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When I lived in Carlsbad I fished Tamarack all the time. My best bites were on sardine and smelt colored swim baits. In the summer I've actually had better success fishing in side the kelp over the rocky reef and eel grass areas. 3/8 and 1/2 oz are about as heavy as you need to go because you want the swim bait above the grass. Making bait is always a good idea. I've never had much luck with macs there but smelt can work well. During grunion runs you can catch the grunion at night and fish them the next few mornings. Sand and calico bass plus halibut will often be in tight and will hit the dead grunion. Another "match the hatch" happens in the spring when the black, barred, silver, and wall eyed perch all have their babies. They give live birth so for about a month the reefs are loaded with little naïve baits. They're from penny to quarter sized and look a lot like shad. I spearfished there as well and at these times the sandies, calis, leopard sharks, and halis often hunt right along the boundary where the eel grass and sand meet waiting for the perch to stray from the safety of the rocks. Small silver or white swim baits and even fresh water style shad rap style lures can work. Any way, these are a few things that worked for me there.
And for Cuyuna Kid; fletchers cove can have good fishing similar to Tamarack. There is also some boiler rock fishing up toward seaside. The set back there is you can launch on an empty beach early but by noon the beach and water are packed. The life guards may have you land way the hell down the beach away from the swimming area. Mike
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