UTER
Photo: SFOfishing, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Amphistichus spp.
How to catch Surfperch
Surfperch feed in 50–66°F water and bite best at 54–62°F. Fish Scouter's season calendar follows them in 5 waters.
10 pts · trophy at 14"Feeds 50–66°FBest 54–62°FIn season nowBeach / surfFishing pierDock / pilingsPass / inlet
About
The surf fish of the Pacific beaches — barred surfperch in California, redtails from Humboldt to Washington. Live-bearers that crowd the troughs in winter and spring before they drop their young.
How to fish it
A Carolina rig or a two-hook dropper in the troughs and the rip edges on the incoming tide.
What it eats
sand crabsGulp sandwormsclam necks and sand shrimp
Live bait for it
Sand crabs (Pacific mole crabs)A soft-shell sand crab on a #4 to #2 hook, Carolina rig, cast just behind the first break — the corbina and barred surfperch bait.
Ghost shrimpThreaded on a #4 to 1/0 baitholder hook on a Carolina rig in the surf or the bay — the surfperch, corbina and sturgeon bait.
What to fish it with
the sizes that fish itLeader15–30 lb fluorocarbon
Hook#2–2/0
Braid10–20 lb
The rule
not confirmed hereRules differ by state — check CDFW, ODFW or WDFW before you keep one.
The current rule →Where it is, month by month
PPeakSSpawningAArriving·AroundLLeaving
Pacific