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Catching sand bass is fairly simple. Find the kelp beds
and chum with live bait such as anchovies, small
sardines, perch and other small bait fish. Sand bass will
come out of the kelp to get an easy meal. Medium
spinning tackle is all that is needed for these fish. Fish
with live anchovies and keep them near the surface. Don’
t let them go down into the kelp. Some artificial lures will
also work. Small spoons and jigs work best. Most sand
bass are caught during the day, but they can be caught
in good numbers at night also. Sand bass are fun to
catch and great for a meal.
You will catch MORE sand bass at the bottom because the calicos are on top. They eat anchovies,sardines but live or cut squid is best. Rubber lures like zooms and scampi’s work well also. Get down to the bottom on hard bottom spots like reefs and rocks. Sandies are in the kelp but stick to the outer edges. In the summer months they spawn and school up in deeper water….60 to 180 feet. Look in the mud off of San Onofre or Huntington Flats and you’ll see.
we found that surf casting off the beaches at night thru low tide with cut squid would catch them pretty well. From a boat, try to get to the shoreward side of the kelp beds and fish deep for them.
Sand bass tend to hang out in or around rocky reefs most of the year. Though you can get some in shallow (30 feet or so), you’ll get them better in 60+ feet of water, and I’ve gotten them as deep as 200 feet.
In the winter and spring they’ll generally be right in the reefs, so you have to fish right on the structure. A whole squid on a leadhead will get the bites, but you have to fish heavy line, keeping it tight with the rod tip down, and react quickly or they’ll be in the snag before you know you’re bit. (If you put a hook on a leader to keep it away from the sinker, you may get bit better, but you’ll have a much lower percentage of landing them.)
As the water warms, they’ll come away from the structure and start feeding on finfish (sardines or anchovies), but they’ll still be on or near the bottom. While some will be in kelp areas, sand bass seem to orient more to the rocky reefs.
In late spring and summer they’ll congregate over the sandy or muddy bottom in 100 feet of water or so to spawn. They can get really stupid and easy to catch at this time. This is the only time they’ll come appreciably off the bottom, but you’ll still do most of your catching on or near the bottom. Use a big bait (sardine, mackerel, or tomcod) to target the bigger ones.
You can also get them bouncing a plastic-tailed lure along the bottom. This is tricky, because with 100+ feet of line out, it’s hard to set the hook before the fish figures out the lure isn’t food and drops it. A strip of squid or mackerel on the hook can get the fish to hold on a bit longer.
Finally, if you want to eat them, keep the smaller 1-2 pounders. The big old 4+ pounders are kind of chewy.