to strike at anything that moves in the surf line.
Lienau said some of Orange County’s prime surf fishing area ranges from the Seal Beach Pier southward along Bolsa Chica State Beach to the popular surfing beach below the cliffs north of downtown Huntington Beach.
Anglers often use plastic bait and chrome spoons to hook corbina and halibut, Lienau said.
Unfortunately, claims author Ken Jones in his book, “Pier Fishing in California,” many of the fish caught in this area, particularly around the Seal Beach Pier, are not safe to eat, especially white croaker.
Moore of the Department of Fish and Game said that storm-drain and agricultural runoff eventually winds up in the ocean food chain causing concern about eating fish.
“At various points along the coast, where you have a large amount of pollution, it will have an impact on fishing,” Moore said.
The Heal the Bay Foundation began issuing weekly report cards on Southland beaches two weeks ago and, while most of Orange County fared well with good ratings for all but rainy periods, Seal Beach flunked with poor water quality marks.
South County beaches, although rockier than their northern counterparts, are generally thought to be less polluted and may be surf fishing’s best-kept secret, Walla said.
The beach below the Ritz Carlton hotel and just south of Salt Creek has produced halibut and corbina runs, as has the area just north of the San Clemente Pier, also known for shoreline hits on corbina, surfperch, guitarfish, various rays, small sharks and a few sargo.
At Old Man’s and Trestles, spotfin and yellowfin croaker are a popular catch, while Doheny State Beach can be good for perch and corbina.
“Fishermen have to be willing to walk and find the areas where the fish are,” Walla said. “But the beaches do produce a lot of fish. Our beaches are as good or better than those up north because they don’t get fished as hard and they produce a better quality of fish. Lots of beaches up north have to be shut down as far as what edible species you can catch. We don’t have that problem here.”
Back in Huntington Beach, Cliff Johnson of Let’s Go Fishing said many fish are biting well up the Santa Ana River north of PCH. He said yellowfin croaker and perch are showing up farther inland, which might explain why a group of youngsters was casting lines the other day into a runoff channel near the bait shop. The channel winds down into the Talbert Marsh, where it eventually mixes with Santa Ana River water.
Gray likes to watch the birds and if they’re diving for catches just off the shoreline, or picking at the sand in front of the shore break, it’s a good bet there are fish out there. Runs of corbina in the one- to two-pound range have been common lately.
Walla said knowledgeable surf fishermen usually carry two kinds of rod and reel. In recent years the traditional 10- to 12-foot long rod carrying two to three ounces of weight has given way to lighter tackle, similar to fresh-water trout gear. It’s usually rigged with 10- to 12-pound test line. Sand crabs, if they are available, or bay mussels are the recommended bait, he said.
