A beautiful day beckoned and it simply became time to stop writing about fishing and go. And you know what? You're never sorry when you make that choice to wet a line. The destination turned out to be the surf in Huntington Beach in hopes of some barred surfperch or maybe a halibut. Really, just a bite would be good.

At first the plan was to get out to a lake like Perris or Wohlford where it's that time of spring when everything from bass to bluegill, trout to crappie is on the chew. But first the chance of an early morning departure slipped away, then a few pieces of work had to be done and a family situation popped up and the best I could do was go to my steelhead creel (where I always keep some perch stuff for the awesome redtail, barred and rainbow surfperch action along the North Coast) grab a bag of Gulp! sandworms and some Owner Mosquito hooks. Over in my rod stack I found a Jimmy Decker light line casting setup and all it took was a stop by Glenn's in Costa Mesa for some sliding sinkers and swivels and I was set -- with barely enough time to catch the backside of the high tide.

Spring break meant there were families out enjoying the sunshine at the State Beach, some right in a couple of the best looking tidal rips. Close to the Talbert Channel outlet I found an empty stretch of beach with a slick section of water in between breakers that belied a deep trench. Little barred perch were loaded up in there and a lateral current swept the bait right to them. It was fun getting rattled.

The water was cold but clean and the sun felt great. A high cloud layer swept in from Catalina and then it cleared again. On the outside one of the big sport boats, it looked like the Nautilus, was set up on the pipe. Some fly fishermen made casts into the Talbert Channel outflow in the open area just past the rock jetty (it's close inside of that). It was a good day to be fishing.

Rich Holland's Roundup