Ultra Lite Long Rods For Red Tail Perch

I decided to try a new adventure. Surf fishing for Red Tail surf perch with light tackle. One of my fishing buddies Randy has been exploring this surf fishing and invited me to have fun during our off-season for salmon. The Red Tail surfperch is the largest of the three popular species caught on our coast. You have the striped sea perch, the Pile perch and then the largest the Red Tail sea perch. Their fins have a reddish hue to them. They can reach 17 inches and commonly weigh 2-3 pounds though larger specimens have been caught around 4 pounds. Fishing piers or docks for perch is the safe way but the most exciting way is wading in the surf for the Red Tail surf perch. Surf fishing for Red-tails ranges from California all the way up to Canada on the west coast. Often in California to Washington state heavy tackle is used in the large surf. Twenty-pound test line and 3-5 ounces of weight. Often the cast is as far as possible with two hooks of the mainline and then just leave it out there till you get a bite. Randy had landed 18 surfperch using light tackle the other day on the West Coast of Vancouver Island at Florencia Bay near Tofino. I will be using a slip weight of 3/8 oz. sliding on the ten-pound mainline. Very similar to a California rig when bass fishing. There will be a bead above the swivel to protect the knot and then 2-3 feet leader with a #4 or #2 hook. Since it is shallow water I will experiment with a float also - similar to steel heading, allowing the weight to bounce along the bottom while keeping the majority of the fishing line out of the water. Due to the high surf and wind on the west coast of Vancouver Island in the Tofino area, we will be using our Amundson Outdoors 13-foot ultra-light rods with a 4-10 pound line class. The long rod will be able to keep a lot of the line above and out of the surf. That is the challenge to keep up to the slackline that is caused by the surf and maintain a slow retrieve. This is also why we are using a monoline instead of braid. The braided line is not as effective under the twisting of the spool of a spinning reel if you can’t retrieve the braided line tight onto the spool. Your mono light line will be challenged also with all the abrasion the sand milling around. Bring some spare line with you. The ultra-light reels will be the Shimano Stradic Aero 2000, nine ounces and Stradic 4000, eleven ounces in weight. They allow a large amount of line on the extended spools while maintaining a small size. The best fishing is in the surf as all the natural feed like sand shrimps, sandworms, sand crabs, clam necks are exposed. It also gives them great cover and they will come in with the waves and often be within 20 feet. Soft imitation like the gulp sandworm works great. They are opportunist so little minnows, spinners, anything moving and wiggling or have a scent they will go after. It doesn’t have to be big often soft imitation worm is too long. We will break them into pieces 2 inches.I will experiment with Ghost shrimps. Using the same set up with the fine wire holding the main body to the hook and line. It's the same as we do for steel heading. Like all types of beach fishing, the first step is to observe the surf. You are looking for slope sandy bottoms, troughs or holes. Often the indication will be areas where the wave surf doesn’t occur or break. You will be able to observe the size and determine if it’s a deep hole or a long trough. All of the natural food stirred up by the surf will settle in these areas and that’s where you will find the perch. You will also want to observe the currents. Which direction the water is moving. Your cast should be opposite the current. If the water is moving to your left then you will cast to your right and allow the weight to settle on the bottom while picking up the slack. Reel in at a speed to keep the line taught but enough retrieve to allow the weight to bounce along the bottom. With saltwater fishing, the fish are affected by tides changes and it’s often best one hour before and one hour after a tide change. The weather conditions also affect success as the wind and surf have to be manageable for fishing. Always wear a chest or waist belt with your waders. Safety is of utmost importance. We had a fantastic day at Florencia Bay.
With the float method and ghost shrimps,
I had over 40 on landing 28. Randy was
using the California rig with a Grub curly
tail and had the same success. Largest was 3 1/4 pound.