San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Hello everyone,

My family and I often go to Crown Cove (near Coronado Cays) for an afternoon at the beach. I have three spinning rods (5.5-7’) and a handful of mainly plastic swim baits and wanted to also fish with my kids when I’m there (5yo and 9yo).

I do have a SUP with a fishing rod holder but was hoping for some newbie tips for where/how/what bait to fish from the shore and also from the SUP (we wouldn’t go out far with the kids so in and around the cove itself).

Grateful for any advice. Contour map of the cove attached for anyone not familiar.

Gulp baits are a good choice. Or Frozen anchovy.

On what sort of rig?

1/4 oz jighead for the Gulp. 8lb test is a good choice. Just remember the bass stay close to the bottom. If you’re bouncing off the bottom you’re in the zone. If you’re thinking bait, I would bump up to 12-15 lb test as sharks and rays are possible. I like squid, stays on the hook really well.

1/10-1/4oz jigheads and 2.5-3" plastics. It's shallow there so I'd lean toward lighter and smaller. Cast it out, let it hit the bottom and wind it in slow. If it gets grass, wind a little faster and try to keep it just above the grass. If there's very little grass, you can also drag it real slow on the bottom if it's more of a straight tail lure.

For bait, the cheapest shrimp your market sells. Small chunk on a small hook rigged as a carolina rig with a 1/8-1/4oz weight. Can catch anything and will produce way more bites than other dead bait. What you don't bring with you sits at home in your fridge to be consumed as food. If you catch a bonefish, handle it gently and resist the temptation to squeeze it because they wiggle a lot.

Thanks for the replies, really useful. Proper newbie question but where would you be casting from/to in/outside the cove? I.e. where do you think the fish might be from the information on the map?

I started my son using a 1oz drop shot on gulp curly tail grubs and he caught 3 bass his first time. Seems like an easy rig to manage for kids

hiepatitis wrote: Tue May 27, 2025 10:28 am I started my son using a 1oz drop shot on gulp curly tail grubs and he caught 3 bass his first time. Seems like an easy rig to manage for kids

No need for 1 ounce of weight at this cove, it’s only 5 feet deep in most of it. Less weight means less grass you’ll snag. Use 1/4 oz at most

Thanks for the advice. We are novice and just tried it at harbor island because our rods can’t cast 1/4oz very far.

Thanks all. Casted from the shore with a drop shot the other day and caught what I think was a smooth hound…until I got him just off the beach and he broke off!

When the tide is up, there will be some fish up on the flats, in one to three feet of water....if you wade out there, you'll see 'em. I've caught smelt, corvina, and corbina....and you'll also see some mullet up there, too, but they mostly only eat vegetation or flies that look like weeds.