Oscar Fish Count
In the interest of full disclosure:
As I mentioned in the post below, I celebrated this Oscar weekend by throwing my own private beach party this morning-- doing my best to personally meet up with as many Barred Surf Perch as possible. My nephew Neil and I fished the incoming tide about a mile north of the Santa Monica pier and pulled about a dozen perch out of the waves. Four were well-sized enough to keep -- topping out at about 12 inches. They are currently in the fridge and will be joining us tomorrow night for our in-home Oscar dinner. No photographers allowed.
February 26th, 2005 at 9:13 pm
That sounds like fun. I’ve never tried surf fishing, but it has to beat Oscar watching!
I used to body surf a ways south of there (South of Pico). Didn’t notice all those perch in there with me.
February 26th, 2005 at 9:53 pm
John… few people have any idea how MANY fish there are in the surf and how many are all around them even when they are only knee-deep in the water!This ignorance is especially here in L.A. area where people are — somewhat more distant from nature– and where’s there’s an assumption that no living creature could actually survive in the water of the Sta Monica Bay.
Here are some facts that would boggle the mind of most Angelenos:
Most of the fish we catch is in the whitewater IN FRONT of the waves.
The highly prized Corbina (1/2 to 5 lbs) is a salt-water-like-cat-fish that can easily be seen sucking up sand crabs in literally a few inches of water.
Just today one of the local experts was saying he’s been catching some big perch the past few weeks only about eight feet from the water’s edge (maybe as shallow as a foot or so of water).
The local bay teems with sand sharks and bat rays (some of the easiest fish to catch).
BIG thresher sharks are not uncommon just a few dozen yards from water line. As are porpoises that can be seen cruising daily.
The Sta Monica bay is full of perch, croaker, bass and halibut. It IS a wonder how they do survive!
February 26th, 2005 at 11:15 pm
Hey, Marc…So, just because WE can’t dispatch hoards photojournalist types to your house doesn’t mean YOU can’t post a snapshot or two of them fish we’ve heard so much about!
(What’re digital cameras for, after all????)
February 26th, 2005 at 11:48 pm
Sounds like you had a good time. My brother and I were totally skunked on our fishing expedition this morning.
February 27th, 2005 at 9:02 am
Are ocean perch tasty? I’ve had the fresh water variety – not worth all the bones. Of course, I love to eat bluefish so what do I know!
February 27th, 2005 at 9:37 am
I’ve been grunion hunting. Fun! Then you run home and cook them up with butter, shallots, white wine…yum.
Bon appetit!
February 27th, 2005 at 9:42 am
Caught my first perch at the age of six off the old Carpinteria pier. Still the best fish dinner I’ve ever had, too many…
February 27th, 2005 at 10:14 am
How will the perch be prepared for your dinner table? Fried? Grilled? Baked?
February 27th, 2005 at 11:04 am
Marc,
Fascinating. I’ve seen dolphins (the mammals, not the fish) within 10 feet of the Pacific Coast Highway when I used to commute by motorcycle (Suzuki 350) from Big Rock area, Malibu to Hughes Aircraft (Inglewood – LAX)! They were at a curve near Topanga if I remember right, and would play with people in the water there.
At my favorite beach in Hawaii I’ve seen fish in the thin water of breaking surf. Never seem to touch them when I’m in the water though.
As I once mentioned, I used to body-surf in the Ocean Park area (until hurricane surf with falling through a 12-15 foot curl onto sand damaged my back). COLD…. water. I surfed for an hour after the injury without having any idea it was a problem. Then I got out of the water, and it was over a year, a gazillion doctors and meds, and then a chiroquackter – the latter solved the remaining problem through manipulation. Never saw any fish.
No wonder I can’t catch the things. They’re so sneaky.
BTW, I assume people know not to eat the Fugu Fish (puffers)? I don’t know if you have them there but they are all over Hawaiian watters. Their livers contain tetrodoxin (sp?), one of the most deadly neurotoxins known. Naturally, they are a Japanese delicacy.
