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View Full Version : In search of success in hooking Spotfin Croakers



thunder28
11-14-2016, 02:36 PM
My buddy, Larry S, and I have been hitting the surf twice a week for the last sixteen years. The early years were always productive but the last few have really been tough. The perch which you could always count on to be plentiful have all but vanished. The occasional halibut or corbina has helped keep our interest.

The most frustrating has been the Spot Fin Croakers. We have always considered them the "steelhead of the surf". When you hook one you know it! They pull and fight to the very end. However hooking them has been proven to be very hard to do. The frustrating part is that we see them tailing in front of us no more than 10 ft. away. They come in with the tide to feed on the bean clams literally standing on their heads to get to the food. We have tried all types of flies and have only hooked a few. Most times we get the middle of a doughnut. I was wondering if anyone out there has had any luck figuring what flies to use to hook these great fish. We would both really appreciate any help you could send our way. Thanks.

thunder28

Darian
11-15-2016, 12:03 AM
When I was a youngster, My Dad would take me down to Belmont Pier to fish for Spotfin on bait. The bait of choice was Ghost Shrimp or something similar to 'em. Never tried flies before moving to NorCal. Seems like a great fish to target now. At this point, if I was to try for them on a fly, I guess I'd try Al Q's Ghost Whisper or Beach Bug before giving up and going for a cool one.

I've been trying to improve on Al,s Ghost Whisper to use it for flatties in the bays around the Carquinez Straights area. Still working on it....

Bill Kiene semi-retired
11-15-2016, 06:12 AM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotfin_croaker


Video of surf fly fishing SoCal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEGyGUYsFOk

Darian
11-19-2016, 10:39 PM
How about looking at Lee Baermans flies??

www.flyfishthesurf.com

Larry S
11-20-2016, 05:52 PM
Darian,
I've tried his checkerboard flies and had success; mostly perch. Funny thing about the
spotfin, 7 years or so ago, we used to catch them on a fairly regular basis. If we saw them tailing
at high tide, we could depend on a catch or two. One year - 2007? - several of us were into double
digits for 3 or 4 days. About that same time, we had several spotfins that were beaching themselves-
hooked or not hooked. Never did figure that behavior out. One of our problems at the Torrey-Blacks-
Farms beaches that we haunt is the lack of holes and rips that the fish frequent. That and a lack of
sand crabs. We do have a stretch of new bean clams.
Would you be willing to swap a version of your Ghost Whisperer for one of John's flies?
Best to you,
Larry S
Hoping for some rain in Sun Diego

Darian
11-20-2016, 09:51 PM
Hi Larry,.... If you send me a pm with your mailing address, I'll be happy to send what I've developed, so far. It's an articulated version, designed to sink tail first with the head rising upward from he bottom. should be easy to copy. No trade necessary. :cool: