North Coast Redtail Surfperch Beaches
Humboldt & Del Norte beaches · near Arcata / Crescent City · North Coast
Fishing
At a glance
- Difficulty
- intermediate
- Best season
- Redtail perch spring–fall · smelt runs summer
Permits and booking
- Licence required
- Yes
- Licence detail
- CA license (16+) required. The wild beaches of Humboldt and Del Norte counties are famous for big redtail surfperch. Night smelt are netted from shore (A-frame nets) in season. Sneaker waves are a real danger on this exposed coast — never turn your back on the ocean.
What is here
- Features
- Big, prized redtail surfperch · Wild, empty redwood-coast beaches · Night smelt netting · Uncrowded far-north surf
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- No
Fishing detail
- Water type
- surf
- Water
- salt
- Methods
- Surf casting · Bait
- Boat
- shore
- Target species
- Redtail surfperch (prized) · Night smelt (dip net) · Striped bass (Humboldt) · Starry flounder
- Intl tip
- License required. Redtail surfperch are the prize — sand shrimp or Gulp in the troughs, spring–fall. Night smelt netting is a summer tradition. DANGER: sneaker waves kill people on this coast — never turn your back on the surf, watch the sets. Combine with the redwoods. Wild and remote.
The guide
The wild, often-empty beaches of Humboldt and Del Norte counties are Northern California's surfperch paradise — home to the big…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to North Coast Redtail Surfperch Beaches — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 40.98, -124.113