Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3720 Sept 14-18 | Page 30

30
Sept 14 - 28, 2018
VOL.37 • ISS. 20
Perch Bites
O
K, OK, OK ... I just dropped at least
20 IQ points after watching the mind
numbingly stupid movie called Sharknado.
Basically, the story takes place
in Santa Monica where by some
freak of nature, huge water-
spouts (a tornado that forms over
water) form off the Pacific Coast
and by some amazing coinci-
dence, only hungry man-eating
sharks (including what must be
half of the world’s great white
shark population) are caught up
in the turbulence and it all comes
down over Southern California
as torrential rain and sharks
falling from the sky.
The movie was so bad that
by comparison, Guardians of
the Galaxy looked like a BBC
documentary. Look, even if you
buy the premise of raining sharks, why only
sharks?
Southern California’s nearshore waters
are also blessed with an abundance of other
fishes such as corbina, calico bass, sand
bass, spotted bay bass, barracuda, bonito,
and several varieties of surf perch. Wouldn’t
these fishes, being much lighter in weight
than sharks, have been swept up as well in
the waterspouts?
Speaking of surf perch, the other day I
bumped into an old customer of mine. The
conversation, of course, got around to what
I have been doing since my retirement from
the retail world nearly four years ago. Then,
Opie told me that he was still fishing as of-
ten as he can between work schedules and
he was having very consistent success with
surf perch.
It wasn’t until that moment that I found out
his name wasn’t “Opie”, but “O.P.”, short for
“Oversized Perch”.
O.P.’s passion is oversized surf perch;
and although he fishes for other species,
surf perch are near and dear to his heart.
Turns out, he was born and raised in Kan-
sas before moving out west for college.
And like so many others, once in California,
decided to stay after graduation. Surf perch
are a connection to his past when
he used to fish farm ponds for
critters like bluegills and crappie,
except surf perch can reach sev-
eral pounds in size.
O.P. told me he read in a past
article where I was touting the
merits of Berkley’s Power Sand-
worms, a bait recommended to
me by Billy D. and Buddy-X. He
told me he also used that bait
quite often, and it caught a lot of
fish, but the problem he had was
that it caught too many fish of all
sizes. His focus was on big fish,
and he needed a bait for big fish.
Going with the standard perch
grubbing rig, instead of the usual
#4 octopus hook with the 1.5” grub, O.P.
opts to go with a larger #2 octopus hook and
then half of a Roboworm 4.5” FAT straight
tail worm. He claims that it is an advantage
to thread the worm on the hook through the
cut side of the worm as the flat face of the
cut side causes the half worm to have a little
more action. He also praises the floating
ability of Roboworms as this also adds to
the movement of the bait in the water.
As for colors, he wasn’t too specific, but
did mention that he preferred darker colors
like Aaron’s Magic and warmouth during
the middle of the day, and morning dawn
red flake early and late in the day or when
it is super foggy. He also let on that some
of his best catches were on the head half
of a morning dawn when the incoming tide
coincided with sun up.
I, of course, asked O.P. if I could share
his info in print and he said “no problem”
since there are miles of open beach and
thousands of perch out there. But then, if
Sharknado was plausible, we wouldn’t have
to fish for big perch, we’d just wait for them
to fall from the sky.
SALTY TIPS
by Steve
“Hippo”Lau
SALTWATER REPORTS:
fishing is still going great near the west side of
Santa Cruz and the Cement Ship. There have been
a few white seabass caught just below the Cement
Ship in 50-60 feet of water. The rockfish action was
good at Natural Bridges and Davenport. The surf
fishing is great for perch and a few striped bass
near Manresa.”

- Dan Bacher
CONTINUED FROM PG 24
MONTEREY BAY
cont.
on the Caroline checked in with 8 lingcod and limits of
rockfish.
“The weather was perfect today with no wind and
a very small swell,” reported Todd Fraser at Bayside
Marine in Santa Cruz on September 2. “The halibut
Predator Sport Fishing
Small Groups • Great Rates
Excellent Sturgeon,
Bass and
Shark Fishing!
The Bay’s
Best Crew!
3408
707-342-8481 • www.crocsport.com
Now Booking
Halibut, Salmon & Striper Trips!
~ Berkeley Marina Departures ~
With Capt.Chad Aho Aboard The Ms. Marin
Experience 6-Pack Fishing At Its Best. Call Today!
• Halibut
• Salmon
• Stripers • Rockfish
• Sturgeon • Shark
• Live Bait Potluck
BAY CHARTER BOATS
[phone]
3717
www.baycharterboats.com
This big yellowfin tuna was caught off the East Cape on August 14.
Photo courtesy of VAN WORMER RESORTS, East Cape, Baja.
PENINSULA SHORELINE
Surf Casters Battle Perch
SAN FRANCISCO - Fishing pressure
remained light along the shoreline this week
due to wind, but striped bass and perch still
remain a good bet for city anglers.
“Maybe it’s the wind, maybe guys are
just lazy,” exclaimed Stefanie Scott at Gus’
Discount Bait and Tackle in San Francisco.
“There’s perch out there on the beach if
you toss pile worms or blood worms. Other
guys are using grubs or digging sand
crabs,” she tipped.
“Stripers are still around but they’re small
when they come up. Some guys are still
casting Kastmasters or bucktail jigs, but the
action has been slow,” she related.
Halibut fishing has all but disintegrated,
according to Scott. “The tides
were nice last week and I know
they were getting them
from the boats outside
the gate. Some guys
were fishing inside the bay
for pretty good action,”
she related.
These anglers headed out with the Golden State Sportfishing team
this August and rounded up these monster S.F. Bay sharks.
- Roland Aspiras
Photo courtesy of GOLDEN STATE SPORTFISHING, Berkeley.