What makes a beach Sharky?

[Dark_Knight_9C1]

I'm looking for some general intel on what makes a beach look like it would be good for shark fishing. Not looking for locations (although I wouldn't turn any down), just looking for what characteristics one looks for when going sharking.
I got started at Capistrano beach in June/July when I went there for batrays and hooked into multiple sharks. It has since died out there and am looking for a new location.
It seems that a beach close to deeper water, channels, drop offs, rock piles, is one thing to look for but not necessarily a must have. I was wondering if large bays would work as well. I have had luck with batrays in the bays.
Is night time the best time? I have always fished for batrays in the daytime. The couple times I have tried at night hasn't produced anything.
Are super big hooks necessary. I have worked my way up to 6/0 and for the size of the bait I throw out they seem small still. Although most of the large batray I've caught were with only 3/0 hooks.
I've been able to hook into several sharks but have always ended up with line breaks, but not at the hook. It seems to break away from my fishing rig and so I loose the whole thing. I have started using 200 lb as a lead from the cable leader to my 60 lb mono on my pole. but I still am casting my bait out so I cannot have more than 5 or 6 feet of 200 lb which might still get my 60 lb mono with a tail slap. Any ideas on this?
Thanks in advance for any tips.
Cheers!

[sasquatch]

I would say your "one thing to look for" is a "must have." I don't have confidence in a sandy beach for seven gill or soupfin. Leopards, sure.

I don't look for sharks in bays.

Night works best for me. Lots of reasons. Beach goers being high on the list.

10/0 hooks work for me.

Need more length in your heavy mono rub leader. 20-30 feet. Not just tail slaps, rolling can be an issue. 200-60 is going to be a big knot going through your guides.

Drop down in size, braid, hollow braid splice or wind on, bigger diameter guides.  Several ways to go about it.

I presently use 40 mono main and 80 mono rub leader with a spider hitch to no name knot connection. Goes through my small guides pretty well.

[Pinoyfisher]

Sandy beaches no bueno unless you're targeting leopard sharks. Structure is key. Reefs, drop offs, near river mouths, where the kelp grows.

I use 11/0 offset hooks. 50lb braid to approximately 50-60yds of 40 or 50lb mono top shot. The FG knot is my go to connection knot. I have found it to be the lowest profile. Glides through the guides! Most of the time I don't even hear or feel it go through the guides. I use a 3' section of 100lb for my rub leader. 175lb steel.

[Eric H]

Reefs and kelp forests are number 1

[xjchad]

I'll echo what Steve and Mike have said for the most part.
Everyone does it a little different and I usually tent to follow ideas of the guys that are most successful.

The types of beaches up here in VC are a bit different but I agree that any structure like you mentioned is pretty critical.

I run 65 lb. braid with a 60-100 yard top shot of 40 lb. mono, then a rub leader of 80 lb. mono that's about 20' long (enough to get a few wraps around the spool.  I seem  to have to replace the rub leader after every big shark or every 2-3 smaller sharks or anytime it gets scuffed by the sand/structure.  I lost a big fish from the rub lead breaking once so I'm pretty anal about that.\
Search some the threads on here for different types of knots to use for each transition. 

I've caught a few shark during the day, but most are caught at night.  High tide seems to be better for the most part also.

For hooks I use 10/0 "J" hooks or 12/0-14/0 circles.  There's also a few good threads on different terminal rigs, unfortunately the photobucket fiasco has probably screwed up all the pictures. 

[BackBayMan]

Dark Night, fishing almost anywhere along CC will give you the conditions you're looking for. Problem is, we've never hooked into any grinners. My guess is night/high tide would be optimum, but it's closed and you can't fish there. I suspected, and shark week helped confirm, that the increase in the tax man population may have something to do with the fact that we just don't seem to get 7's and Soupies in The OC. The Tax Man is there though, but you're going to need bigger gear unless you're going to be happy with a 5 footer and a lot of tears from missed fish.

[Dark_Knight_9C1]

I've actually had three on my line at Capistrano beach (two in one day) in June but didn't have the proper top leader to keep from getting my line cut. Got the proper gear now and in July they were already gone. Just need to find where they went.

[xjchad]

I think for the most part they've gone to deeper, cooler water.