With the Santa Barbara Sportfishing Surfperch tournament on the 30th and my poor luck finding clean water and decent sized perch in Santa Barbara on a tip I decided to check out Sands on Friday. I didn't find any big fish but at least the water was cleaner (less loose floating weeds and stuff) than all the other beaches I've tried recently. Fished from 6:45 - 7:30 am on Friday and got 17 perch on 1.5" Amber/Red Flake grub - all average size (dinks to about 3/4 pounds). After that I tried Goleta Beach, Butterfly Beach, East Beach, and Haskell's for no fish and tons of crud.

For the tournament I decided Sands was my spot. It started off the same (1/2 - 3/4 lb. fish) but then my 4th fish was a 1.4 pounder - finally a decent perch. I dumped another about the same size a while later. I fished from 6 - 10 and caught 28 perch with three in the pound and a half range and several 1 pounders. I got snagged about 30 minutes before I was about to leave so instead of re-tying my Carolina rig I put on a 3 inch Prizm Pepper Trout Big Hammer and got another 1.4 pounder (a twin of the first). I took second place in the tournament with 5.1 lbs. for 5 fish. The winning stringer came from Goleta Beach with a 5.4 lb. stringer - go figure!

Retrieves varied depending on what the currents were doing. Most of the time I was using a very slow steady retrieve unless the current was pushing the bait straight in, then I would use a faster, even darting retrieve.

Grubs were Carolina rigged with 3/8 oz. sinker
Big Hammer was rigged on a 3/16 oz. Assalt Darter Leadhead
Pro-Cure Calico Cocktail applied every 30 minutes or so

On getting 2nd in the perch tourney...sounds like the perch action is hot based on the number of fish you got!

If you can find some clean water it can be a blast. Santa Barbara has been plagued by tons of small loose floating kelp and stuff lately. I was very happy to find some moderately clean water.

Since there was no surf, I decided to surffish Dana Point this afternoon for an hour. You are right Leapin Bass...lots of kelp in the water along with floating tar pieces (luckily I wore sandals) and a bunch of trash in the water (which is sad)...only caught/released one perch. Watched some kids light a rocket on the beach with a parachute...pretty cool. Once the crap is gone from the water, it will be more fishable.