Not being able to fish the last couple days b/c of the high winds, I was excited to see that tonight the wind had died down, plus there was an evening high tide. I grabbed my gear and went down to Hendry's beach at about 6pm. It was going to be a night of firsts.

Rigged up with the Big Hammer grubs and it was go-time. I worked my way southward, and would stop at a spot when I would get bit. It was funny, every three casts would result in: 1) perch, 2) seaweed, 3) nothing...and repeated that pattern for about 30 minutes.

I had about 10 perch b/w 6-10 inches in the first hour. I was getting short bit a lot too, gotta figure out how to translate those into hookups. Tap-tap-tap. Frustrating.

I continued tossing the grub, and then I got a tap-tap-zzzzing, and then line started racing from right to left, peeling drag. I was fishing amongst some rocks, so I already had the drag buttoned down. This wasn't any monster surf perch, this was a real fish....dreams of my first corbina came racing through my head. After about 6-7 drag-sizzling side-to-side runs, I finally got a glimpse of him. I carefully used the waves to bring him in where I was confused how to grab him. I didn't know if corbina had teeth or not, so I grabbed him by the gill plate and lifted him up.

My first corbina!!! I asked passers-by if they had a camera, but nobody did. Fortunately I've got my rod marked off at 22" (in case I ever hook a halibut). I held him up and he came up about an inch short of the mark, so at least I was able to measure that he was 21". My first one and he looked like a monster!

I released him into the surf and look forward to catching him again if I'm ever so lucky. The sun set about 15 minutes later. I continued fishing and hooked up a couple perch. Ended up with about 15 perch and the corbina, all on the Big Hammer motoroil grubs. Definitely a memorable evening!