November is one fickle month. This month doesn’t know if it’s coming or going…is it summer, fall or winter…only November knows. I can remember so many years where this month had burning hot Santa Ana days at the beach and then next day it was cool and raining. For sure, the pattern of NW storms followed by a building Santa Ana condition characterize this time of year. In fact, both November and December are bi-polar that way. Picking your days this month to go to the beach are easy. Just look for days with low or no wind and clear skies. The days to avoid are those filled with wind and rain.
Surf fish have begun their transition from a sand crab diet to eating just about anything they can find. Blood/lug worms, ghost shrimp and clams are good options now. For plastics the 2″ Big Hammer grub in Motoroil colors and the Honey Badger Super Slayer are my pics for perch. When halibut fishing, we’ve seen hard-baits like Lucky Craft/BattleStar and MC Swimbaits in both all white and anchovy pattern work very well. Drop shotting has also been effective for the halibut with a 5″ white fluke and a 1/2 ounce chrome sinker doing the trick.
November signals the slowing of surf fishing…and even though you may not catch as many fish as during the summer you’ll find that over the winter you often land some of the biggest fish of the year.
Next month, as a result of the water cooling, we’ll talk about sidewinder crabs and how to catch, keep, rig and fish them in the surf for huge winter perch.
Don’t forget to join us every Wednesday at noon on Facebook’s/Youtube’s, Your Saltwater Guide page, for a live podcast discussing tips, techniques and what’s biting in the surf.
Santa Barbara/Ventura: Strong winds over the last few days have lowered water temperature and slowed fishing. Water temps dropped last week from 65 to 59. But the good news is that it’s back to 62 and fishing has picked up with some decent halibut fishing near campus point along Goleta Beach and quite a few 5-10” barred surfperch along most of SB County beaches. Anglers using white/red BattleStar baits, 6” white flukes on the drop shot and white MC Swimbatis have had the best luck fishing halibut. Look for these fish around pier pilings, near the SB harbor sand-spit and along East Beach below the White Estate.
Ventura again kicks out a couple of stripers and has been good for barred surfperch up to 15”. Spoons, hard-baits for the stripers and worms for the perch. Also, a great report of a nice big corbina before the wind blew on a juicy bloodworm. Halibut fishing here has been good both to the south and the north of the harbor for anglers fishing the rock sand edges.
Malibu: Again this week, the Malibu to Pt. Mugu beaches have been kicking out some nice calicos and cabazon along rocky areas. Successful anglers have been using drop shot rigs and 6” swimbaits in anchovy and all white colors. Perch fishing for barred, buttermouth, and walleye remains good from Leo Carillo to Pt. Mugu.
South Bay: The South Bay continues to provide good action for yellowfin croaker and perch. Some of the biggest YFC’s of the year have been caught in Manhattan Beach and Torrance Beach. A notable 30” striper was caught on one of the last sand crabs in ManhattanBeach this week. Just north of Marina Del Rey was the hotspot for a couple legal halibut caught along the beach on Lucky Craft Flash Minnows.
One additional thought I want to mention about the South Bay is how good bonito fishing is this time of year in and around King Harbor. I have not received any reports…and please send me a bonito report!….but now is the time to get down to the rocks and fish bobber and feather, kastmaster, krocodiles and Tiny Totts for bonito. These are such tasty fish, just as good as any albacore you’ve ever eaten, so take a knife, ice and an ice chest with you. Catch them, bleed and gut them, then put them on ice for dinner…they are fabulous!
Orange County: Bites have slowed along the OC coast over the last week with hit and miss fishing. Wind and turned-over water has made fishing slower. A corbina or two, many YFC and a few spotfin were caught along Huntington State Beach and near the Newport jetties. Ongoing aggressive bite from barred and walleye surfperch, close to shore, in the inner trough for anglers. A few halibut have been landed with most being sub legals. Blood and lug worms have been working great here at the beach for both perch and croaker.
San Diego: San Diego’s water has cleaned up a bit, but fishing remains slow along the beach. Very few sand crabs left with only a few under the piers.
Two tropical storms spin to the west, off the coast of Mexico and continue to send small south swells our way
What To Watch For This Month
Synopsis: The battle between cooler and warmer water continues as we have a series of NW swells and SW swells coming our way. As has happened over the last few weeks, opposing swells have kept the water temperature from Santa Barbara to San Diego within a close range of 62 to 65 degrees. I expect these conditions of moderate water temperature to continue for another couple of weeks until all Mexican storms cease and swells from above Antartica lessen as the South Pacific makes its way into spring.
Temp: 63-65 from SB to SD. A touch cooler. Strong winds from the NW had little effect on near shore temperatures with the exception of Santa Barbara County. Although the water temp in SB went down to 59 it has rebounded today to 63. Very stable water temperature continues and because of the NW and South swells temps will remain stable.
Tides: November 1st is our next new moon. Because the moon is a farther distance from the earth than our last new moon, the tide fluctuations will be mitigated giving us about a 6′ maximum tidal change. This weekend into next week, will provide a great morning tide for perch and croaker, while the evening tide, a smaller tidal change, will provide excellent conditions for halibut fishing.
Wind: Thankfully, we are just coming off some 25 knot afternoon winds. This weekend, look for light morning winds and 10-15 knot NW afternoons. Beginning Monday a moderate Santa Ana will set up and provide calm winds and excellent fishing opportunity throughout the week.
Swell: Storms from NW Alaska are beginning to pile up and it looks like we’ll see 3-5′ surf on West facing beaches for at least the next week. This weekend’s swells will be only 6 seconds apart, with next week’s NW swell giving us a much improved 16 seconds between sets of waves. Hurricane Kristy has been replaced by two smaller tropical storms, just to the southwest of California. These storms have a 40% chance of strengthening and sending south swells in to the CA coast. Stay tuned.
Check out my weekly Facebook reports (page: Bill Varney) and my Wednesday LIVE Facebook surf fishing show with Dave Hansen, Your Saltwater Guide (Noon Wednesdays on both Facebook and Youtube). To join our Surf Fishing University and weekly Game Plan go to: www.yoursaltwaterguide.com.
