3-10-15 Crystal Cove (Surf fishing)

Went and fished Crystal Cove for the first time. It was overcast from 8am when I arrived til I left at 11am. I fished a Rapala X-Rap in olive color on the flats to the left of reef point for a while and got maybe a few bumps but no fish committed. I could see there were small sharks and other fish (small corbina?) coming closer to the shore as the tide went up but I managed to not get one fish.

I moved to the rock area of reef point and began to cast past the wave break. I could feel the lure going over all of the submerged rocks and bump off of them when I felt some good resistance. I thought I had a ton of eel grass or kelp but it was a kelpfish. It was a little guy but I was pumped that I beat the skunk. I continued to fan cast and move along the rocks to cover ground. I toss to a deeper section that looked to have some nice kelp and depth. Sure enough, as I steadily retrieved the X-Rap, I get bit hard! I hooked up on a good sized kelp bass! It looked to be about 10+ inches. Took a pic and released it.

After snagging and subsequently losing my lure I decided to tie on a calico hunter colored swimbait on a 3/8oz weedless lead head and toss it around the same area. As the tide came in and I began having trouble keeping good footing so I decided to head back to shore and work some other spots in between the rocks. No luck there.

I tied on a blue sardine X-Rap and went back to the left where I had originally started fishing. The tide had come up a bit so I was able to get the lure out a bit further and work more water. I began to fan cast and work my way down the beach. I changed my retrieve up a few times and got a bump on a reel, pause, reel retrieve so I kept working the X-Rap that way down the beach.

After a while I managed to hook another fish. This one gave me a nice fight as  I worked it towards the beach. I bring it in close enough to see that it is a halibut! My first ever from the surf! In my excitement I bring it to dry land and, as my luck would have it, it shook the hook. No pics but I can guess the it was a solid smaller than legal model. I was bummed that I lost it but pumped that I finally hooked a halibut from the surf!

I continued to work the surf for a bit longer when I decided to call it a day. Not too bad for my first time at Crystal Cove. It had been a while since I fished from the surf and it was a lot more fun than I remember.

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Congratz on beating the skunk and bummer on the lost hali.
Thanks for sharing.

Good stuff chafita way to grind bro...congrats on beating the skunk as well on the hali...good job

Just a bit of advice...Crystal Cove is closed to fishing. Big fines if you get caught!

Nice surf fishing session

@sonarbp- I asked the ranger at the gate and he said that fishing was allowed; I was seen by several other rangers that were cruising by on trucks and utility vehicles without even an eyebrow raised; there was another angler that was there fishing before I got there and he was still there even when I left; a friend of mine thought the same that you did when I texted him and he looked it up and it is legal to fish.

Here is the an excerpt from the literature to back that up ([You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]):

Crystal Cove State Marine Conservation Area
Boundary and Regulations from California Code of
Regulations Title 14, Section 632
Boundary:
(A) This area is bounded by the mean high tide line and straight lines
connecting the following points in the order listed:
33° 35.373’ N. lat. 117° 52.648’ W. long. ;
33° 35.065’ N. lat. 117° 52.692’ W. long. ;
33° 32.400’ N. lat. 117° 49.200’ W. long. ; and
33° 33.233’ N. lat. 117° 49.200’ W. long.
Permitted/Prohibited Uses:
(B) Take of all living marine resources is prohibited except:
1. The recreational take of finfish* by hook and line or by spearfishing,
and spiny lobster and sea urchin is allowed.
2. The commercial take of sea urchin; spiny lobster by trap; and costal
pelagic species by round haul net, brail gear, and light boat is allowed.
Not more than five percent by weight of any commercial coastal
pelagic species catch landed or possessed shall be other incidentally
taken species.
3. Take pursuant to activities authorized under subsection ... (C) [below]
is allowed.
(C) Beach nourishment and other sediment management activities, and
operation and maintenance of artificial structures inside the conservation
area is allowed pursuant to any required federal, state and local permits,
or as otherwise authorized by the Department.
(D) Take of all living marine resources from inside tidepools is
prohibited. For purposes of this section, tidepools are defined as the
area encompassing the rocky pools that are filled with seawater due to
retracting tides between the mean higher high tide line and the mean
lower low tide line.

Thanks for the concern though. The last thing I need is Johhny law slapping me with a fine...

Yeah your good there..... ive surfed fish that beach with buddies.....i also checked cuz I thought the same....

MLPA so fricken confusing sometimes.

Nice going. Always wanted to fish there

Ya, with Laguna being a preserve now its super confusing trying to figure out where in that area you can fish. I feel like they make it vague for a reason. However, as its been said, you are allowed to fish there. I have never surf fished there but have done some lobster diving and spear fishing. Definitely have seen some decent fish out there.