I moved to Southern California a few months ago from Idaho. I grew up fishing for trout, mainly floating the South Fork of the Snake River in a drift boat. It’s always been a dream of mine to fish the ocean, but in this region, I feel like a fish out of water (pardon the pun.) I live super close to the beach, but I have no idea where to start with that style of fishing. Any pointers or instruction would be much appreciated.
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by thedrummajorguy
Haven't been fishing there since I was a kid and just moved back to So Cal myself so I might not be much help. We used to just walk out to the end of the pier at Huntington beach iirc. Some cut bait would usually get you something
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by Spookdujour
I live on the coast of British Columbia and go ocean fishing all the time. I recommend to go out on a charter boat a couple times or go out with a co-worker till you feel comfortable enough to do anything yourself. If that is a no go for you then you could always head down to a tackle shop and get pointers from an employee there.
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by grileyish
A kayak is a must down here unfortunately.
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by bigchungusmode99
Look up surf fishing. You can do it all from "cast and wait" with a large surf pole in a sand spike (rod holder), to wading out and fishing with swimbaits, lures, bait (e.g. sandcrabs), etc. Likely catches from the shore are surf perch and possibly halibut. I've caught hundreds of fish from the shore in southern California. You can also look into kayak fishing, float tube fishing, or more traditional half-, full-, or multi-day charters to target species like yellowfin tuna.
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by IHeartMyTaco
I grew up in So Cal. I would suggest going out on a 1/2 day fishing boat from either San Diego or San Pedro, depending on where you live. Once the boat has left the dock, talk to the deck hands or the skipper. Tell them you are new to this kind of fishing and would like very much some suggestions. I can tell you that you will be their main focus on that trip, and will learn more about fishing the salt than you ever could in a lifetime on the internet.
Good luck and tight lines from a former galley mate and deckhand.
I am out in Southern California and go on open party ocean boats at the least once a month. A useful site I use to see what is being caught is
http://www.fishcounts.com/so_cal.php. At these landings a person can rent gear that will best suit any one needs. This time of the year bottom fishing is being done.
This last weekend my wife and I went out on a overnight trip for our first time this year, we caught some quality rock cod, lingcod and white fish.
As the water temperatures start to rise more game fish will make it's way up.
I hope this helps.
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