Keys to catching a lot of fish

Monterey Bay has a good Barred Surfperch (BSP) fishery! You can usually find schools of BSP given good surf conditions and resulting good holding water that concentrates fish. These keys will make it easier for you to learn to catch a lot of fish. You still need a lot of time on the water to develop the skills.

Enjoy your skills but try to help sustain the BSP fishery. Numbers of large BSPs and big schools of smaller fish seem down in 2005. Consider catch and release fishing. If you like to eat Barred Surfperch then just remember that each large spawning female that you kill means that there will be 100+ fewer juvenilles each year for its lifetime. Consider your own slot limit - keeping only mid-sized fish (if any). If you practice catch and release, get your fish quickly and minimize their stress in handling and release them quickly.

These are my keys to catching a lot of fish. I hope they will help you refine your skills in finding fish. It does require a lot of energy to fish this way but it a very therapeutic (physically and mentally). It is also so satisfying when you finally find multiple heavy tugs after a hard days search.

I get mixed feelings about finding a lot of large spawners stacked up in a classic cut. Yes, it is a blast but fishing is too easy! Anyone can get limits of large fish when this happens. Consider the impact of multiple fisherman killing 5 large spawners every day that good conditons hold! It is good that it doesn't happen very often. Nature finds its balance. When the fishery declines, fishing gets harder and less fishermen show up. My ideal is to have fishing that is not easy. You can still get the numbers up if you work on these keys.

Questions or Comments
Contact:

Glenn Yoshimoto
glenn@zenflyfishing.com
Los Gatos, California

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Published: September 24, 2005

This page © Copyright 2005, Glenn Yoshimoto