Took the day off and the kids out Friday a.m. to Zuma. Turned out to be a beautiful morning, beach empty of people, and fish. Used 3" big hammers and a 1 1/2" cabela's grub for zero, nada, nothing. Missed the tide, maybe one hit, but could have been a rock. First time fishing in many months.

Edit: I can't figure this beach out, and never have success there. Anyone have success fishing it?

HI CHUCK,

Zuma is a large beach with roughly the same type shoreline. The fish really move around there. Try targetting areas near structue such as rocky jetties. They are at the ends of the beach. Creek flows. Tide rips. Also pay attention to the sand crabs as the surf washes the sand. The shells will bunch up in an area where they are feeding on a long strong tide. You will see more ripples in the sand at the areas where the crabs are bunching up. Also fish in front of the surfers. Trust me. This time of year the big perch like the structure to spawn. I fish rocky areas the hardest. Even during a slack tide there are some big perch and corbina around these areas. Even if you find fish you need the tide to make a bite. The fish don't move as much as when there isn't a tide so they are harder to locate. Also they will feed at night with the tide. A lot of guys start out at o- dark thirty for the big fish. Like any other fish, they don't always eat the grub. Sometimes they want a nice fat sand crab or razor clam or mussel or blood worm. Good luck.

BURGIE

Thanks for the detailed info, Burgie. There were lot's of rips and bars that got exposed at low tide and looked really fishy. Of course, I was trying to be nice and not fish in front of two surfers, but it makes perfect sense that they'd stir up the sandcrabs and creatures! Such a beautiful beach.

It has been about ten years since I fished down that way, but I used to always catch perch and corbina down near Pointe Dume. That is the rock point at the Southern end of Zuma. If you are sure-footed, I have heard of people crawling up into the rocks at high-tide and dropping frozen green peas into the deep holes for perch. However, standing on the sand using bloodworms always did the trick for me. Safer for the kids too.

A nice perk of having all the rock structure jetting out into the water... you don't have to actively fish right in the suds. You can rig up a weight at the end of the line and dropper loop (up about two feet) with a bait-keeper hook on a 12" leader with some bloodworm. Just throw it out there near some rocks, put a bell on the pole, stick it in a rod holder (sand spike), and go play with your kids. I've hooked many fish while making sand castles 20 feet from my pole. Although I always caught the corbina while working the suds.

If I remember correct, you have to pay a couple bucks to park down there, but if you have kids and family-beach-type-stuff to haul, it is well worth it.

FISHLIPS