Hi, my girlfriend and I have decided to take up surf fishing as a hobby. We figure we should learn quickly and be successful due to the fact we both are experts on bottom feeders.

I live in Dana Point and my friend lives in Santa Ana. We have gone twice to doheny and caught small spotfin, corbina and leopard sharks.
We both have pretty cheap spinning set ups, but I figure you all out there can set us straight on what we need.

Can you suggest a place for us to go where we could catch some fish?

Thank you Finaddict :)

How tall of rod. You can have a low cost rod and still do a pretty good job. The distance is what I think you need to know about. For most people that question come up alot in lenght of rod. In my rods I like 7 but would tell people to start up in 8" or highier range. Just good to wal-mart and feel the different lenghts and rod action. To get a idea what type you want. Hope this help you. Some other people will give there ideas too. Happy fishing from BB.

There are three zones to surf fishing. Zone 1 is 5 to 10 feet. Zone 2 is 10 to 20. And zone 3 is 20 and longer. Zone one you will need a 6" fresh water spinning rod and reel med action,with 4 to 10 lb line on it. Zone 2 a little longer rod. A 7" to 8" salt water spinning rod and reel with 15 to 20 lb line med action. Zone 3 a 9" to 12" foot rod spinning reel with 20 to 30 lb line med action. The fish in zone 1 is pearch,corvina and croakers.The fish in zone 2 is big pearch, big corvina, croakers and rays. The fish in zone 3 are rays,sharks,sand bass,white sea bass,and halibut.

And then there is the "Twilight Zone" where, regardless of what equipment you tote to the beach, you get spooled every time. }(

thank you Fishtrap man,
What you had to say makes so much sence. When you said the zones are 10 to 20, do you mean 10 to 20 feet away from the beach or feet deep of water? I really thank you for your tips.

For the surf i actually prefer light equipment...4-6 pound test and a trout rig works just fine for those perch and corbina.

http://www.swimbait.com/techniques/perch-fong.htm
http://www.swimbait.com/halibut
http://www.swimbait.com/surfhalibut