Uncle Stu

Exactly what I do, Bonefish. Light spinning gear with lures when the wind and waves preclude the fly rod. I'd rather fish with a coffee grinder than sit home and tie flies. Good man yourself! Those jigs look fishy to me.

Butch--it aint easy! But its doable when the surf gets below a certain size. In my area, its doable when the surf is predicted at about 4-6 ft or less. Right now its running 7-10' which works for spinning on some beaches. Depends on direction of the swell too, of course. My fly rig is a 6w 11' switch rod with 8w short head line, sinking 3 IPS. As they say... if you want to catch half as many fish and have twice the fun, try fly fishing!

I've had a shoulder issues the last year or two, got me a 6w switch rod and I love it. It's my go-to for CA surf (perch and striper) and Alaskan coho. It will cast one-handed but the 2-hand game is much better for the shoulder. Takes an 8w line. Mind you--the surf stripers here are small, only 18-26." The cohos run heavier, but I don't have surf to deal with in Alaska.

Fat surf perch on Uncle Stu's Pretty Good Mole Crab. 6w Echo switch, 8w Airflo line.

Barred perch report from Central Coast: the big spawners are here. I got several slabs this week of 14-15." Spin fishing with Carolina rig, outgoing tide in the AM, big surf. Also on fly, mole Crab pattern.

Yes, the big ones come in winter and spring. I tend to use larger hooks and lures in winter. I caught 3 perch this morning over 14" long, and heavy. Lost many more in a gnarly shore break. The winter bite is here.

out here in Cali, my wife and I use the 9' Riversider Steelhead Combo (from Dicks) for stripers and perch in the surf. Only about $50 with Daiwa reel but you can toss the reel, it's crap. Been using these rods for years and we love them for this use. But the bass are small here... only up to about 26" max.

I think that hook is a size 2 or 4 octopus. Bait-bead-hook might be interesting, never tried that. Orange bead could suggest mole crab caviar?

Regarding that hook--I did some experimenting today and found that I had a better hookup rate when the hook was totally outside the plastic. I was getting more missed hits when the hook was buried in the plastic with the point exposed. So now, the hook ends up just fluttering in the water along with those two fake "claws" that are part of every Crusteaz crab. The rubber bait in now pushed up on the line with the hook totally exposed--as in the photo.

Stone those are some sick cutties--well done!

This weekend will have simultaneous moon and sunrise, good tides too. I got up and out there early this morning for surf perch and I was not disappointed. Fished all morning with a Carolina rig and got about 20 total, took home 6 keepers. Lots of action on Berkeley Big Gulp sand worms and Crusteaz plastic crabs. Tis the season... time to dust off those perch rigs!

big too!! dang, what a hog.

I have tried a fly on a Carolina spin rig and caught a nice size perch. Always wanted to try a casting egg with a striper fly. I feel like stripers look up more than perch do. I think maybe a casting egg not so good for perch since they tend to look for food on the bottom. Just my humble two cents.

I use a Carolina rig myself, just like grubbing. I've seen the bait guys do quite well but I never bait-n-wait... too boring.

Barred surf perch on my Echo Switch, Central Coast, CA