I fish Calaveras Jun-August and then focus to the coast til Dec each year. At the coast I use the live bait that is so plentiful there, 98% finger mullets. I never buy bait since I never have issues catching the bait regardless of where I go. Must admit, at times it does get rough, but nevertheless I always seem to find them sooner or later. Depending where and when I go, I usually put them on live. I utilize several techniques depending if I'm at Bob Hall or the Packery. At bob hall, the slip line is great for catching spanish mackerel, reds and sharks. At Packery, I make my own leaders and rigs depending if I'm going for reds or snappers. As for the snappers, most people accidentally catch them using shrimp targeting other fish. I actually target them by another form of live bait that I catch. This makes up the other 2%, it's a special silver fish that they are nuts over. After catching one on shrimp, I gutted it and checked out his stomach content to see what they are feeding on. Stomach was stuffed packed with this silver fish, small but tasty I'm sure. After realizing that shrimp is not their main diet I switched bait. The mangrove taste like a cross between red snapper and bluegill...lol. Very tasty for sure. After making that change, every trip has produced at least 15+ mangroves, each measuring larger than 10". Not all that large, but the ease of catch and tasty flesh makes up for size..=) I located the mangroves just past the rocks so most of the time I don't even cast, sorta do this underhand line release and as soon as the bait hits the water you will get a strike. Using this silver fish will lessen the chance of perch stealing your bait since they are competing for the same area. Your odds greatly increase to catch snapper vs perch using live vs dead shrimp. Anyways hope this helps, September is the month where they gather in great numbers off packers to breed so you catch much more during that time. They tend to thin dramatically in Nov.