San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

I found a few croakers, rays and this above average Corbina yesterday in close with soft shell crabs. Then this special guest star bit surprisingly hard.

Nice corbina and a tough little bone... Very interesting fishing excursion Mike... WTG!...
Butch

Couple of nice ones there Mike. 2nd or 3rd surf bone seen reported this year, sort of a rarity.

Nice haul! Those bone fish are cool looking.

Awesome outing. I’m new to SD county. Noticed what looks like a corkie or bead by the hook. I haven’t seen that before.

The Orange bead matches the color of the Sand Crab Eggs. Many believe this gives the fish a little more to focus on. While I catch fish on Sand Crabs with a bead or no bead, I paint my Jigheads Orange with ZMan Sand Crab imitations. It makes all the difference sight casting for Corbina, as you can really see it in the rushing water.

Mike A wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 7:56 pm Awesome outing. I’m new to SD county. Noticed what looks like a corkie or bead by the hook. I haven’t seen that before.

The 6mm orange bead emulates sand crab roe. I believe it helps attract fish to the bait and then they decide to bite, or not. Sort of, "Come look at me, I'm a soft shell crab!"

I've posted this a few times, but here is a diagram of the setup I use.

Great info Mike, I’m a Carolina rig guy, but started with a water Gremlin multi pack of split shot and a ziplock with some #4 Eagle Claw bait holder hooks. We all catch fish illustrating the simplicity involved. By the way, don’t those Bonefish remind you of giant Sardines?

Thanks guys. Great info. I have beads/corkie. I’ll have to check on the orange color. I have mainly red & pink. Mike M with the smaller hooks, does that cause gut jobs? Right now I’m using mainly 2 and 4.

Mike A wrote: Mon Aug 04, 2025 10:54 am Thanks guys. Great info. I have beads/corkie. I’ll have to check on the orange color. I have mainly red & pink. Mike M with the smaller hooks, does that cause gut jobs? Right now I’m using mainly 2 and 4.

Surprisingly, I rarely gut hook fish using smaller hooks and a bead. I think it may be due to keeping the line tight with the sinker at the bottom and winding/swinging quickly when they bite.

Each beach seems to fish differently, but at my local beaches from Palos Verdes to the Redondo Beach Pier, corbina seem to prefer baits without any of the hook exposed and hence the smaller hooks. Btw, I've landed large guitarfish, like this one from a year ago, with 8lb mono and small hooks no problem.

Nice SNGF Mike…. Those guys can pull..
You know, I think you probably get less gut hooks with your rig than I do with the C-rig.. Your hook is pretty tight to the line, where as the C-rig hook can be a little loose on the end of a longer leader, flailing around in the surf.. More “feel”, earlier swing and hook up.. Less gut hooks…
Butch