Gigantic 4 Foot White Seabass Caught from Shore!

White seabass are a prized target for many offshore anglers in So Cal. But, from the surf, it’s a different game. There’s so much more work, time, effort, and finesse involved in surf fishing for white seabass. It’s incredibly impressive to catch even a legal sized seabass let alone anything near a legal from the surf. But to catch something like California angler, Jason Hill caught last week is nearly unheard of in California. Here’s the story.

The Story of Jason Hill’s 4 Foot White Seabass

I saw the there was going to be a very low tide Saturday morning at first light 5:17am and the swell didn’t look too bad. So, I set my alarm for 3:45am on Friday night. I decided to hit one of my favorite spots, which happens to be the same spot I got my 39 inch white seabass back in late December of last year. Truthfully, I was not expecting to top that fish ever in my lifetime. However, I did make a comment to a few friends and coworkers on Friday that I was going to catch a white seabass tomorrow.

Jason’s Gear And Tackle for White Seabass Surf Fishing

I arrived at my spot just before first light and geared up. I took off my Battlestar 115 that I had been using earlier in the week for striper fishing, and put on a Battlestar 3/8 XLS Hook with a 4.8” white Keitech.

This lure and hook combo is the same one that landed me a 39-incher back in December. It’s my go to on
beaches with heavy structure and/or lots of weeds. The rod I used was a 9’6” Shimano Moonshot Medium
action, paired with a Shimano VanFord 5000 series reel and 30lb braid to a 30lb fluorocarbon leader. I like to use an angler clip so I can switch between a Jerkbait or Battlestar XLS hook very quickly depending on conditions.

Conditions

After a bit of a hike, I arrived at my spot and conditions were as SurfForcast and Surfline had predicted (which sometimes is not the case). I was fishing the incoming tide from -0.4 ft to a 3 ft in a matter of a few hours. This did not give me much time to fish as this spot is only good at a negative to 2-foot tide.

I began casting in some deep holes that looked like they might hold halibut. It didn’t take long to get some action. I got a couple solid bites and one taker that spat the hook before I could land him.

The tide was getting pretty high so I decided to wade out to a rock that I like to fish from. Unfortunately, I couldn’t reach it without getting water in my waders. So instead, I was able to make my way to a smaller rock about 20 feet away. It was much smaller and kind of scary. The larger rock had a deep hole directly in
front of it, so I fan casted it through there a few times. On my fourth or fifth cast I got absolutely slammed!

The Fish of a Lifetime

My drag was set pretty loose from striper fishing earlier in the week, so at this point, it was screaming! I had to tighten it down before I got spooled. In the moment, I thought, “no way this could be another huge WSB?”. Then I saw the tail breach and I knew this was a giant.

My adrenaline instantly kicked into high gear. Even after tightening my drag as much I could without breaking my line or snapping my rod, this fish was stripping line like crazy. After nearly getting spooled twice, I finally caught a break and the fish began to tire.

Once he was close enough to see, I was in shock. How was I going to get this fish from this rock back to shore? After a couple more quick runs, he came in like dead weight… lots of dead weight. Towing a 48-inch white seabass through tide pools and over rocky structure is pretty nerve racking. When I finally made my way back to the sand, I nearly threw up.

The Aftermath

I wanted to release this fish but after that 15 minute fight and the slow tow back to the sand, it was apparent that he wouldn’t have made it. After some photos, I messaged my friends Vince, Gary, Kaspar
and Austin. Gary was fishing a beach nearby so he came down and we got some footage. I have to
give a big thanks to all of those guys, they’ve taught me a lot and they keep me motivated to get out
there and fish. The reason I was casting in that zone was, because in Gary and Kaspar’s book – California Surf Fishing – they mentioned that deep drops in front of rocks are good areas to fish for white seabass and even halibut. If anyone wants to catch fish like this from the California surf, I highly recommend picking up a copy of their book at CaliforniaSurfFishing.net.

Other than that, thank you Nick for letting me wright up another article about another
incredible white seabass from the surf. Tight lines everyone.