For me its clams, squid heads and shrimp. Sea Bass love shrimp. You can drift for them, but beware. You could get hung up real quick.
While anchoring. IF you are on the bottom and catching shorts only. Try to judge how long it takes you to get to the bottom. Then on future drops try to figure out how far down lets say 3 to 5 cranks is..... Then drop it down to 3 to 5 cranks off the bottom. You should find some larger fish. Logic tells you that the small ones will look for the most cover. The larger more savy ones will be above the smaller ones. It works a lot and sometimes not, a lot. But it is an option. Plus, if the porgy's are around, watch out.......
Be good!