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