30 Dec . 8 - 22 , 2017 VOL . 36 • ISS . 26

or larger surges that throw spray onto the waterfront and passing cars . Even days when it seems not to be blowing , the surge and swell can still crash in and it ’ s just a miserable rough day to be out on the water … even if the sun is shining and it ’ s a pleasant 90 degrees ! These are just days when it ’ s nicer to hang out on the beach or find some friendly cantina to pour a cold one and wrap your hand around a fish taco .”

“ On the days when it ’ s calm enough and there ’ s no winds , there ’ s still some surprisingly decent fishing . Waters are definitely getting cooler and not quite as blue and a little more cloudy and green as the winds turn it up . However , there ’ s still some spots of 10-20 pound tuna and some nice schools of dorado in varying sizes . However , with the cooler waters , we ’ re seeing more cooler water species like sierra , snapper , pargo , cabrilla , and amberjack ,” said Roldan

John landed this incredible grouper while fishing Mexican waters aboard the Excel on November 18 . Photo courtesy of EXCEL LONG RANGE SPORTFISHING , San Diego .

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lonely man ’ s sport where the angler , using a big heavy surf rod , would chuck out a 4 oz-8 oz sinker on the end of a two-hook surf leader with a couple of baited hooks .

To complete the picture , the rod would then be inserted into a tall rod holder and the wait would be on until

Two of the earliest pioneers of light tackle surf perch fishing were the famous Abe and Angelo Cuanang . If I remember correctly , they were the first to publicize the use of light tackle and surf grubs in the pages of the wonderful Angler magazine , an absolutely marvelous fishing publication from years gone by .

To sum up , the rig they used consisted of a seven foot Fenwick rod powering some six or eight pound test line . The line was threaded through an egg sinker , an 8mm red bead , and tied to a small # 10 swivel . A short 18 ” -24 ” leader terminated with a # 8 octopus hook whereupon a 1.5 ” grub was threaded .

This rig has counted towards thousands of perch ( and also a number of striped bass and halibut , too !) being caught off our coast and continues to be a surf

staple .

This is also the rig my fishing pals Billy D and Buddy-X have been using with the Berkley Gulp Sandworm . As I watched them fishing , however , I came up with a couple of modifications that I felt would advance the sport .

Originally , Billy D went for the shorter seven foot rod , but Buddy-X went with a longer nine foot steelhead styled rod . This is no big secret as many of the surf perch crowd has been using the steelhead rods for years . The longer rod offers a longer cast , a little more flex when fighting a fish , and the longer butt section affords a little more comfort when casting all day .

The sliding egg sinker , though , has been a sore point for me and for others I have interviewed . You see , the line doesn ’ t have to slide through the hole since one isn ’ t feeding line when the perch takes the bait . The hole does , in fact , get lots of sand stuck in the hole and that is very abrasive , resulting in line failure and possibly a lost fish .

The perch sharpies down in Monterey avoid the problem by using a two-eyed torpedo sinker instead of the sliding egg sinker . The problem with that is that there is no place for the 8mm red bead , the red bead having proven itself a fish attractor of sorts .

The solution I came up with starts with

a short piece of # 13 American Fishing Wire single strand leader wire . Using a pair of round nosed pliers , I formed a small loop on the end of the wire . I added two 8mm red glass beads , then a bullet sinker to the wire , then finished it off with another small loop . I had created , in effect , a rattling two-eyed sinker .

For the leader , I tied a # 10 snap swivel to a short piece of fluorocarbon and then tied on the hooks 24 ” away from that . Yes , you read right , hooks ! The problem was that when using a single hook , a 1.5 ” - 2 ” piece of Gulp Sandworm would attract a bite , but as luck would have it , the perch

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Using a shorter piece of Gulp Sandworm didn ’ t garner as many bites ; the obvious solution was to snell tie a pair of hooks , about an inch apart , so that any bite on the bait would result in a hookup .

The leaders are all tied with a snap swivel so that when / if a fish swallows the bait , you ’ re not fooling around trying to unhook the rascal . Unclip the leader , clip on a new one , and off you go .

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