All of this rain has brought this question to mind. I've found myself in the past sitting on the coast after a good heavy rain waiting for the rivers to drop and trying to occupy my time. Has anyone fished for surf perch during the winter? Are there any techniques more reliable than others?

Just figured next time I'm caught during high water, I can still fish for something. Thanks for any info.........

GH - lot of us are probably in the same situation with the recent rain. Being a river wading fly fisher, I'm going to the Sound this weekend. My understanding is that surf and pile perch as well as SRC are pretty much year round. "Trout And Beyond" by (sorry, mind lock on the author)has some good advice on perch. Golden Garden Park has a pile line to fish as does Ft. Casey. Good luck, Bart

John Shewey wrote the book mentioed above. Also, there was a good article on Surf Perch off Long Beach in the Spring issue of NW Flyfishing. I've heard that the mouth of the Copalis Riv. is good for perch, as is the new diversion jetty between Tokeland and North Cove (south of Westport). I'm not sure, but I thnk spring is the best time to fish them. That is when I see the most effort off the beaches.

I've fished for surf perch off the mouth of a creek near Port Angeles. It seems to be a seasonal thing to get them there because all of a sudden they were gone. I was fly fishing for them. Use anything red. The best thing is a red woolly bugger if you are fly fishing. I caught a 16" surf perch once and it fought really good. It was kinda like hooking a big bluegill or something. It tasted good too!

~ Dr Pepper

Or, if you are into bait and plunking, use a slip egg sinker and a sand shrimp tail on an incoming tide just about any where semi sandy. I sure caught a ton of sea bass and perch this way when I was a kid. But that was during spring and summer. I don't know about winter time.

Does anyone know of any good beaches in or near Bellingham to fly fish for surf perch?