This is a late report for a weekend getaway of fishing at Long Beach for red tail surf perch.

JoAnn, the dogs, and I loaded up the car and hit the road - and Friday evening traffic - for a weekend getaway to Long Beach, one of our (and the dogs) favorite getaways. Especially in the off season, the place has a fraction of the people and prices are much better. So we battle almost three hours to get from Redmond to south of Tacoma and then broke free and drove the rest of the way in under 2 hours, arriving at 10pm. Whew!

The next morning Diesel and I got up at 7:30 and walked over to the ocean to try some surf fishing. I used a standard perch wire rig which has two 90 degree wires and attached to the ends of the wires a #6 hook. I used both clam necks and also Berkly saltwater pile worms. The surf dictated 3 oz of weight which gave me a good cast and some holding power. It was a beautiful weekend of calm winds and sunny skies.

Saturday morning Diesel sat faithfully on the beach behind me as I fished for a couple hours, getting nibbles but only managing one little sand dab. We returned to our room and spent the rest of the day enjoying Long Beach, returning for sunset with JoAnn and Rudy. Again, more nibbles but nothing in the way of perch. One other pair of anglers appeared to have similar results. It didn't really matter much to me. The surf was intoxicating and the dogs had a good time runnign up and down the beach with JoAnn.

Sunday morning I went out on my own and fished for a couple hours with a perfect incoming high tide at 9:30am. Again the nibbles, but this time I was able to hook and catch a 6" red tail perch. Satisfied that I more or less knew what I was doing I called it a morning.

We'll come back in the spring which I believe is a better time of the year to fish anyway. For sure the weekend getaway was just what the doctor ordered!

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