#10101, "San Onofre- White Sea Bass and others 6-22-03"
Haven't been able to go fishing much lately so I was really looking forward to San Onofre on Sunday. Arrived at about 9:30am on a declining tide to see 28-30 rods in sand spikes, Yikes! The most long rod surf fishermen I've ever see there. My girlfriend was the only one fishing with a light salmon rod.
Noticed spotfin croakers, yellowfin croakers and barred surfperch being caught along with an occasional ray or sand shark. Most everyone was using lugworms for bait. I was targeting spotfins with lugworms, shrimp and sand crabs for no luck.
Decided to go for a bigger bait and a bigger fish, maybe a large leopard shark. Out goes a small whole squid about 100 yards and minutes later the clicker goes off! At first I thought it was a big piece of seaweed because I couldn't really budge it but then the line started to move southward pretty fast. Seemed like a nice sized leopard as the fish swims south and then north. After a nice fun battle, in comes a 25" white sea bass. After a few quick photos, the fish is released. The WSB jumps in the air as he swims to open water, what a sight! That fish made my day.
Link to picture: http://www.pierfishing.com/msgboard/pfmb.mv?forum=&module=view&viewid=126130&mode=all&row=0