Inshore · 60 ft · beaches, bays, inlets and rips

Redtail Surfperch

Amphistichus rhodoterus. Prime water reaches Neah Bay in Pacific Northwest right now (58°F at the surface). Fish it around 13 ft down — that is where 57°F water sits off Neah Bay.

Redtail Surfperch identification illustration
LaneInshore · 10 fa (60 ft)
Depth it holds2–20 ft
Prime water50–61°F (workable 50–66°F)
Holds in the column0–13 ft down below the surface, over 2–20 ft of water
Judged onsurface temperature (NASA MUR satellite)
Structurenone

The water column off Neah Bay

0 ft33 ft66 ft13 ft of workable water0–13 ft · 57–57°F

The strip is the water itself, coloured by temperature from the surface down to the 66 ft surveyed bottom at that spot — one band per RTOFS model level. The outlined stretch is where Redtail Surfperch's temperature band (50–66°F) and the depth it holds actually overlap. That thickness is the number that matters: it is how much water you can work, not just whether the spot is warm enough somewhere. One model cycle, not a weekly archive — this holds still while the surface map scrubs.

In 3D

Drag to rotate, pinch or scroll to zoom. 3D model traced from a D Ross Robertson, Public domain reference — source.

How it's fished

Sand shrimp or clam necks cast into the surf troughs and rip channels on an incoming tide.

Region by region — right now

RegionSeasonPrime waterTempFish it atMonths
Pacific Northwest in season reaches Neah Bay 58°F ~13 ft
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
California in season reaches San Francisco 62°F ~13 ft
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
"Fish it at" is where this species' temperature band and its holding depth overlap in the water column, from the RTOFS profile (13 levels, 0–300 m) — the depth to actually put a bait, not just the place. "Prime water" is the furthest sampled station on the 10-fathom lane whose surface temperature sits inside this species' band. It is water, not a sighting report.
Charted grounds on the 10-fathom lane
The Farallon Islands