SoCalSalty – Gear Report: Our Malibu Beaches app

Las Tunas beach

Yesterday, I had an interview for a new gig out in Santa Monica. The interview was at noon. I checked the tides the night before and high tide wasn’t going to be until 7:42 pm. I brought a change of clothes and a rod with me anyway because I’ve been wanting to scout some northern beaches for fishing. Interview went well and I was done by about 2:30. I wasn’t in a hurry to get to the beach knowing it was low tide, so I stopped to grab a bite before heading north up PCH. My only intel about spots at this point was I had heard south of the pier was a decent spot, so I decided I’d just stop at the first stretch of beach that offered easy access, free parking, and looked fishy.

I ended up hanging out at a spot that I later learned is called Las Tunas. It wasn’t far past Will Rogers State Beach. I could see from the road that there were some rocks in the water and while treacherous for hanging up lines, rocks also offer structure where some fish might be holding.

Long story short, I got skunked. I didn’t have high expectations given the conditions. What was frustrating though was that I was getting bit (on the camo worms aka “the crack”, and motor oil grubs or MOG), but I just couldn’t stick any fish. I got to fish the beach pretty much alone…the occasional romantic couple walked by…until toward the end of my session I noticed another angler. As I was packing up to leave, he walked over and introduced himself. His name was Rick, and he told me he worked at Bob Sands in the Valley. He didn’t have any luck either in that spot, but said he caught 2 short hali south of the pier throwing the Lucky Craft Flash Minnow. The day wasn’t a total loss though…

As Rick and I walked back towards our cars, we were greeted by a DFW officer named Kory. Younger guy, friendly, seemed like he might be an angler himself. After checking our licenses, we chatted a bit and he gave me a great tip, “Go check out the ‘Our Malibu Beaches‘ app. It gives you all the info on where to find coastal access spots.” Thank you Kory!

Officer Kory and Rick

Upon getting home, I googled it, and downloaded the app. It’s a simple enough app, but as promised it gives you information to access beach that I previously thought were private beaches. Turns out that by law, all California beaches are open to the public up to the point where high tide reaches. So as long as you aren’t trespassing private property to get to the beach, you’re golden and the app tells you how and where to do it. Genius! The app was a Kickstarter funded app and is the brainchild of Jenny Price, a UCLA professor. It was built by a company called Escape Apps and released last Summer. It’s a free download. Go check it out.

One of the reasons cited that these Malibu homeowners say that they don’t like people coming to “their” beach is that these beaches aren’t meant to handle crowds. There aren’t garbage cans or restrooms and so people leave trash (and worse). Please be a steward of the resource. Pick up after yourself. If someone comes out and says something, don’t be a dick. Be courteous and polite, and follow the instructions on what to say given to you in the app. We all need to be good ambassadors for our sport/lifestyle. Tight lines!