Lately fishing for calicos and sandies at the local SB area reefs has been good or very good, but I have two questions about what to do when the fishing gets slower.

1. When the calico/sandy bite gets slow what is your opinion about adding a small squid strip to the swimbait? This seems to work on the partyboats, but that could be because they are going for numbers more than quality. I do not want to try a squid strip if the result is likely only going to be smaller bass and less desirable species.

2. There have been recent days with little or no current or wind when leadheads up to 1 oz. work fine, but what about times with very strong wind and/or very strong current, and fish mostly metered at or near the bottom. At such times I have not been able to work the whole water column all the way to the bottom with 1 oz. (and 12 or 15 lb Maxima)and my bite rate gets lowered. Anchoring is an obvious solution, and I also have a drift anchor (drift sock) as another option. Another obvious option is to use a heavier leadhead. Although it does not seem to be a popular solution among many local anglers I have used 2 and 3 oz. leadheads with some success, more success for sandies than for calicos

My question is this: when leadheads up to 3 oz. do not permit me to fish the whole water column (rare, but it does happen) would it be a waste of time to try a 4 oz. leadhead for sandies and calicos metered at the bottom at such times of strong current/strong wind? I know that the swimbait size has to be adjusted for leadhead size, and I know from rockfishing at the same local reefs that 4 oz. will often be enough to get to the bottom. I also know that heavy leadheads probably eliminate the possibility of bites on the fall.