San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

I fished the surf south of Crystal pier about 6:45-7:45 this morning. Water is clear and warm, grass is minimal. Bite was furious early, then steady. Landed 4 BSP, 1 guitarfish and the smallest corbina I’ve ever seen.

PBChris wrote: Mon Sep 08, 2025 8:38 am I fished the surf south of Crystal pier about 6:45-7:45 this morning. Water is clear and warm, grass is minimal. Bite was furious early, then steady. Landed 4 BSP, 1 guitarfish and the smallest corbina I’ve ever seen.

Nice! Catching comically small fish is always funny to me. On Friday my son felt a bite on a small perch, set the hook, and the thing came flying out of the water over his head, lol. Not sure what a fish that small was doing messing with a worm bigger than he/she was but we both got a good laugh out of it.

PBChris wrote: Mon Sep 08, 2025 8:38 am I fished the surf south of Crystal pier about 6:45-7:45 this morning. Water is clear and warm, grass is minimal. Bite was furious early, then steady. Landed 4 BSP, 1 guitarfish and the smallest corbina I’ve ever seen.

Were you able to find sand crabs under the pier ? Fished by T 19-20 last week and crabs were difficult to find, no visible beds. Same at Mission.

Nice guppy bean ! Got one like that, 6-7" or so last week, LOL

We call those itty bitty Corbina…Cigars.

Perch killer wrote: Mon Sep 08, 2025 11:21 am

PBChris wrote: Mon Sep 08, 2025 8:38 am I fished the surf south of Crystal pier about 6:45-7:45 this morning. Water is clear and warm, grass is minimal. Bite was furious early, then steady. Landed 4 BSP, 1 guitarfish and the smallest corbina I’ve ever seen.

Were you able to find sand crabs under the pier ? Fished by T 19-20 last week and crabs were difficult to find, no visible beds. Same at Mission.

Nice guppy bean ! Got one like that, 6-7" or so last week, LOL

Yes, forgot to mention, plenty of sand crabs under the pier. That’s my default spot to gather them unless I see a bed along the way. Agree that beds are thinning out along the beach.

Cigar is a good description of the bean. Crab was mauled but outside its mouth, not sure how he planned to fit it inside. And I’m using the smallest crabs I can find that have roe.

Also wanted to mention that the perch were extra surgical this session. It almost always happens some, but more times than normal I reeled in crabs after a single hit and the crabs had only roe and a few limb extremities missing. I do my best to bury the point of the hook in the roe but those perch are good at what they do.

Thanks for the report...so good to see all the tiny corbina from SD to OC...such a good sign for next summer's corbina hunters!

crabman wrote: Fri Sep 12, 2025 8:41 am Thanks for the report...so good to see all the tiny corbina from SD to OC...such a good sign for next summer's corbina hunters!

Welcome to the forum Bill…
Butch