San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Sounds like some fun outings! Those guitarfish pull hard too.

And... you got a reply from Bill Varney too!

My buddy uses circle hooks and 4oz weights while his rods are spiked. The sinker provides constant resistance. When the fish bites, the circle hooks grabs as they swim away. No need for braid on the main line to prevent stretch. The weight sets the circle hook.

He uses crabs like me. Nothing exotic, yellowfin croaker can be way out at our beaches. He also uses the same setup to cast closer for corbina.

Very cool looking fish!

I made a few long casts with hard shells and found a couple of croaker. Then I found some soft shells and it was fun times catching corbina in close.

Nice catching!

I've only caught croaker on gulp sand crabs and even then, only in the peak summer months.

I'd recommend using a device that allows you to sift a lot of sand and find something else besides a normal hard shell... soft shell, crab with egg, "crispy" crab, or a crab about to molt and ...

I found a medium/large sand crab that looked like a soft shell, but was hard when I touched it. I thought, "If I was fooled, maybe a corbina would be fooled too." Sure enough, a short cast into less than 12" of water found this corbina.

Very cool to catch perch on a metal jig. I also like your description of the conditions. I hope you catch the iron-trifecta next time... halibut/croaker/perch.