Specie: Barred Surfperch (Amphistichus argenteus)

Identifying Characteristics: The name sorta says it all on this one. They look like, uh, perch. They are silvery to brassy with 8 to 10 vertical yellowish or rust colored bars along their sides and spots between the bars. They are a small fish as marine fishies go, topping out at 17 inches in length and about four pounds in weight. Barreds are vivaparous fishes, meaning that they bear live young.

Range and Distribution: Barreds range from northern Washington to north-central Baja Califoronia, but they are most commonly distributed from Santa Cruz south. Although they have been taken down to 240 feet in scientific trawls, barreds are a true surf-zone fish, common to sandy, open-coast beaches, usually in depths of 20 feet or less. They are a schooling fish, so if you manage to hook up with one, you're likely to hook up with more. They are a common catch among pier anglers up and down the coast, and they are an occaisional catch in shallow embayment waters, particularly in Anaheim Bay and Alamitos Bay. Barreds are the most commonly caught surf-zone game fish in Central and Southern California waters. An estimated 5.7 million metric tons of these cute little fish are landed each year.

Forage: Barreds exist primarily on a diet of sand crabs, though they will also go for clams, worms, mussels, and the egss of grunion (Leuresthes Tenuis) and topsmelt (Atherinops Affins). That said, they tend to not be too particular about what they will and won't put in their mouths. I've had them barf up pebbles, bits of styrofoam, and other rubbish.

Times and Seasons: The best barred surfperch fishing typically coincides with their repodutive behavior. Off the Orange County coast, barreds mate From September through the first week or two of December, though they will keep on keeping on with their reproductive impulse right through Christmas in some years. Spawning typically occurs from February through June, and sometimes into July.

Notes on Tactics and Techniques: When they're in the mood to eat, barreds will feed in as little as four inches of water. Some fly fishers make a perpetual habit of casting well behind where the fish are holding. While there is nothing wrong with being able to throw the entire line out of the end of the rod, you'll also want to make presentations to the close-in fishy looking water, too. They are absolute suckers for the color red, though orange is also attractive. If you want to impress your angling buddies, try fishing for these things with San Juan Worms or Glo Bug Yarn Eggs. You'll be amazed at how simple a surfperch fly can be and still catch fish.

Blessings and TL's
JP

Next month's fish will be Paralabrax Maculatofasciatus

_________________
"I fish, therefore I am."

Right on, JP, re fly anglers tending to cast far beyond where surfperch hold. I spent many fruitless hours casting toward the horizon for these fish, and it wasn't until an outing with Ken Hanley that I learned short casts -- 20, 30, 40 feet -- were usually better at putting the fly in front of the barreds. (BTW, the "About Us" page of this web site shows a nice-sized surfperch that was caught mid-morning along the San Mateo County coast about a decade ago on a sizzling-hot summer day under a cloudless sky. All of which was surprising, as I had long thought one needed low light or overcast to do well. Yet, my friends and I experienced constant action for a couple of hours or so.)

Incidently, what characteristics best describe "fishy looking water"?

Big troughs, rips, so called "nervous water"

Jay

Richard,

It goes without saying that the fish that you can actually see are the fish that you want to fish for first. But what do you need to look for when you're fishing blind and there is nothing in sight to sight cast to?

Water comes in two basic forms in the surf: That which is a breaking wave, and that which is not. Normally, at least down here in Southern California, you want to deliver your fly into the water that isn't a breaking wave. That water will typically be a trough or hole of water that is deeper than where the waves are breaking.

When you see a wave that breaks, flattens out, re-forms, and breaks again, the water between the breaks is a trough. Game fish use these troughs as travel lanes, and tend to move parallel to the shore, rather than perpendicular to it when they feed in the surf zone. The troughs give the fish a respite from the violent conditions of the impact zone, and that's why they use them. Now, when you look at the face of wave, and it appears to break on one side and the other but not in the middle, the middle where it isn't breaking is often a hole of deeper water that is likely to hold fish, for much the same reason that troughs do. Rips are easily identified by a stream of brown water that extends out perpendicular to the shorline, sometimes with waves breaking on either side of it, as with a hole. Fish will stack up on these rips and let the current force-feed them.

Simple stuff, really. To me, "fishy-looking water" is often simply deeper water capable of holding game fish. You can make it more technical than that, but you don't need to.

