Bass, rays, and sharks from the surf

Binh invited me to join Mike, Andre and him for some surf fishing last night. I've been seeing reports of leopard shark and guitarfish, so I decided to stick with squid even though Binh offered to share his mackerel.

Here's the top secret spot when I arrived.


The first half of the night was nothing but bass for me. I was fishing squid on a 5/0 octopus hook, 60 lb mono leader, 4 oz pyramid sinker on a sliding rig, a couple yards of 40 lb mono abrasion leader, and 30 lb braid main line. I ended up getting one barred sand bass and five kelp bass. One of the kelp bass was pretty respectable, definitely a PR. I'm terrible at remembering to take measurements. Maybe 18 inches?

Kelp Bass (Paralabrax clathratus)




Binh jogged over carrying a beastly shovelnose, just to let me know they were around. Thanks Binh, haha. He also said he got a nice soupfin earlier (but didn't feel like jogging over with it apparently). I continued fishing the same rig, and my next catch wasn't a bass! It was a small thornback ray.

Thornback Guitarfish (Platyrhinoidis triseriata) - new hook & line species #460

It was very cool seeing one of these up close for the first time. Mike says they're a minus one.



I like them though, cute and pokey at the same time.



The bite died down where I was, so I came over to join the rest of the guys. As I was talking to Binh his rod started dancing and he hooked into a nice fish.



Leopard Shark (Triakis semifasciata)






I set up on the other side of Mike, and pretty soon he hooked up as well.



Soupfin Shark (Galeorhinus galeus)

Andre had tough luck and ended up wearing the stripe. I think he was using squid and store bought mackerel. Fresher mackerel was definitely the key for the bigger sharks. Squid was working for the smaller stuff, but I had a smaller hook size.

Overall it was a great night, with 6 species total between the 4 of us. I'll get out again soon for those original targets!

California resident, San Dieguito Lagoon

Critter fishing was a success! Went to Del Mar North Beach, which is by the mouth of the San Dieguito River Lagoon. Didn't see any signs that said no fishing, so I figured I was good. Sand crabs were nowhere to be found, so I used frozen shrimp purchased from Walmart. First fish was a small spotted sand bass.

Spotted Sand Bass (Paralabrax maculatofasciatus)

Next was a round ray. The whole morning was pretty much spotted bass and rays.

Round Stingray (Urobatis halleri)

Grumpy guy.

Biggest bass of the day. Not huge but still put a smile on my face.

Spotted Sand Bass (Paralabrax maculatofasciatus)


Before the tide came all of the way in, I went down the beach to a tide pool that I had seen small fish in the week before. I figured they were juvenile opaleye, but it didn't hurt to check. They were juvenile opaleye.

Opaleye (Girella nigricans)

At high tide I saw some croakers cruising near shore. Caught one of them.

Yellowfin Croaker (Umbrina roncador)


Around noon a lifeguard came up to me to let me know that fishing is not allowed at that beach. There are two trails going down from the road, and sure enough the one I came down did not have any signs, but the other one did. He was cool about it though and suggested I head down the road to a stretch of shore in the lagoon that allows fishing. Glad it wasn't someone writing a ticket who broke the news to me. I was a law abiding citizen the rest of the day.

The rocks were swarming with opaleye. It was a challenge getting my bait to drop to the bottom without one of them grabbing it on the way down.

Opaleye (Girella nigricans)


I saw a fish on the bottom with a red mouth, and after three or four opaleye, I managed to dive bomb my bait down to him. He grabbed it, and I hoisted him up. Wasn't sure what it was, but after coming home I IDed it as a bay blenny. Woohoo, a new lifer!

Bay Blenny (Hypsoblennius gentilis) - new hook & line species #458

He wins the prize for derpiest fish of the day. He actually gave me a pretty good bite with that derpy mouth.

Occasionally a juvenile barred sand bass would rush in and beat the opaleyes to my bait.

Barred Sand Bass (Paralabrax nebulifer)

I caught another blenny, and this one looked pretty similar to the rockpool blennies I caught in the tide pool last year. I'm fairly certain that's what it is.

Bay Blenny (Hypsoblennius gentilis)


On the walk back to my car I decided to fish this spot for a bit, because I saw some big mullet cruising around and occasionally picking stuff off the bottom in the shallows near the grass. I knew my odds were slim, but it's always worth a try.

I did not catch a mullet, but I did get this diamond turbot instead! Second lifer of the day!

Diamond Turbot (Hypsopsetta guttulata) - new hook & line species #459

Shot of his bottom side.

I thought I was done for the day, but after letting the turbot go I discovered that something had pulled my bait into the rocks. At first I thought my hook was snagged, but then I felt it pull into the rocks deeper. I pulled and pulled until a suction cup covered tentacle emerged. Octopus! He had me beat though. There was no way my 6 lb line could get him all the way out. I bet he would have been delicious, ah well.

Apologies to the city of Del Mar for fishing on your no fishing beach. I'm not sure why you banned fishing there though. None of the other beach goers had any problem with me. Thanks to the lifeguard for being nice. And thanks for pointing me to a spot where I ended up catching two new species for my lifelist.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot - another guy fishing the rocks caught a really big rock wrasse, which is a species I don't have. I'll have to go back soon and see if I can find one. I bet there are a lot of other fish that come in and out of that lagoon with the tide as well.