June: Corbina Arrival

After fishing at Dog Beach a couple of times a week during the summer, my uncle came out to my house from the San Fernando Valley to help my family's construction work in our bathroom. He did not believe me when I told him that Dog Beach was incredible. So, the next chance he had, I took him fishing. I showed him the best rig, the best bait, and how to work the rig. Something interesting that happened about halfway through June was the arrival of corbina and millions of sand crabs at Dog Beach. Corbina are a large hard fighting surf fish that proved very difficult to catch. The conditions changed a lot mid June. The sand crabs arrived by the millions, the water warmed, the holes and trenches got deeper, the tides got higher, and  the corbina arrived as a result.

Corbina!

My Uncle's Corbina

In order to catch a corbina, you need an extremely light and long leader (a 24inch 4-2lb test leader is perfect), the smallest weight you can possibly use (less than 1oz), sharp medium sized hooks (corbina have hard cartilage mouths), and soft shelled sand crabs to match the size of your hooks.

My Corbina

You should work your bait by casting just over a hole or trench and only reeling in the slack resulting from the waves pushing your bait towards shore. Step away from the water when you are fishing (as corbina have fantastic eyesight) and don't be afraid to fish in less than a couple of feet of water. Sometimes, early in the morning, you can see corbina's backs out of the water as they launch themselves on shore to devour sandcrabs. It is safe to say corbina DO NOT fear becoming beached on land. You should always be weary when feeling a corbina bite because they tend to chew the bait before you feel the bite. In other words, what feels like a tiny surf perch can turn out to be an 8lb corbina. Many other forums will say that corbina fishing is best in the fall, but for me, nothing can beat summer corbina fishing.

Brandon Lynch