Decided to get into a bit of fishing here at the Oregon coast. It's something else to do when the surf isn't great (which is a lot of the time), and it turns out I'm within walking distance of a popular spot for surf perch. Having no fishing knowledge whatsoever, I had to go down the YouTube rabbit hole for pretty much everything.

On my first outing I thought I could get away with wearing some waterproof boots and cast from the sand. It didn't work out so well - I immediately got water in my boots then proceeded to snag my line 3 times and break my leader off each time. Turns out I was in too rocky of a spot. I was able to get the basic mechanics of casting down though and learn the basics of spinning reels.


First attempt:

The second time out I wore wetsuit bottoms so I could wade out up to about knee level. No bites and still managed to snag my line once pretty good again.

I then gleaned that if you don't get any bites after about 5 casts or so, you need to work your way up or down the shoreline. I tried this the next outing and got a bite!

First catch:

This was a pretty small female, which I Iet go. I still need to learn how to clean and filet, and plan to try keeping some bigger ones next time. The daily limit is 15 per person which is quite a bit!