I tried to fish strands after work today, my buddy and I were getting some sandcrabs and a sherif on a quad stopped us and said we were not allowed to take anything off the beach, I said were not taking them home were here to fish. He had total attitude and said we can argue this in court? Is this right? whats the deal, Is my summer surf fishing done?

wow that is surprising....you would think that they would bust the people on the rocks....and not surf fishermen...is it illegal to use sand crabs? Ive never heard of that down here.

I thought that technically we were aloowed to, right? we are required to have a current fishing license to surffhish, and as far as I remember there are no closures, bag limits or minimum size requirements on sand crabs (yet!) I dont know what the deal was, he must have had a serious case of quad rash or something like that and was just venting out. In any given case it wouldnt be a bad idea to research the subject and be prepared, I wouldnt be surprised if all of the sudden all these environmentalists decide that perch and corbina and even sand crabs are also in risk of extinction and thus should be protected.

Strands is notorious for stuff like that- The DFG has been down there lately as well. The cops on the quad WILL hassle you, just a word of warning. Sometimes between that and the kelp it is easier just to forget that place.

He's wrong. Too bad you didn't get a badge number. There used to be signs on the stairs going down there that stated that certain tide pool species were not to collected (just like at the tide pools at Dana Harbor), but sand crabs and perch and corbina were not on the list. Just like anyone, you get some good ones and some bad ones.

david hasselhoff was so worried about his powertrip he would not back down, He said the ticket would be 1,000 $ and a day in court. We did not get a ticket but I wish I could prove him wrong.....


I used to surf down by gravels how is that spot???

Gravels has been very slow......Oceanside has been much better for the corbina! Getting harrassed for fishing at Strands? I will stick to Oceanside, the Cops are friendly down there at least.....

1/2 Monty

Hey Monty'

Where do you surf fish in Oceanside without getting too specific? And... Monty wouldn't have anything to do with Montezuma as in Aztecs would it? :7 Just curious.


Stay Bent!

I fish just North of the pier. I remember a guy with the "Monty" handle on that site last year. I'm a Arizona alum, so I stopped in to check that site out before our game in SD.

Monty

DFG Section 29.85. Crabs; (d) Sand Crabs, (Emerita analoga): Limite: 50

That's all I could find on sand crabs...

so there's actually a posession limit on sand crabs
go figure...

sounds kind of lame. the guy is totally out of his jurisdiction. He was just shaking you down to see if you were doing anything illicit.

I also fish Strands and if you walk down the path from the free parking lot off of Selva, you'll see a sign near the bottom of the steps that talks about the Refuge rules. I guess Strands is part of the Dana Point Refuge/Reserve. The sign tells you(if you can read through the lovely grafiti)what you can take, anything not named is off limits and that includes "sandcrabs". I just looked on the DFG web page and found under Marine Life Refuges and Egological Reserves the code 10664 that's posted on the sign. Sorry, but from what I've just read the cops were correct about harvesting sandcrabs. I didn't even think about the fact that crabs are off limits, but then again I fish mainly artificials. Hope this helps.

Section 10664 applies to several different marine refuges, including South Laguna and Doheny Beach. The way I read section 10664, allows the taking of specified fish, mollusks and crustaceans, and it bans the taking of "all other fish and acquatic life." The issue here is are sand crabs considered "acquatic life." Are they a crustacean (I would think so)? Section 10667 applies to the Dana Point Marine Refuge. It contains the same restrictions, although it has several subsections not in 10664, and specifically states it applies to the inter-tidal zone (although that is a difference without distinction to a surf fisherman, since all of our activity is in that zone). Interestingly, subsection (b) to 10667 specifically refers to the "gathering of fishing bait" as an example of an activity that does not qualify as an allowed minimum impact on the marine life.

I surffished gravels yesterday in the later afternoon. The sheriff guy on the quad came over and asked if I had my license. I said, "yes, it is in my bag", and he was totally cool with me and didn't even check the bag! I thought the marine reserve was on the south side of the headlands and not on the north side at strands! It should be fine to fish there with sandcrabs, unless like Shorepounder said (nice Redondo flattie by the way!), it really is part of the reserve...I don't think it is though. The fishing at gravels was crappy by the way...too much kelp! Only caught/released a few perch. Spooked a corbina that was about 3 feet from me while digging sandcrabs...it scared me more than the fish!

I think what I like the most about this particular post is the fact that we will all have to have lawyers with us from now on when we go fishing. I thought Alaska was bad but nope! good ole calif. and they're lack of anything that might be constitute a plan based on anything just might be taking the lead.

thanks for the quality info guys

I fish the silver strand in san diego by Imperial Beach is this the same area you guys are talking about. I sure would like to know so that I may avoid being harrased like that. I once got stopped by some ranger guy for having my dog with me (leashed) but he was pretty cool and let me go. and if not the silver strand where is this place?

Tight lines all
Anchovie

different place, you don't want to go there

strands is short for dana strands itis just south of salt creek in orange county

dont come to strands its no fun.....

Yeah,
Strands is filthy! Water quality is similar to a cess pool... just like Salt Creek & Aliso beach.

Not worth the time or energy.

hey anchovie, whereabouts in silver strand do you fish, would love to have somebody else out there with info.
as far as the dod if in silver strand park they are not allowed, they have a sign at the entrance to the parking lot.
so far never ever have I had a ranger or dfg warden give me a hard time out there

I sometimes usually fish early morning between 3:00 AM and 8:00 AM or coronado ferry landing or OB pier late at night. Usually when the wife goes to sleep or she'll compain that I love fishing more than her? oh well
Just let me no the next time your out there and I'll be glad to meet you.
Anchovie

seems you suffer from the same ailment I do, acute wife naggonitis. cant seem to be able to plan a fishing outing without getting complained at.

I usually fish from north IB to a bit north of silver strand park, but i'm still looking for better spots as far as times, whenever I can manage to escape the clasp of the non-fishing, you love fhishing more than me, are you going out again, you just went like a week ago? wife.

anyway, I'll extend the same offer back, whenever you go out, let me know,