One thing to consider, at least if you're fishing the surf down here in Southern California, is that when surf-zone fish are in an active feeding mode, they will be doing their thing quite close to the shoreline, and will be most likely to take your fly, so you'll usually catch more if you concentrate on the troughs, holes, and rips that aren't much more than 60 feet away from you. If they aren't in that close and you aren't getting bit, the fish are probably in a passive feeding mode where they can take your offering or leave it -or a negative feeding mode, which is even worse- and even if you could zing it out there 150 feet or more, your catch rate still probably wouldn't be anything to brag about.

JP

_________________
"I fish, therefore I am."

Thanks for the reply, JP, but now you've raised another question; just what the heck is a "negative feeding mode," especially vis-a-vis a "passive feeding mode"? Seems to me that fish are either feeding (thus active) or not (thus passive).

Richard,

We've all experienced the kind of wide-open bite where you can do no wrong and the fish will hit anything you throw at them. That's an active feeding mode. Some species of marine game fish are in that mode more than others -like mackerel, bonito, and barracuda, for example. Those are pelagic fishes with high metobolic rates and they can't afford to skip a meal. If they do pass on a meal, they'll quickly become lunch for a larger fish that doesn't.

A better example of what I mean by discussing the feeding behavior of game fish in terms of three general modes can be found in the Spotted Sand Bass (Paralabrax Maculatofasciatus).

Immediately prior to and immediately after spawning, these fish become chow-hounds, actively pursuing fast moving baits. Spawning takes a lot of energy, after all, and tends to give these guys a serious case of the munchies, putting them in an active feeding mode. Run a Newport Special on the bottom of a channel next to an eelgrass bed in July just before the eve of a full moon, and you'll see what I mean, as these fish will practically yank the rod out of your hands on the take.

"Ain't no doubt about it, boy -you've been bit"! They are smacking your fly on the run, which is why the take feels so violent.

The problem is that spotties are only in an active feeding mode for a handful of days out of the year. The rest of the time, they are in a passive feeding mode.

Now, spotties need to eat nearly every single day that they're alive. They don't need to eat your fly, however. Like I said before, a fish in a passive feeding mode can take your offering or leave it.

Spotties are ambush-feeders. They are bottom-oriented and relate to the shadow side of hard structure that provide them with a measure of concealment from preaditors and prey. They are lazy slugs when it comes to feeding themselves. Chasing a bait is work, and spotties aren't in to that. They just face the oncoming current and let the current deliver the goods. And in a highly eutrophic body of water, like Newport Bay or Mission Bay, there is a steady stream of chow coming their way and they won't go for your offering if it can't be made to appear non-threatening and very easy to kill. A feeding mode doesn't get much more passive than that.

Now, change the weather a bit, and have the baramoeter falling while the clouds darken. Have the tide be terrible -something like a low of 2.9 feet at 1000 and a high of 3.2 feet happening at 1600, and you've got the makings of a very slow day at Newport Bay. They won't be in the mood to play, and not even dynamite will change that. If you'd have read CFF more regularly, you could have avoided this stinker of a day, but as it is, you're stuck with fishing for fish that are in a negative feeding mode. They don't need to eat right now, and they certainly don't need your fly in their mouths.

I ripped this feeding mode stuff off from the folks who fish out of really fast boats with metal-flake gel-coat jobs. I understand what they're describing with it, and any one of them could probably explain it better than I can.

-JP

_________________
"I fish, therefore I am."

JP,
Thanks for the Overview of the Barred Surfperch... I do love it when They are cooperating & hit your fly often enough thru-out the day. I know some folks look down on Surfperch.. they act like it's beneath them to catch Surfperch.... I say be happy with whatever decides your fly is ediable.
I look at Surfperch as Bluegill on Steroids... I love flippin' flies to Bluegills as well....
I shalll see you at the Ontario Show in March.... I have to meet up with you & flyfish Newport with you....

DEAN....

JP,

Great to know you're from down here. Nice article as usual.

Drop me a line if you want to fish.

Craig C. craigc3@cox.net

And as soon as get my stuff unpacked ( I just moved into this neighborhood) I'll be getting in touch with you re: getting together for some fishing. I'm in the area of Camino Los Ramblas and De Agua, so if you're in Capo Beach, we're practically neighbors.

Thanks for the kind words, too, re: my article(s). It's nice to know people actually read 'em!

Blessings and TL's
-JP

_________________
"I fish, therefore I am."

JP,

Camino Capistrano and Via Catalina. Shoot me an email anytime.

Nice to have a master in the area. I need to learn a few more tricks. The Hallies and Corbies have been lacking lately. Not that I get out that often. Now I have an excuse. There's a couple of us salty fly guys down this way.

Welcome to So. OC.

Craig