Spotties
 

I fish krokodiles, swim baits, kastmasters mostly like you would fish for bass in lakes near tidelands and Glorietta. I catch squat. I ask guys at the launch how they did and they say "I caught 30+ fish in 2 hours!" I'm out there from 8-noon with maybe 2 or 3 spotties.....maybe. This is past frustrating. I use a cast and retrieve with time to let the lure sink but at no particular depth am I finding a "honey hole". Please help, I'm not new but I feel like an old guy getting his drivers lisence taken away because I THOUGHT I knew what I was doing! HAHA

Regards,

J

Chartreuse grubs on A 3/8 to 1/2 oz lead head are your friends. Bounce/ drag them across the bottom in sandy areas or over eel grass tops Spotties like bottom contact or hanging out around dock pilings.
Post the next time you are going out and there is bound to be someone willing to join you. If I'm able to go I'll bring many types of lures and rods and let you use one of my rods set up with braid if you haven't tried braid yet.once you get a feel for it and some OTW advice, you'll be golden.

Sounds like a plan! I fish braid on just about all of my reels, I love it, very responsive and great feel. I have the grub lead head set up you are talking about. I'll try to work the bottom more and Texas rig it so I don't catch so much eel grass. I'll be out on a mango WS Tarpon 120 Sunday morning until about 11 around the golf course/harbor/tidelands area.

Come down to Chula Vista. I usually catch more fish there than Tidelands or Glorietta on a consistent basis.

bunch of us will be out in that area this sunday. tips would be to keep your lure always in contact or near the bottom structure. i like using big hammers with a 3/8 oz. leadhead or 1/4 oz. depending on depth and structure being fished. browns/greens/orange colored are your friend. see you out there!

Things change
 

I fish South Bay a lot. For a long time I fished exclusively ghost shrimp on a drop shot or a cheapass crayfish plastics rigged similarly for spotties and the occasional bonefish or hali. Lately I've been deadsticking some dessicated old chunks of market shrimp I found buried in my freezer while tossing BH sexy smelt or bay smelt swimbaits in red or black 1/4 or 3/8 oz heads (the south end is very shallow outside the boat channels). I seem to get more of the big spawning spotties on the lure than bait, using a slow, irregular retrieve. Subtle pickups, especially since I went back to mono. Sometimes you just need to relax when you feel a nibble, reel acouple cranks, rest again, repeat. This has changed from when I used the crayfish, which they'd often hammer violently. And once in awhile the deadsticked shrimp gets picked up by a bone. Some scent is also a big help. I've used Hot Sauce, Unibutter, and lately ProCure krill, which they seem to like. Gulp lures tended to end in more guthooked fish, so I quit. Hope this helps, tight lines.

Gulp shrimp or gulp jerk shad with moving water slays them. Carolina rigged.

To fish weedless an Owner sledhead with Gulp jerk shad is a great combination.

try using 12-16" of 10-15lb fluorocarbon leader with a 1/2 - 3/4oz head. bass are structure related fish... eel grass is your friend.

Lead head grubs. Always works.

http://www.watermanatwork.com/KayakF...pottedBass.jpg

Let it sink to the bottom, lift up and crank a few times then let it drop again.

http://www.watermanatwork.com/KayakF...ndsSpottie.jpg

The setups everyone has listed above will work. Be sure to cast so your lure will swim with the current. I think fish will face into the current looking for food to come their way. Be aware of the tides and fish the incoming or outgoing. When the tide goes slack so does the fishing. My go to bait is a chartreuse-gold grub with 3/8 leadhead. But I've always got a range of colors from white to black-orange. Scent (I use Uni-butter) helps. I've started using small gulp baits with good luck. 30-40+ days are really possible. Best-

Lot of good info here. I'll toss in my $.02, some of which will repeat others comments because they're that important.

Stay in contact with the bottom almost all the time. Drag your bait across it, skip and hop it across the bottom, buzz it across the eel grass. What ever, just make sure it's down there. I fish anything from 3/8 to 1oz depending on the bait and the depth. If I'm in really tight and shallow and it's something other than a spinner bait, I'll fish light. For spinner baits I like to fish heavier, like 3/4oz in 10'. But if I'm fishing a 3/4oz swimbait, I'm probably in something closer to 30-60'. For all baits, the faster you're winding the more weight you can get away with.

My retrieve varies until I start getting bit. But usually it's a slow crawl along the bottom. Sometimes winding 3-4 times and then letting the bait go back to the bottom. And rarely I tie on a heavier bait so I can retrieve fast across the bottom.

For line weight I like 6-10lb most of the time. 17lb for blades and jigs.

For baits I mostly use the Edge Flurry in 3" and 4". For spotties I like Fire Avocado, Minnow Magic, Chatreuse and Gold, Redfish, Gums, and Sea Food. Halloween is also a good one. When I'm not using those I like Assault Salt Shaker worms and Ringer Worms, Zoom Super Flukes, and grubs. I almost always fish these on either a Owner Sledhead, Texas or Carolina Rigged. On occasion these are used as trailers for Warbait jigs.

Use some kind of scent too. I use Hot Sauce, any of the others will work though.

Finally, as your abilities grow, so will your confidence. This is a big key to fishing artificials. Not really sure why, but it is. I once fished next to a guy using smoke/sparkle, I was using clear/black flake. Both of us were wacking the bass. We switched baits on a lark (He NEVER uses anything but smoke sparkle). Neither of us could buy a bite. Switched back, and we were on the fish again.

I know I'm missing lots, but I have 4 kids and a wife that need my attention.

My go to for numbers .......or just 1 on a tough day is a 1/4 oz lead head and 3" Big Hammer, lighter mono like 6# will get bit more............money! Crank baits like the Shad Rap or Fat Free Shad dive 10-15 feet and work great, love 1/ oz spinner baits in white or chartreuse.

What Mr. Patrick said. Grubs grubs grubs! Not always trophies but you will catch them by the masses. Especially in the back of the day

try this !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!http://i1080.photobucket.com/albums/...psc2237028.jpg

I have success fishing grubs and 3'' swim baits on 1/4 and 3/8 heads. Most of the so bay is pretty shallow so about the heaviest I'll go is 1/2. Smelt are the most common bait fish back there so I go with lighter green or lime smelt pattern. I also like a ghost shrimp grub and swimbaits, kinda pinkish with a red spot on the belly. Spotties do eat fish but the majority of their diet is inverts; worms, clams, shrimp, crabs. I like a brown or root beer grub for those. When flipping docks I like to use creature baits and crawdad type fresh water bass lures. Crank baits can be great at times. Like others said; moving water and keeping your lure on or near the bottom are vital. Keep trying, you'll get em. Mike

Gulp shrimp on a jighead heavy enough to reach bottom. Paddle out to the channel drop off at Tidelands. Drop the bait to the bottom and drift it. Make sure the bait is bouncing on the bottom.

5" camo Gulp jerkshad on a 3/8oz sledhead. Fish it low and slow or drop it down pilings and hang on. OR you can come to Fred Hall LB show and sit in on one of my seminars on fishing for bay bass.

Ken

That has been my go to technique especially in heavy eel grass.