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!

** tight lines make all my troubles go away **

Way to go Daniel! awesome evening run! I tried there at 6:30am and the weeds made it unfishable! I worked the whole beach trying to find a clear spot and there wasn't one. Those doggone S.B. beaches and the weeds, what a difference a time a day makes. I ended up at Carp state beach for 3 perch, no weeds ther but the water was tore up and dirty.
Corbina on the grub, good stuff!:7 ...Larry

Larry, I had the same problem with the weeds initially. But then I followed the beach south (to the left of the river outlet), all the way around the point. On the other side of the point, there were much less weeds in the water, the waves were smaller, and there is much more structure. You fished to the right side? Thats probably why I didn't see you, b/c I was there at the same time. Good thing to keep in mind, when there are weeds, you can try around the point where there's a little shelter and the current is a little different.

** tight lines make all my troubles go away **

A 22 inch corbina for your first is awesome! That sounds similiar to the first one I caught years ago...they put up a fun battle...looks like you got the bug! Nice of you to release it...however there are no size limits on them so you could have kept it if you wanted to.