[shaun748]

thanks for that sand/track info NATE..
most of the places I go out are rock shore so not too much issue with sand..

I live next to Palos Verdes so I go out in that area moost of the time.. you probably know the world record WSB was taken here in 1994, but I dont know if it was from a boat or not.
my first white see bass was in Redondo beach breakwater a few years ago when they were thick in the area and it was literally only 100 yards from shore in 20 ft deep water( I never really weighed fish so I only measured it at 46 inches tip-tail, dont know what that might weight)....in the same area a friend shot a solid 48 inch Halibut and fortunatley I saw the chaos and got another spear in him so he didnt tear off(it is rare for that beach though)...

..most of the "few" other WSB I got were legal to 37 inches..when in the Kelp bed off Palos Verdes I saw 2 huge WSB "hunting" the rocks in 30 ft of water and I dove down a few feet to get it after it past by but my rob allens safety was on(darn).. on later dive I saw a bigger WSB in the area but it was out of my guns range.
about 2-3 years ago I had a friend(much better diver than me) shoot a yellow tail just off the point at PV on a shore dive. granted from what I heared then it was a hot year for fishing also

Of course all those sightings were before I got married and had a kid so we were in the water 3-5 times a week..so I think getting a big fish is "a statistical chance" since the more you are in the water the more likely you will see a big fish at least once.
made me realize you never know what might swim by out there.