The Sandy Beach Habitat

Intro | Habitat | Reading the Water | Tackle

To the uninitiated, the West Coast surf seems clouded or dirty, lacking the transparent beauty and apparently the biological diversity of the South Pacific or the Caribbean. This is a misconception. Our West Coast shores are ripe with life.

There's so much life suspended in the water column, in fact, that it inhibits light from penetrating the depths, creating unique hues of green and brown. Algae, plankton, and countless microscopic creatures thrive here and provide the building blocks for a prolific food chain and sport fishery.

One of the reasons the waters are so productive is that the Pacific seaboard is a turbulent arena. Wind and current combine to produce an effect known as coastal upwelling. The strong offshore winds actually carry surface water away, and nutrient-rich waters filter up from the depths as replacements. Currents alongshore can, and do, produce the same results.

West Coast sandy beaches are an untapped fly-fishing frontier. Learning where the fish feed is the biggest key to success in the surf environment. In the above photo, you can see a stream inlet (center) and a "rip" (foreground). Both of these currents funnel food to feeding fish and are good places to wet a line.

This exchange of coastal water supports a significant bloom of microscopic plants, considered the most important item in the ocean's food chain. Forage fish feed on the plant life, and in turn, predatory gamefish prey on them.

When you begin to scrutinize the shoreline, an amazing variety of structure and cover becomes apparent. Perhaps the most accessible, and user-friendly shoreline for fly anglers is the sandy-bottomed beach. When it comes to approachable water, it's pretty hard to beat an open beachfront. Actual property sizes vary, from miles of uninterrupted flats to small private beaches no more than 50 yards long. This is an angling niche you can explore from Washington and Oregon, along the California coastline, and down into BajaÂ’s extraordinary peninsula.


The Pacific mole crab is a common food item for everything from surfperch to striped bass.

Though I've just mentioned thousands of miles of coastline, the surf zone exhibits many common denominators. ItÂ’s always affected by tide and current. ItÂ’s always a place in flux. The transformations are both subtle and abrupt, at times tumultuous, even treacherous.

It's a perpetual drama--seasonal, daily, and hourly by Nature's eminent design. Although the surf is teeming with wildlife, most of the sportfish populations here are transient--free roaming with the changing tides.

The Pacific mole crab, marine worms, soft-shelled clams, baitfish (herring, sand lance, anchovy, sardine, and smelt are the preeminent species) and the fry of gamefish are the most important items in the food chain. You're likely to encounter an impressive variety of game within the breakers. In your region there may be several kinds of surfperch, flatfish, and croaker, as well as Pacific salmon, striped bass, corbina, and others. To find out which target species are most likely to be found in your area, simply consult with the staff of any local tackle shop along the coast.

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