Chovies vs. Sardines?
 

Preference for fishing the bay for butts and sand bass? I would presume the smaller anchovies, but it seems hit and miss on availability...

I prefer free and available, just get a sabiki rig and catch what ever is out there your self. i went out of shelter island on sunday with the sole purpose of using live bait for butts. I was directly across from the bait barge and found a school of everything. with in 10 min i had 5 mini macs, and 10 jacksmelt, not to mention the biggest jacksmelt i have ever seen, would be tied with my pb spottie for size Im sure. was great till 2 seals popped up on either side of me and stared me down. then the bait vanished. but its pretty easy to make bait. i used some squid to tip the hooks too. oh yea i didn't catch anything, with the wind and current spinning me in circles and the party boats giving rides around me it was hard to get a good drift going.

I too prefer the Chovie Roger. Theres been some mixed with the deans lately but none in the receivers.

They told us that as soon as most the boxes are empty they should be able to get some smaller bait though. We are waiting on that to start the halibut run on the Point Loma

I like the chovies for the fact that often you don't need a stinger hook, but if Dines are all you can get make sure you pin on a stinger. I find that the stinger is often what gets bit most in the bay. Have you tried the Long Line method in the bay yet? That works very well. I get a Hali almost all the time on it but so far they have been just short.

For bay fishing chovies have always worked better for me than the mega-dines we've had for the last many years. Mike

I know a guy who use to go by PaulFishes on SDfish.com that swears about using Dines and he has proven year after year with multi BIG halibut days that they work just fine. This guy does not mess around. I too have learned some of his tricks and they do work well. Don't be afraid of the large dines, they will work and they will trigger the bigger fish to strike.

I fished Cabrillo yesterday with my cousin on his boat and I got a 26" Halibut on a sardine that was probably 7 or 8 inches. There's the saying "big bait, big fish" and then theres also "Elephants eat peanuts" ... That said, I have had success with both baits, but I personally prefer sardines because they seem to survive on the hook a bit longer than little pinhead anchovies.

If you are fishing just to catch fish and do not care what size, and/or are also interested in catching Calicos, then Chovies are the best choice. You will get more action, but you will have to sort through a lot of small fish and bycatch to get a couple keepers. If you are only interested in catching legal size fish then I would recommend large Dines. Personally, I am only looking for large fish and have never met a Dine that was too large. The horsier, the better.

Was that you out there yesterday fishing near the couple in the tandem? I got out there late and only got 1 good bite for 5 hours on the water. Released a 31 incher.

I don't remember seeing a couple in a tandem yak. I was being pretty broad when I said "Cabrillo" haha... Didn't want to be too specific with locations ;)

We actually fished the border of LA/Long Beach Harbor. It'd be a hell of a nasty paddle to get to where we were on a yak. One of our fishing buddies who also yaks made about half the paddle then we came and picked him up and served as his mother ship. He hooked up a nice hali that he estimated at about 10 pounds on his first drift in our spot but he farmed it at gaff.

I need to get my yak back in action so I can get out there with the Cabrillo regulars and pound some sand.

BTW, Kudos on the release of the 31"... I would've buried the gaff in that bad boy.

Yeah, I saw you guys towing the yak back in. Was wondering if someone had a malfunction or something.

Nope, just spoiling a friend. :rolleyes: