Transcription
All right guys, it's been a while since I hit the surf real hard. A lot of people hit me up and asked me, "What's my favorite bait for fishing the surf? Striped bass, surf perch, that kind of thing?" And this is exactly what I tell them.
You get a fish finder egg with a little, like, that's a two-ounce pyramid weight. You can go anywhere from two to four, depending on the surf size. About a three-foot leader, a little size one octopus hook. And before I even show you the bait, I already tossed my line in a couple times. This is just how quickly it came done. While I was setting up my cameras and my GoPro and everything, just in that time, I already caught my trusty rice bag here. I already caught one. Not just one, two surf perch. Already decent size, probably about maybe 12 inches or so. Just the time I was setting up my GoPro, probably about five minutes or so. So before I even tell you what bait I'm using, let me show you just exactly how easy it is to catch them with this.
All right guys, this is how easy it is. You just bring up your line, toss it in. It doesn't need to be super far. Those fish are coming in close to feed on the same crabs. But anyways, you just toss it in, let it sit right there. It's getting hit already. Small. I'm gonna try and wait for a bigger one to get it. Oh, maybe small ones are pecking at it. I like to try to wait for a bigger one to grab it. Might have taken maybe. Yep, he took the bait out. Okay, that's what when you're fishing the surf, it pays to switch out your baits or at least check your bait fairly often because when the small fish come after it and they just take it right off super quick. So anyways, get it right back in there. Oh, there, I just got bumped. I felt like a bigger hit. Didn't get hooked though. It comes back. Oh, there's a bite. There we go. There's one. Like just like I was saying, right there, right in the same deck spot. Nothing special. Putting that secret bait on there, dropping it right in there. And this is a pretty good one, actually. A lot bigger than the first couple of bites I was getting. Oh, look at that. It's going aerial. Nice surf perch. Even a little bigger than the first two. I thought. All right, there it is. Number three. That's actually a little nice one, maybe about 13 or 14 inches. Probably about a, a little over a pound, maybe a pound and a quarter. Nice little shine. You can see the sunlight on there. Nice little color on there. Anyways, nice little surfboard. She's a really good eating. A lot of people don't like them, they think they're mushy. But personally, I think they're really good. You cook them right. I think you can fry them up really nicely over a bed of rice. But anyways, let's get this one in the bag and throw it back out there.
All right guys, the great thing about this bait, you're probably gonna give it away, but that's okay, is I caught all of them right in here, right in the wave break, right here. You're just living in the sand right there. And, uh, that's one of the reasons why it works so great. Benefit of it, it's free, readily available right here on the beach. Oh, there's another one out there. Yep, another one. Boom, just like that. All right guys, that's literally, I think, four fish in four casts. No, that's not true. I did have one cast where the little ones took it off. So four fish in five casts. That one is a male. I don't know if you can see right there. Definitely another nice one, probably another 12, 13 inch or so. That's what do they say, four. Number four. Still got the same bait, just a sliver of it left. Gonna make sure it's hooked on there good. All right, we're just gonna toss it in right there. There's got to be another one in there. Cool thing about these perch is where there's one, there's more. Oh, I'm getting hit already. Oh, there we go. Look at that. Right away. It feels like another good one. Oh, they're loaded in here right now. What is that, like 10 seconds? Telling you, this is the bait right here. Oh, that's a bigger one too. Look at that. Another one right there. Another good one, probably 13, 14 inches. Probably sounding like a broken record at this point. This one, interesting, has a little cut on its mouth. I don't know if you can tell there. Maybe it's been caught before. Probably, yeah, probably got hooked before by someone. But anyway, it's another nice one. Number five in like, what is that, six casts? Something like that. Something crazy. But anyways, let's get our line back in while it's hot. See if we can keep the streak alive.
This is like the perfect fishing to bring like a kid or someone new to fishing because it's just constant action. You know, it doesn't hurt that you're on a beach here with the sun. It's like 70 degrees there in California. We're lucky that we have really nice weather out here. But it's perfect fishing for, like I said, a beginner or someone who's new to fishing because it's just constant action. And it doesn't take, you know, a rocket scientist to just throw your secret bait right in the little rip here. Don't need to be a pro at casting. You don't need to be a pro at catching bait. You don't even need to re-roll it, you know, hooking or bringing them in. It's just that easy. Oh, that's a good one. That feels like a good one. That feels like a good one. Definitely thumped that one pretty good. They're all kind of like cookie cutters. I think about the same size, give or take an inch or two. It's another solid one. Number six. All right, I feel like there's gotta be at least one big one in there. Let's see if we can find him here. Ready? Oh, oh, oh, got him. I don't think he's a big one though. This actually feels like probably the smallest one I've caught. Yeah, that's just a little guy. We'll toss this one back. There is no minimum size on these surf perch, but personally, I don't like to keep them when they're this small. Let someone else catch him again when he's bigger. There we go. Here's a good one. Maybe that one's a little bigger. I don't know. I can't tell. They all seem about the same. Yeah, it's about the same. Another good one. That is number seven. I think my count is correct.
So all the surf perch that I've caught in this video are all barred surf perch. And there's basically two of the main big surf perch that you can catch out here on the beach. One of those being the barred, which we're catching today. There's also red tail surf perch. Now, red tail surf perch. Oh, had a bite right there. Red tail surf perch are more predominant north of like San Francisco. And then barred surf perch are more predominant south of San Francisco. And there's some overlap actually in the Bay Area. You can catch both at the same beach sometimes. But that's generally like from, I'd say, I don't know, Oregon and north, it's all red tail. And like from like maybe Monterey and south, it's all barred. But like I said, in the Bay Area, there's a little bit of overlap there in the middle where you can catch both actually at the same beach. There's also many different kinds of surf perch. A lot of smaller ones. One of the other decent-sized ones that you can catch and I've eaten a pretty good or calico surf perch. Those are mixed in all throughout. I think you believe all throughout California. They tend to hang out more near rocky areas, which is why I didn't really include in the beginning the sandy area surf perch. The big ones at least are the barred and the reds. Also walleye, silver, what else? Shiner, rainbow. There's all kinds of different surf perch, but those are the main ones. And the ones we caught in today's video, all of those ones are barred surf perch.
All right, let's see if we can do it again. Three, two, one. Got him. Called it. That's a small one though. Swim free. Let's go free. Tell your big brothers to come bite. Oh, there's a seal in there. That's why I squeaked all my fish out of this hole. There we go. There's a good one. There we go. There we go. Yeah, a lot of times when those seals come through, they'll spook all the fish. But once they pass by, fish will come back. Just like that. That's number eight.
All right, well, as you can see, the sun's setting. Oh, there's another. Oh, I missed it. Anyway, so I got saying the sun's setting. The fish are biting. They're really thick in here right now. And like I've said before, surf perch are schooling fish. So when you can find a big school like this, it's so much fun to just bang, bang, bang. Just so much action, so much fun to catch them like this. But I'm at eight right now. The limit is ten. So I'm gonna see if I can get two more and call it a day. It's been a while since I've got my limit on surf perch. There we go. There we go. Here's another good one. Ah, these fish are so strong just for their size. I think because they swim in the waves the whole time. Like look at this. This is a tiny one, but it's still pulling pretty good. Probably because they're spending their whole life in the surf right here. There we go. Oh, that feels like a good one. Oh, yeah. Oh, I think this is a good one. Yeah, this, this is the one. This is the one we've been looking for. I think. I don't know. Maybe it's just fighting really good. Oh, yeah. That's a good one. Not huge, but that's definitely the biggest one of the day. All right, seems like as the sun sets, the fish are getting bigger. That's number nine right there. And definitely the biggest one I've caught today. Still not huge, but probably about a pound and a half, maybe 14 or 15 inches or so. Really nice one. Number nine. I only need one more for the limit. So I'm gonna go for that limit fish right now and see if we can get it before the sun sets. Oh, there we go. Slammed it. Wow, that fish just hammered it. All right, that's gonna be it. I think if I can land this one. Oh, yeah, it's a good one too. That's number 10 right there.
All right guys, we're losing daylight here, but there's our haul. That's 10 surf perch, the limit. A fish, probably, probably about 12, 12 to 15 pounds. More, they're all above a pound, somewhere between a pound and a pound and a half. No giants, but all really nice fish. So anyways, it's a fun video. And like I said at the beginning, if you're looking for to take a beginner out fishing, or a kid, or someone who's just new to fishing, the surf is a great place. And if you haven't figured out already, the secret bait is sand crabs. You got to throw it out there. It's just a fish-catching machine. So anyways, super easy. You don't need any expensive tackle. You don't need any expensive gear. Just a little fish finder rig, tie a little sand crab at the end, and boom.
All right guys, I've always wanted to do a picture like this, but I've never, well, I've caught my limit a few times, but I've never got around to taking a picture. But a fish for every finger. Proof's in the pudding. If you want to get out here and catch some fish, I on a fish finder setup, just like I showed you at the beginning of the video. Put on a little sand crab at the end, and boom. This is what you can get. All nice quality surf perch, plus a few more that we let go, the smaller ones. But there you go. A fish for every finger.