Anyone ever fish 🎣 White Sea Bass ?

[Encinoman]

Do you guys ever put a jighead inside the squid, so it looks more natural?
I did this fishing off Capitola in a yak. Tied off to sunk Kelp in 40' and drifted the squid back amongst the stringers hoping for Lingcod and a 22# Biscuit smoked it.

Blade runner tube jig heads can be inserted into squid’s mantle if you make a small incision. I’ve seen it done and it looks great, but have not felt that this gets bit any better than the exposed leadhead.

Also the hooks are relatively light. Not something I’d want to fish with heavy string around structure.

 

[Jibber805]

For brains I’d give them a 5/10 at most.

 

[Omarkayak]

Just step on that doormat to expand it just a tad and Bob's your uncle...

I always thought that was an old wives' tale. But maybe the old wives wear gnarly-ass shit kicker boots

 

[Rubberhook2]

Just step on that doormat to expand it just a tad and Bob's your uncle...

The ol' boot stomp...

 

[Rubberhook2]

Barely short halibut....

Ever see someone measure a lobster multiple times just hoping they would be melting butter soon even though the carapace just barely fits inside the caliper?

Maybe a different angle of attack and we're golden...

 

[moorefish]

In the interest of a sustainable fishery Release all halibut under 10-lbs. The draggers and mesh are destroying it.

 

[vipertom1970]

Do you guys fish for WSB in the morning or mostly over night ?

 

[skipjack]

Some of the best bites are at night,anchored.

 

[Bend Session]

Do you guys fish for WSB in the morning or mostly over night

Rubberhook2 ....X2 on this question...

 

[Cactus Chris]

Some of the best bites are at night,anchored.

That's how I caught my only legal

 

[Encinoman]

Seabass bite when seabass want, but the early morning bite in the grey happens often enough to literally be a book title…

With that being said, everything depends on conditions. Some spots just don’t bite regardless of time of day when conditions don’t line up.

Tides, amount of current, current direction, moon phase, bait, time of day, etc… All are major factors that need to be taken into consideration and more often than not you need quite a few things to align to make things happen.

 

[Rubberhook2]

Water movement. Big tidal swings. Near full and new moon cycles.

I have caught a bunch in the dark or early grey of morning but that pic I posted that was a cover shot on W.O.N was at 2 pm in the afternoon with a ripping uphill current into structure.

Can't tell you how many times we sat on a school that kept swimming under the boat and would not bite. We knew they were there so we just waited them out and like a light switch being thrown they went on the bite and umbrelled the boat...

Did I mention I hate seabass?

 

[sickcat]

The mortality rate on boat based C&R WSB is practically 100% that’s why they don’t tag Rod n reel fish and only juveniles from the pens.
Something about the last 5-10ft of water kills them if they aren’t brought through it super slow. You’ll notice them fight fight fight until close to the boat then they’ll spin and turn sideways and come right up, That’s the death sentence.
They’ll swim off, but won’t get off the bottom when they hit it

Seems some of that C&R mortality comes from handling. Netting/touching the fish damages their slime coat. They swim off just fine but die days/weeks later from bacterial infection.