Spotty Fishing San Diego Bay- A-rig and Ultralight

[Pourboy]

Hey all headed out to the big bay the other day and spent a few hours fishing when it wasn’t supposed to be any good. It was kind of a slack tide but it was a weekday and I had a day off which almost never happens. I launched the tube at Tidelands on Coronado and almost immediately got a steady hook up on the A-rig. Did that for a while and then switched over to the 6lb ultralight gear. I always love getting the spotties like that. I ended up with around 20 in just a few hours so I was pleasantly surprised with the slack tide. Check out the video for more details. Cheers!

San Diego Bay Fishing! Bass On My New KISTLER Rod!

[Rattus]

Cool video, cool rod, nice fish! I haven’t had much luck with spotties during slack tides.

[galen]

Nice outing. You have a motor on your tube?

[Gotfish?]

Cool video, cool rod, nice fish! I haven’t had much luck with spotties during slack tides.

I have had days where I absolutely nailed them at low tide in the channels next to flats using a crankbait, outside the weedline.

Have yet to find that I do any better on an Alabama rig than on a single soft plastic drug across the bottom. But I will keep trying, I know they work well for some people.

[Rattus]

I have had days where I absolutely nailed them at low tide in the channels next to flats using a crankbait, outside the weedline.

Thanks, I'll have to try that. Do they move from the flats into the deeper channels at low tide? Have you had success fishing at high tide?

[Gotfish?]

I have had days where I absolutely nailed them at low tide in the channels next to flats using a crankbait, outside the weedline.

Thanks, I'll have to try that. Do they move from the flats into the deeper channels at low tide? Have you had success fishing at high tide?

Yes, they won't stay on the shallow flats at a negative tide, they would be targets for birds if they did. So a low tide and shallow flats will concentrate them in the channel. So even though they don't feed as much when the water isn't moving, when they are concentrated you can still do well. Not sure why but sometimes a crankbait at low tide can be a lot more effective that a curly tail or swimbait. The more negative, the better.

At high tide, they move onto the flats. They will often stay mostly in a 5-8' depth all day in the South Bay area, moving in and out with the tide. But they will be more spread out during high tide and I have not found that as productive.

Another tip is to fish where the water is flowing from shallow to deep, high or low tide. That can be at the edge of flats or around a point or a corner. They will position themselves to get prey that is moving with the tide from the shallower areas.

I have used deep diving crankbaits as spotties are bottom oriented. This time of year (not winter during the grass die off), the channels are usually free of much grass that hangs up on the lures.

[Pourboy]

Nice outing. You have a motor on your tube?

I use 2 Blue Robotics T500 thrusters on my tube.

[galen]

Those look awesome. I noticed in your video how far south of Tidelands you ended up and thought that would be one helluva kick back to the beach! Another question, how deep are you able to fish those 1/8 oz jigheads and still stay on the bottom? Thanks

[Rattus]

This time of year (not winter during the grass die off), the channels are usually free of much grass that hangs up on the lures.

Speaking of which, where do the bass go during the winter when the water cools and the grass dies off?

[Gotfish?]

This time of year (not winter during the grass die off), the channels are usually free of much grass that hangs up on the lures.

Speaking of which, where do the bass go during the winter when the water cools and the grass dies off?

South Bay turns on then, I have had some amazing days there. About 3 winters ago, had one morning where I had 137 in the Cays area and I often have 50+ days in South Bay in the winter. There are more small spotties then but there will be bigger ones mixed in too. The same area has been generally very poor in the summer for me.

There will be times when the harbors in the Cays area have lots of bay anchovies present, presumably to spawn. Fishing can be very good in the harbors then.

There will be spotties everywhere in the bay at any time but they will concentrate in different areas at different times of the year and during the different times of the tide cycle.

There isn't any one answer where the fish are going to be. Get a depth finder if you want to get a lot smarter about finding fish. I start at 6-8' deep and cast around and note what works. Deepest I have ever fished in the bay has been 35-40'. There's fish there but it takes longer for the lure to get down there and they are more scattered. Pay particular attention to channel edges, underwater rises, points and corners and openings of harbors.

One thing about spotties is that they congregate (not the same as schooling which is a tight grouping). So where you catch one, there are often more to be caught. I have caught as many as 20 from an area about the diameter that I can cast across.