San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

These 2 small corbina ate the same soft shell on consecutive casts. Burnout separates Torrance Beach and Redondo Beach.

For me, it usually depends on what bait I'm using. I prefer the 4 mosquito or octopus for average size sand crabs but have gone down to a 6 on real small ones or up to 2 for larger crabs or for bloodworms, ghost shrimp & mussel. Baitholder 4's also work well for ghosties & bw's. Corbina can be ...

If you really care about avoiding gut hooking, I suggest that you use inline (non-offset) circle hooks. 95% of time your catch will be lip-hooked, like in the picture below.
PXL_20240224_003525743.jpg

Hook set would be different with circles and will take some time to get use to. I use them ...

I've included a diagram of the setup I use. I keep the light tight to the weight and wind/swing when I feel a bite or the weight goes slack. Although I don't know the mechanism, I lip hook almost every fish. It could be the weight setting the hook as they pull away, or maybe the bead keeps them from ...

For the c rig, I use a #6 mosquito and tie a snell knot. That’s for the gulp sand worm and sand crab.

I use a #8 mosquito hook, but do get a few swallows.. Oddly, it's the dink perch where i get tho most gut hooks... Maybe they have to be more aggressive to get their food... Those and those darn jack smelt, that swallow every thing they see. :x ... I used to use Owner Mutu Circle hooks for this very ...

The size is less important than the style, if fishing sand crabs I will use a red or gold mosquito hook that is wider than the crabs I'm using, I like the hook exposed some. this will still result in some deep hooked fish though, I carry hemostats, debarbing the hook would be a good idea if you are ...

For the c rig, I use a #6 mosquito and tie a snell knot. That’s for the gulp sand worm and sand crab.


To answer the question, I also use a #6 mosquito, but with a Palomar knot. Snelling would probably work as well or better.

Click away here or pack a lunch, I'ma chew this fine....

I carry ...

The good thing is those little deep hooked perch aren’t going to waste. They go right back into the food chain.

I also like Caivo Nanowire #10 hooks. The size is in between Owner Mosquito #6 and #8. Essentially an Owner Mosquito #7 at less than 1/2 the cost.

WTG on getting back out there... At least someone is fishing... I was gonna go out today, but punked out.. I agree with you, that fishing is better this year than the last couple..
Butch

Perch fishing definitely much better this past winter/spring than previous couple years. The big 14-15" slabs will hit LC's so a nice by-catch when going for hali's.

Agree !

Mono for the win. You can always fish a true fluoro leader a couple feet on top if you wish. But avoid casting knots through the guides unless it’s absolute must which it isn’t really unless you’re offshore striped Marlin fishing.
Nice thing about mono, you can strip off half spool or slightly more ...

I'm in the mono camp as well.. I just came back from Cabo and used braid for the reasons mentioned above... I have never had so much line problems in my life... Fraying line, wind knots, and break-offs of expensive lures... If I go back, it will be with mono... And I almost always use mono here ...

Clear cool day, with little to no wind, and a small swell, So looked good, huh?... The only thing besides the goofy tide, was for some reason the the area inside the far sandbar was churning pretty good, and a pretty fair side current... Almost like wind waves, but no wind... Not un-fishable, but ...

April is always nice as the water warms up enough to go barefoot in the wash. This month saw mostly small perch and some good sized croaker biting, although some baby leopard sharks came out to play in north county.

Conditions were pretty nice so went for an afternoon session on Sunday. Salad was minimal so I tried soft plastics and luckycraft but there were no takers. Switched bait fishing with shrimp and got a short sand bass, a perch and bunch of leopard sharks.

perch.jpeg

sandBass.jpeg

leopard1.jpeg ...

Ok guys... A pic overload....

I tend to agree on the perch this year. so many around that its almost just luck if a bean or croaker get to your sand crab before they do. A lot of surf guys, including myself, are having the same experience trying to get the corbinas working the shallows to hit their presentation. As one member of ...