Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3802 Jan 4-18 | Page 8

6 January 4-18, 2019 > VOL.38 • ISS. 2 Mastering Saltwater Panfish Bobby West holds up a pair of jumbo barred surfperch. Surfperch fishing is and exciting option for winter saltwater anglers at a time when salmon and bottomfish are off limits. presents G < Historically, surfperch were targeted by anglers using long heavy rods balanced with multiple ounce pyramid sinkers. Those days are gone. High tech, light weight responsive steelhead and trout spinning tackle have replaced the heavy gear of yesteryear. > Gulp! Grubs and Sandworms have become a staple among modern surfperch enthusiasts. Not only are these baits highly effective, but they are also easy to store and readily available. < While Gulp! baits are being utilized by many anglers, traditional pile worms like these remain an awesome option for anglers that prefer to use natural bait. Ghost shrimp and white prawns are also great choices. Surfperch Offer Winter Angling Action rowing up watching people like Roland Martin and Orlando Wilson on television catching panfish or more specifically crappie, was a bit depressing for me. The fishing looked like a ton of fun, but the problem was that there wasn’t a lake that offered decent crappie fishing within a hundred miles of my home. That’s back when I accessed fishing spots on foot or via my trusty mountain bike. My parents had no problem with me peddling 10 or 12 miles to an urban trout lake, but they certainly weren’t up for me setting a course for a destination a hundred miles distant. Alas where there is a will there is a way and when I stumbled on the fact that surfperch spawned in a saltwater estuary a mere two miles from my back yard during the late winter, spring and early summer I instantly became and enthusiastic panfish angler. My prey were saltwater panfish and truth be told they were a lot more diverse and exciting than any of the crappie that Roland and Orlando were catching in the deep south. And therein is our first lesson about finding and catching surfperch… There are always perch located in the surf zone off ocean beaches, but early in the year from late February through June they can often be found in bays, estuaries and tidal creeks too. Let’s take a close look at surfperch and their lifestyle. Then I’ll share some tried and true approaches to catching these “Pacific Coast Panfish”! There are many different types of surfperch, 23 varieties inhabit the Pacific coast from Baja in the south to Alaska in the north. All surfperch have the character- istic short, deep thin bodies of “panfish”. They also sport large eyes, single dorsal fins and deeply forked tails. Most perch are brightly colored and feature a striped or barred color pattern. Perch caught by surf anglers average 6 to 18 inches in length. One pounders are common, 2 to 3 pounders are considered large, but fish ranging up to 5 pounds are possible. One of the unique character- istics of the surfperch family is that they birth live young that are basically exact replicas of the adults. Female perch typically issue from 5 to 40 young. The most common saltwater perch caught by anglers in Cali- fornia, Oregon and Washington are redtail, rubberlip, shiner and striped surfperch. Perch tend to travel in loose schools, while you can find some surfperch in the surf zone, bays and estuaries all year long, the fish to migrate from near shore areas to offshore areas seasonally. Some varieties of perch have been known to venture into water that is up to 750 feet deep. Spawning takes place in the late winter, spring and early summer months and that is when the biggest number of these aggres- sive fish are within reach of bank anglers. Just because surfperch all look similar doesn’t mean they will be found in the same “micro habitats”. Some perch prefer open sand and mudflats, while others tend to orient to structure in the form of rocks. Barred, silver, walleye, redtail and calico surfperch are commonly found on sandy beaches and mudflats. While black, rubberlip, shiner and pile surfperch gravitate toward rocky portions of beaches and rip rap lined shorelines in bays and estuaries. Perch tend to feed best in the morning hours, so that’s the best time to target them. They eat a diverse diet consisting of small crustaceans, clams, marine worms, FISH SNIFFER HOW – TO by Cal Kellogg CONTINUED ON PG 13