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Sand crabs are my first choice for corbina bait. What size? Look for sand crab beds upon which corbina are actively feeding. When the fish are nose-down and sucking up sand, you can safely say that you're looking at active fish. Sometimes you'll see tails standing vertically out of the water. Tails up = nose down. The feeding corbina are telling you not only what size sand crab to use but also where to throw the baited hook. Go ahead and spook the fish. A good bed is a fish magnet and others will come by. Walk onto the sand crab bed where the fish were feeding and pick out crabs there. If you only find tiny crabs, rest assured that that is all the corbina are finding. If larger specimens are covering the bed, than those should be your choice for bait. The old "match the hatch" idiom, applies to corbina fishing, too.
I use a small net for gathering sand crabs. When they are near the surface, I place the net downstream from my feet. As the wave recedes, I twist my feet to displace the crabs. The bait will be washed into the net. When they are deep, I scoop sand and crabs into the net. Rinse the sand out by doing figure 8's in the water. You can find the Nature Net at Wal-Mart in either the toy or sporting goods department for less that $5.
I keep the crabs in a plastic worm box that I got at Big 5. It came with a waist belt. You want to have your bait gathered and accessible. No time to waste as the Momma-bina swims by.
Especially when soft-shelled sand crabs are impossible to find, the younger smaller crabs are the ticket to success. In a sense, ALL tiny crabs are soft shells. At least, the shells are softer than those on mature sand crabs.
Toss a sand crab into the water. Notice that cat-like, the crab always flips to land "feet first" on the bottom? Select two small sand crabs ripe with eggs. Insert the hook near the intersection of the midline and joint between tail and carapace, entering from the underside. With the second crab, insert the point through the same spot but from the back downwards. Now you have back-to-back sand crabs. The crabs will fight each other for the "feet first" position. Seeing the exposed eggs and wiggling legs on either side of the baited hook, the corbina are looking at a taste-tempting treat. Bait your hooks this way; it truly makes the difference.
In heavy conditions, two baits will spin and cause line twist. A shorter leader and high quality swivel are then needed.
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