Surfperch Report November 28, 2015

There's nothing like escaping to the coast after enduring two of the most stressful days of the year. Sure, nobody has a problem with a long weekend, but Thanksgiving and Black Friday make the weekend seem long in an entirely different way. This is heightened by the reminder that the latter has become considered a legitimate holiday in itself among the people of this country. It used to just be the official kickoff of Christmas season and a day where many people would try to get a head start on their shopping. Nowadays, it's a brutal bloodbath where people seem to forget about everything that had been preached to them the previous day. After waving goodbye to grandma and wrapping up the leftovers, they arm themselves with pepper spray and prepare to reenact scenes from "Gladiator" on their fellow shoppers. I would normally love to join in on the fun, but I had fishing that needed to be done and found it a serious inconvenience when even Fisherman's Marine had a mob of unruly shoppers descending on the shelved products like locusts. I tried to pick up a packet of sandworms and nearly lost a hand. As you might imagine, I didn't hesitate to pack my things in the truck and race over to the Oregon Coast to do some surfperch fishing.

Tsunami in 3...2...1...

I love the Oregon Coast due to its serene beauty in even the most stressful of times. Sure, there's the unsettling knowledge that a monstrous tsunami could decimate the entire region at any given moment, but it still has a calming effect on its visitors. I found it difficult to rant as I waded out on the sandy beach of the coast and began casting for surfperch, even though I could have done it as loud as I wanted to with the sound of the waves crashing everywhere. After a few minutes of working my way down the beach, I found fish. The first to bite were the Silver Surfperch.

You can't make these things look any bigger than in the picture right here.

There are two dozen or so species of sea perch that can be caught in Pacific Northwest waters. Most are relatively small bait-sized fish, or uncommon to anglers. Several other species are commonly caught by anglers, but are rock-dwelling fish that rarely stray into the surf zone. The true "surf" perches of Oregon waters only consist of a few species. Of these, the Silver Surfperch (and its counterpart the Walleye Surfperch) is one of the most commonly caught. They can be difficult to hook due to their small mouths, but put up a good fight on light tackle and can be very numerous.

Surfperch have a tendency to school up and feed in shallower water than you'd expect. As a result, wading up to your armpits and firing out ridiculously long casts isn't always necessary and can even be counterproductive. Usually, a cast just past the first or second set of breakers is about right if you're using the classic pyramid sinker rig that anchors in the sand. If you're using lures like Gulp! worms or curly tail grubs on Carolina rigs, feel free to send them out as far as you want as you'll be retrieving them in anyways. Sometimes the fish will be further out, especially the larger ones.

Not one of the larger ones I was talking about.

Seriously, I don't remember these things looking so damn small. 

As you might have figured out from the last few examples of photographic evidence, surfperch aren't the largest fish in the sea.  In terms of size they fall somewhere between "forage fish" and "bait," and the silvers in particular look like little aquarium fish to many people. However, they still fight hard and are fun to catch on light tackle, and once you get into a school of them it's nonstop action.

I worked my way down the beach, catching more silver surfperch along the way. However, a disastrous tangle (how does a backlash even form on a spinning reel??) caused me to lose the school of silvers. However, upon working my way further south I found a school of Redtails, the target perch species. The Redtails are larger, scrappier, and more aggressive than the silvers, and are tougher customers on light tackle. They also have more meat on them and are better on the table.

Now THAT's a respectable perch.

Once I found the school of Redtails, it simply became a matter of casting my rig out and simply waiting for one of the aggressive fish to clobber my offering. No retrieve was even required, as the current gave the undulating Gulp! sandworms enough action to entice the hungry perch. I caught and released more than I could count, and kept a few of the larger ones to eat. Perch are very good to eat, although the meat has a tendency to get soft if it isn't bled or kept well iced. 

I made a few more casts before calling it a day, as the tide was starting to turn and the perch would stop feeding until the next incoming tide. It had been a great day. The beach wasn't crowded, the fish were biting, and it was one of those rare great days on the Oregon Coast where there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Good thing, too, because the rest of the week calls for 100% chance of torrential rain. Maybe there'll be so much of it that nobody will even notice the tsunami. 

I can't believe the guys at the Sea Level coffee shop still won't let me use their bathroom sink as a cleaning station,

Kamran Walsh