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December is traditionally a month with cool water and the beginning of the winter surf fishing season…Well, not this year. With water temperature still in the 60’s along much of the coast and corbina still biting, it’s anyone’s guess when the water will cool and huge perch will begin to spawn and bite.
We’ve had storms that dumped snow and water on California this year but very little swell or wind was associated with them. Normally, we’ve had several large northwest swells by now, that would have pushed the warm water south and replaced it with coastal temperatures in the 55–59-degree range. Looking out a few weeks, it still looks like December will have little in the way of northwest swells…and actually a few southern hemisphere swells to keep warm water in place.
With that said…Don’t be one bit surprised if January does an about face and swells ramp up, water turns over and cools. When the storms do come know that the beach topography will change and some of your favorite holes may be gone. Recheck the beach at low tide and adjust your spots accordingly.
December is the month when cooling water sends corbina and croakers into the bays, harbors and estuaries to find solace from winter storms and abundant forage. At the same time big perch…barred, pile, opaleye, buttermouth and others come out from hiding behind rocks and prepare to spawn.
Way back, my old boss Fred Oakley set the California state record barred surfperch at Hollywood Beach using a sidewinder crab. He was the bait catcher for the entire coast and always knew what worked best. So when the water is cold, that would be now through April, collect quarter-sized sidewinder crabs from the rocks and fish them near any rock, dock, or offshore structure. Hang on tight, because only the biggest fish eat this bait….and when they do, they’ve got you…rather than you have them.
CHECK OUT THIS ARTICLE ON USING SIDEWINDERS
HERE
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Surf Fishing
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Visit Rumble.com and type in fishthesurf into the search box to go to my catalog of fish reports and surf fishing how-to videos!
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Article: What is Light-Line Surf Fishing
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Have a great month at the beach and please send me your fish reports to: fishthesurf@mail.com
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Santa Barbara/Ventura: Water is still a bit churned up in the Santa Barbara area, but all other conditions of small swells, light winds and good tidal movement has led to some good halibut fishing for anglers using white swimbaits, white grubs and flukes. The Gaviota to Hollister Ranch coast had good halibut fishing for fish to 33” along with several other legal fish along the finger reefs at Tajiguas. Anglers report a good bite on 12”-22” stripers from Jalama to Guadalupe Beach. Great perch fishing along the entire stretch from Gaviota to Carpinteria.
Ventura reports in with good leopard shark fishing from Ventura Overhead to La Conchita, with the biggest fish reported in at 36” this week. A great way to catch these big leopards is to fish at night (as this is when the big ones come close to shore to feed) and fish during a high tide-going to low tide period. I like to use 40′ mono or braid, an 8/0 hook and 1/2 of a mackerel (bonito and perch also work well). With no weight needed, cast out, keep in free spool and let the tide wash your bait around. Once bit let them have 10 seconds of line and then game on!
Ventura continues to have warm water for this time of year and even though it’s been a bit turbid, anglers using dried and fresh lug worms and Gulp, had a good bite this week on yellowfin croaker, barred surfperch, walleye and one 16” corbina!
Tackle/Bait: Hook, Line and Sinker. Ask for Ben
Malibu: Anglers fishing along Will Rogers State Beach let us know that the water is a bit turbid but much cleaner this week, leading to some good, barred surfperch fishing with perch up to 14”. Fishing areas adjacent to rock structure (groins, jetties, offshore rocks) will produce the biggest perch.
South Bay: Hermosa and Manhattan Beach checked in this week with good fishing for 8-12″ barred surfperch. Anglers were using Gulp, lugs and grubs to entice a bite.
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9″x 11″ Full Color, Hole Punched, Heavy Stock
This year’s calendar has world-class photography, important dates, graphic tide charts, West Coast tide adjustments, moon phase, How-to tips for rock fishing, knot tying, world record catches, landing facts and more. This is the tool you need to plan the very best time to fish and make the most of your day!
Calendars make great gifts too!
Birthdays, Christmas and so many more!
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Orange County: Seal Beach and Surfside Beach kicked out several legal halibut in the 30” range this week on both sides of the Huntington Harbor jetties for anglers using fresh frozen grunion and live smelt. Corbina continue to be seen from the Bolsa inlet to the Huntington Pier, all along the cliffs, with few biters. TIP: To be successful in catching these fish, move along the surf line looking for them feeding, then pitch an exotic bait ten feet in front of them, be tight to your sinker and wait for a bite.
Tackle/bait: Big Fish Bait and Tackle, Seal Beach
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San Diego: San Diego anglers had a lot going on this week. Both Del Mar and Torrey Pines kicked out a number of halibut this week. To target these fish anglers used Lucky Craft Flash Minnows and Kietech Electric Shads. In addition, Torrey Pines, whose beach is both rock and sand, kicked out opaleye perch, sand bass and sargo. Both Carlsbad and Del Mar also had great barred surfperch fishing with dried lugs and finally, from Mission Beach we had two reports of good 8-12” barred surfperch fishing on mussel along with one angler bagging a huge smelt, barred surfperch and two 20″+ corbina all on mussel.
Tackle/bait: Pacific Coast Bait and Tackle/ Seaforth Landing
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A strong storm, now building in the North Pacific, will send moderate northwest swells into Southern California around the middle of December. Nothing big, but enough to stir up hungry fish.
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Conditions To Watch This Month
Synopsis: December is always a month of big weather changes. One day it will be grease calm with a light Santa Ana wind scratching the water…while other days it’s completely blown out with a winter storm wreaking havoc at the beach. Look at your weather forecast and your tide chart and pick the calm days to fish. December, although often void of corbina, is one of the best months of the year for croaker and a wide variety of the biggest perch of the year.
Water Temp: 61-64 from SB to SD. Warmer due to small northwest swells and continued southwest swells from storms in the South Pacific. Because of such small swells from the NW and continued swells from the SW, it may be a few more weeks or a month before the water cools below 60 degrees.
Tides: Large astronomical tides this week will relax to moderate tide changes by next week. If you have a chance get out there this weekend at low tide. Tidal swings will be almost 9′, the largest of the year, where you’ll be able to see things clinging to the rocks you’ve never seen before.
Swell: What little NW swell we had fades and is replaced by small surf over the weekend and into next week. Toward mid-month expect a series of two northwest swell events that should push colder water into the region. Counter acting the small surf from the north, weak storms continue to send groups of swells from the South Pacific with one brewing now near New Zealand, sending swells this way by mid-December.
Wind: Over the next ten days look for beautiful surf fishing weather with daily sunshine, little or no marine layer, light offshore winds in the morning, with afternoon winds from the northwest at 5-10mph.
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