Best place to surf fish in so-cal and what bait to use?

Question

i wanna fish right off the surf i live in the newport area so as close to there as possible would be nice im really going for perch and could you tell what would be the best kind of bait

Answer 1

I don't know of specific spots down there (I used to fish off the coast of Malibu north of Point Dume) but in general I'd look for beaches with no swimmers, surfers, etc. Perch hang out just past the breakers, and their natural food is sand crabs. You can dig them yourself or buy them at a bait shop. (You want the ones with soft shells, just after they've molted).

I've also done well with mussels. (if you go to a rocky jetty at low tide you can yank them off the rocks, use a cheap knife to open them and scrape the meat out, then thread the tougher parts onto your hook. Or again, you can buy them at a bait shop, either in the shell or already scraped out, in a plastic container.)

I recall people using cut anchovies or squid for perch as well, though I've never tried them in the surf.