THE OUTDOORS : SEARCH IN THE SURF : The Game Fish Corbina Is Plentiful Off Local Beaches, but It Can Be Elusive, Even for Determined Anglers

Standing at water’s edge, the dawn breeze nipping at his weathered face, Ron Uyeda, a longtime beach fisherman, gazed out into the surf as he and some friends prepared to fish for the wary corbina.

“The best time is right after an extreme low tide,” he said. “It’s a little too high now, but we should catch fish anyway.”

The sandy stretch of Hermosa Beach that Uyeda had picked seemed ideal. There were no waves to speak of, and the water was clear and free of seaweed.

Besides, several of the swift-swimming near-shore game fish had been caught in the area in recent days, during various tidal conditions. Many surf anglers say this has been one of the better summers for corbina.

Uyeda and a small group of friends needed only to pluck sand crabs from beneath the wet sand and cast them short distances into the surf. Each expected to be hooked up shortly thereafter.

“It’s a very basic kind of fishing,” one angler said. “You have a light-tackle rod, a hook and maybe a small weight. All you need to do is grab a sand crab and cast it out. It doesn’t even cost anything.”

Sand crabs, the preferred food of the corbina, have been especially abundant along Southern California’s sandy beaches, so the fishing has been particularly good.

“We don’t have any surveys on it. All I know is that there are a lot more (sand crabs) this year than in previous years,” Steve Crooke, a biologist with the Department of Fish and Game, said. “And from what I’ve heard, the fishing has been great.”

Uyeda and friends began to fish the surf the way trout anglers would work a section of a small stream, standing ankle-deep in wet sand, flipping bait into the surf and letting the tidal movements wash it about.

It wasn’t long before the first fish was caught, a small perch that looked as if it belonged in a child’s aquarium. Blushing, the angler released the fish and looked for a bigger crab.

“(The corbina are) up and down this beach,” said Larry Morris, a fisherman who says he has 30 years’ experience. “But there’s no telling where they might be today.”

Soon, a yellowfin croaker was caught, and quickly released. “Another junk fish,” Uyeda said.

The group slowly separated, each angler hoping to find the corbinas.

“I usually walk a mile or a mile and a half in a day’s fishing,” Uyeda said. “A good place to find them is near holes in the shallows. They seem to stay there when the tide recedes, then come out on the incoming waves and search for food.”

But this day belonged to the corbina. So John Rowe, a South Bay resident and veteran surf fisherman, wouldn’t get to eat any of the fish that he says “tastes like white sea bass, only sweeter.”

Many anglers say the corbina tastes like crab, and some suggest that is because of the corbinas’ sand crab diet. Jack Woolen, a 50-year surf-fishing veteran, called the corbina “one of the finest fish you’d ever want to eat, with a taste all its own.”

But the holes Uyeda spoke of were seemingly empty, the elusive corbina apparently elsewhere, possibly having already gorged on sand crabs.

“We should have tried another spot,” muttered one angler.

“I’ve been out here 100 times this year, and this is only the second time I haven’t caught anything,” Uyeda said. “It could be that they fed earlier. . . . Yesterday, they were killing ‘em.”

The corbina, which can be found from Point Conception to the tip of Baja California, has always been the primary target of Southern California surf anglers.

During the 1980s, a trend has developed toward using lighter tackle to fish for this member of the croaker family, also known in some areas as the corvina.

Traditionally, anglers would gear up with a 15-foot surf pole, 20-pound test line and a heavy weight. Casting out beyond the breakers, the angler would merely have to set the rod in a sand spike and relax in a beach chair while watching the tip for possible bites.

That style is still used by some, and with a good measure of success. But more and more people are finding it less sporting.

“Over the years, people have been switching to lighter tackle,” said Mike Kolb of D.J.’s Tackle in Hermosa Beach. “A few guys did it years ago, but they were laughed at. But in the last few years, it’s become a big deal.

“While these guys would be pulling in fish methodically without a bend in their rod, some of the light-tackle guys would be running up and down the beach hanging fish for 10 or 15 minutes.”

Said Uyeda: “There’s a definite trend (toward light tackle). People are always looking for different avenues, and fishing with light tackle is just more fun.”

Woolen, a San Diego County contractor who has fished sandy beaches for spotfin croaker and corbina regularly for nearly 50 years, explained his preference for surf fishing with light tackle:

“I’ve had (corbina) hooked with 8-pound test and couldn’t stop them. They run straight out, up and down (the beach). When you’ve had to fight a fish like this in the surf, running up and down the beach . . . there’s nothing like it.”

Said Crooke: “They have to be strong to fight the inter-tidal movement like they do.”

The average size of the corbina is about 3 pounds, but common catches include fish in the 5- and 6-pound ranges. The largest recorded weighed 8 1/2 pounds.

Uyeda and Woolen say that the best time to catch them is during an incoming tide after an extreme low, preferably in the morning.

“At low tide, you can see them scooting across the sand bars,” Uyeda said. “It’s really important to see them. That’s why low tide is better. . . . Sunglasses are a must to cut down the glare. You can usually see them come in with the tide in a few inches of water. I’ve seen groups of 30 to 40 fish in one place at one time.”

Said Woolen: “I’ve actually seen corbina in the surf in water just 2-3 inches deep, standing on their heads digging crabs out of the sand with their noses. That’s when you want your light-tackle rod.”

Sand crabs, which can be found burrowing beneath the sand on most beaches, make up about 90% of the corbina’s diet, according to DFG biologists.

The popular choice among anglers are those with soft shells, which are extremely hard to find. But according to Woolen, hard-shelled crabs work just as well, and many believe they catch bigger fish.

“They should always have eggs, though,” Woolen said. “Otherwise you’re just wasting your time.”

Eggs are easily visible as an orange glob on the underbelly of spawning sand crabs, which are very common during the optimum fishing months of April through August.

“One of these and a light tackle rod is all it takes,” said one fisherman. “The rest is up to the corbina.”