San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Everydog wrote: Wed May 28, 2025 1:24 pm You were not kidding about the stingrays, Butch. I was at Del Mar again, and there were a lot of them, about the size of a dinner plate.
Not a ton of other fish. I farmed a keeper halibut, which just came unbuttoned in the last little wave, and got a 15-26 inch Calico. And just one perch and one croaker fooling with the c-rig.

How did it go this morning if you fished?

William Ritchie wrote: Sat May 24, 2025 9:27 am

Everydog wrote: Sat May 24, 2025 9:04 am

camobass wrote: Sat May 24, 2025 7:14 am 12lb mono works great throwing lucky crafts. I throw them on conventional bass rod. No problem with distance on any jerk bait style with weight transfer system.

12-pound pulls in a legal halibut in surf pretty well?

From experience I can say that a quality 12 lb mono is pretty tough , particularly when it comes to pulling a lure off a snag . I use bait casters in most of my surf fishing and have had problems with braid digging in when an equal pound test is used vs diameter . Most of my bait casters I have reworked and tuned and still maybe get 20 lb max drag . Talking Shimano Calcuttas 250 , 300te, 400 s . I personally cant see using 40 - 50lb braid for needed diameter to function with only 20 lbs of drag or 8 to 20lb line rating on the rod . Yea I know dinosaur here . Tight lines , WR

William Ritchie wrote: Sun Jun 15, 2025 7:48 am @Everydog , Calcutta reels are very nice reels , I could make a list of all the attributes but they are in their own class. There are an amazing number of very high quality reels that can match the performance . Daiwa , Shimano , Okuma , and others all will fit the purpose . Guess the first question is your hand size . Some people like myself have larger hands and can palm round reels , others not . As far as reel size 200 and 300 sizes will be more than adequate for the surf for the application mentioned . The 400 is starting to be a bit overkill on line capacity for the task . If you can pick out one that fits your hand so you can wind while having your thumb and forefinger on the line for feel and tension purposes take that one . The low profile reels have a bigger main gear and most will have larger drag surfaces that match , high speed gearing seems to be the norm . Personally the high speed retrieve is a disadvantage , we all tend to get in a rush and working most of the commonly used lures and baits speed is not necessarily your friend . There are of course times when that extra speed could be used but in the surf not so much . I use mono primarily , Izor copolymer in 12 lb for most my surf applications with a bait caster . Have used heavier leaders from a boat for different applications for toothy critters . In general tie straight to the bait is what I do in the surf . If i say that you could pick 1 rod to do the mentioned tasks here is one I suggest Daiwa DSX 801HFB pretty much does a good job of it , as I recall you may indeed have one or at least used to . The 1-6 oz rating is BS as with my casting technique anything over 2oz. would surely bust the rod unless it was just a lob cast. So if a round reel fits your hand and you want to pimp it up with some custom work , Shimano Cardiff 300 would be an excellent candidate . Easy to get at the brake system , easy to find parts for and right at the 100 buck price point for a start . shares a lot of the Calcutta design with some differences in materials that will be noticed in longevity but not in general use . We can get into pimping the reels of any design latter . Well probably bored everyone so thats it for now . WR

Everydog wrote: Thu Jun 19, 2025 8:17 am Sent the lucky craft to San Vicente Island. Unfortunately, it was no longer attached to my rod and reel. I got bumped once before returning to bait fishing. Getting the bugs worked out. Croaker.jpg

Everydog wrote: Thu Jun 19, 2025 8:17 am Sent the lucky craft to San Vicente Island. Unfortunately, it was no longer attached to my rod and reel. I got bumped once before returning to bait fishing. Getting the bugs worked out. Croaker.jpg

Perch killer wrote: Sat Jun 21, 2025 9:14 pm Another nice one, congrats. Lot of spot fin reported this season to date. More than I can remember from past years. Now sargo is still on my bucket list, never caught one. Beans have been tough to come by, I think for everyone. I'm still looking for my first this year. Haven't seen any in the waves or charging up on to the beach in the skinny water after crabs. Real strange so far.