Adventures of Johnny United: 2016 Memorial Day Camping

The first time we camped at Sunset Beach State Park was 2008. That was a fantastic year for surf fishing. With light fishing gear, my two oldest daughters and I caught several barred perch our first time surf fishing. We thought it was so easy. We were wrong.

Now in 2016 with the two oldest in college and having no time to fish with the old man, we managed another great year of surf fishing. After dinner, on Friday, May 27th, the WizTech and I went down with a new surf rig: 8-lb mainline; 8-lb, 2-foot leader; number 4 bait holder hook; Berkley 2-inch camo sandworm; and an 1-oz. sinker.

A picture is a thousand words.

Results: First cast, fish on! We got a bite almost every cast: we either loose a part of the sandworm, miss a hookset, or fish on! We quit at 7 nice perch.

I think we are starting to get it.

The following day, Saturday, we setup our two new friends from camp with the same rig and the result was a total of 18 perch for the four-member team.

Sunday around noon, we went fishing for monkeyface eel. We got 15!!!

First monkeyface eel for fisherman on the right.

Sunday evening, I went back to surf fishing. I went to my favorite spot by the log and got a small perch on the first cast. I threw it back thinking that it was going to be another fantastic surf fishing day. A few minutes later, it was fish on! I felt a heavier pull. "This must be a one pound perch," I thought to myself. When it was landed, it was a jacksmelt instead. However, Young Master (see the "Legends" tab) was having a great evening. While fishing with me, he landed five perch, including the one that was let go. I made a mental note that Young Master was using a different bait; he was using Hammer Perch Grubs.

Jacksmelt fell for the perch rig.

Monday morning I fished for an hour and landed another two perch. The awesome thing besides the fishing was that I got to see two killer whales, a lot of sea lions, and a 48-inch dead striped bass on the beach. The striped bass had been a recent kill and the thought did cross my mind regarding bringing it back to camp and impress everyone with the "catch of the day." However, it was heavy, and I couldn't think of an easier way to haul the fish back up the long steps to camp :-(

Kayaks with Beavers caught two baskets of strawberry.

In summary, the weather for this year was fantastic! Day temperatures were in the 70s, while night temperatures were in the low 50s. The wind was not blowing hard as previous years. The company was awesome as usual and the food plentiful! We gotta figure out a way to scale down on the food. And another great year of fishing. Thanks be to God!