Hello all,

I will be camping with the wife and kids at San Simeon State Beach the third week of August, 2004. Of course, I must fish...but I have never fished the Central California coast before. I do fish the bays in San Diego for halibut, bass, croakers, etc., so I do have rods and gear to pack.

But where exactly should I fish (from shore)? What will I catch? How should I rig up?

What baits should I use? If live, can I catch some myself?

I have read that the San Simeon pier will be within spittin' distance of our campsite...is this a decent fishing spot? How about the surrounding beach? Is there a tackle shop on or near that pier where I could get line, hooks, etc. and bait?

In addition, I am entertaining the idea of finding a nearby Sportfishing boat outfit...even if I had to go to Morro Bay or someplace to do it. Any recommendations on that?

Thanks in advance for answers to my many questions.

San Simeon State Beach, This is a good time of year to fish that beach for Hali's. I have floattubed that calm area between the pier and the rocks...I'm Bryan I live about 30 min. from San Simeon. Lately I have been surf fishing south of there near Morro Bay for Barbed perch. Carolina rigging should do it using grubs, and I would get your self some swimbaits/jigheads to use along that beach. There is a small store near the San Simeon Pier that has a VERY small amount of tackle and has bait in the freezer. If you are needing tackle and some other good advise, you should stop by the "Tacklewarehouse.com" store just off the 101 freeway in San Luis Obispo. They are also on this website "shop online". Its a small store, but it has Top quality gear an tackle and the owners are more than willing to share great advise on fishing in the area.

Hope it helps....

Bryan

Thanks for the info, bassin'

Scratch the pier; turns out it's 5 miles up the road from the campsite. Guess I'll be surf fishing on San Simeon beach.

After reading up on this forum about surfperch, and halibut surf fishing, here's my plan:
For perch: stock up on 1/2 and 1 oz egg sinkers, #6 or so red hooks, and 2" and 3" grubs in motoroil/metalflake. Carolina rig with 9" to 18" leaders, using 6# or 8# fluorocarbon. I've got a jar of shrimp-scented goo a friend gave me...sounds like the perch might go for that. I will fish these with a 4000-sized spinning reel on a 7' medium action rod using 12# mono mainline.
For halibut: bring a selection of 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 oz leadheads and a variety of 3" to 5" swimbaits (fishtrap type). I will wade around with my trusty Curado on a 6' baitcasting rod looking for likely bedding areas. I will spool up with 12# or 15# copolymer.

I read somewhere about digging up some kind of sandcrabs to use for bait for the surfperch...how is this done?

Sounds like you have a good set up going...Try Pumpkin color for the grubs....as for the sand crabs, usually all you have to do is go into about ankle deep water and dig in the sand..about a handful of sand can get you some, should be able to find some along that beach...

Have fun!!