Hey guys,

This forum has been a fount of knowledge for me since I got back into fishing a few years ago. I've gravitated mostly toward surf fishing for the fun, the challenge and the free-ness of it :)

For the last couple years I've been pretty successful with LCs and spoons for pretty much every species that frequents the surf zone, but I'm looking to change it up and have more presentations to offer in my arsenal, I just don't know exactly what I'm doing. I've been lazy and loving the slow retrieve, zero finesse approach to presenting an LC.

Could anybody offer up some advice on different baits that work well in other parts of the water column? I've got a lot of interest in using soft plastics (like Big Hammer swimbaits, flukes, etc.), but I have no idea on how I should be presenting them, or threading the hook through the bodies of the baits. The hooking part, I'll just have to learn through experience, trial and error. I always wind up with a funky, unnatural bend in the body, I presume by threading it too deep before I pierce the hook back out of the top.

As far as presentations and rigs go, any advice to offer up? I feel like in the colder water for the next month or so that my LC won't be as effective for the lazier fish. All I've been pulling up are the desperately hungry shorties that are still willing to work for a meal, and I want to get back into those big legal toads that I know are hanging down in those kelp beds at my usual AO.

Thanks guys :)