My wife used to swim in the deeper water off of Palos Verdes until one day something much bigger than she swam with her
Dah de dah duh dah de dah duh ….
Here in Arizona, our most invisible but common fish is the sand trout. These are found in the normally dry washes that are tributaries to the Gila River system. They eat normal stuff when the water is flowing, but small reptiles when it is dry. I’ll try to get a picture some time.
February 27th, 2005 at 11:36 am
Oops – that’s Tetrodotoxin. See the FDA’s “Big Bad Bug Book” : [note URL deleted due to false spam detect - of the FDA, marc?? :-]. They seem to actually have a sense of humor with that name.
And guess what else – it’s not nearly as toxic as I thought (gotta have a chat with the neuroscientist in the family):
“A dose of 1-2 mg of purified toxin can be lethal. Reported cases from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have documented toxicity with ingestion of as little as 1.4 ounces of puffer fish.”
This compares with botulinum toxins at .4 ng/KG vs teterodoxin at about 16,000 ng/KG (one form may be 8ng/KG).
And now back to the fun part of fishing. In AZ, the deserts have normal lake fish – bass, crappie, bluegill, catfish; the canals in Phoenix have Tilapia and sometimes trout; the higher elevations (about 1/3 or the state) have trout, bass, northern pike). There are a number of high mountain streams and lakes that I like, having grown up partly in Albuquerque and fished in the Sangre de Christos.
February 27th, 2005 at 11:37 am
URL for above: www cfsan fda gov/~mow/chap39 html
February 27th, 2005 at 12:18 pm
Sand flies for sand trout? Or are worms better?
February 27th, 2005 at 6:10 pm
Jim,
I think most people use fake lizards. Most washes are catch and release, artificial bait only.
February 28th, 2005 at 12:08 pm
Marc,
Please let us fellow anglers know what you and your nephew used for bait.
Thanks!
Ken
February 28th, 2005 at 6:13 pm
Ken.. we used strictly plastics i.e. soft plasticv grubs .. 1 3/4 inches up to 3 inches long… mostly “seawolf” color (purplish) and motor oil red flake… we dip them in squid flavored Smelly Jelly and toss them into the waves using light tackle — 6lb flourcarbon leader and 1/2 oz sliding sinker.
March 5th, 2005 at 8:22 pm
I don’t think you ever answered the previous poster about your preparation.
I am eager to know.
We dredge our perch in seasoned cornmeal and fry.
Serve with lemon or lime.
They taste better below the border, I find, say around Punta Cabras.
Nice to know you fish. Longtime fan, just found this site and was lured out of lurkdom.
March 5th, 2005 at 11:41 pm
Gracias Burritomama… Oh.. we cook up the perch all kinds of ways. I agree they are better breaded and fried. However, if they are big enough ( a pound or more) it’s better to bake them in garlic and butter.. sometimes we bbq them wrapped up in butter in alum foil…
March 6th, 2005 at 8:19 am
ah yes, the wonders of aluminun foil, especially in a campfire.
we got back awhile ago from some days in Bahia de los Angeles where we did the foil trick when we could – purple-lipped oysters and rockfish.
but enough of fish. back to the unnatural world. Glad to have found your site here. I’m years behind everyone in developing some kind of internet habit but here I go. I listen to you (have for years, I mean, YEARS) on KPFK and read you where I can.
June 29th, 2006 at 10:51 pm
looking for information and found it at this great site.
July 23rd, 2006 at 11:56 am
Kansst du mir ein Speisekarte poker zeigen ?sxv
August 1st, 2006 at 8:56 am
Betting Bettingbaseball handicapping baseball handicappingbaseball picks baseball picks
September 14th, 2006 at 5:27 pm
football predictions axn football predictions axn http://best-football-predictions.blogspot.comaxn
December 28th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Substantially, the post is in reality the sweetest on this laudable topic. I concur with your conclusions and will eagerly look forward to your forthcoming updates. Just saying thanks will not just be enough, for the extraordinary clarity in your writing. I will directly grab your rss feed to stay informed of any updates. Fabulous work and much success in your business efforts!