Fishing Off The Rocks

For fishing off the rocks, you will need 8-10 lb. test line, 1/2 oz. drop shot sinkers, #10 Gamakatsu baitholder hooks, and... crabs! That's right, crabs, (See set up on left sidebar). Every fish that lives in these rocky tidal areas eats crabs. So, when you get down to the shoreline, find a shallow tide pool that is far from the surf, but looks like it was submerged at high tide. Now just slowly lift up stones and fill a zip lock with live bait. If you lift slowly enough, the little crabs will often sit still hoping you don't see them. Pin them to the ground with one hand, then pick them up by the claws. You only want them 1" to 1.5" long because some of the fish you will be catching have small mouths. Now, hook one of the little buggers through the butt, bottom to top. This will keep you from burying your hook into every piece of kelp that he grabs.
The pools and holes will be full of places where the water cuts under the rocks. This is where your fish will be hiding, waiting to ambush anything that gets swept past with the tide. Cast out and slowly bounce your bait as close to the rocks as possible, stopping frequently to allow your bait to be taken into the undercut by the tide. The fish will often swim out from under the rocks, grab your bait, swim back under and wedge himself in. So, when you set the hook, pull your rod tip out and away from the rocks. A big boulder inside a tide pool is also a prime rockfish hideout.
The fish you will likely be catching are cabezon, gopher rockfish, kelp rockfish, kelp greenling, striped surf perch, ling cod, and eels. Other baits that work well are mussel, squid, and the easiest to come by... hermit crabs. You'll have to take them out of their shells, of course.