California Saltwater Fishing Reports

Southern California Saltwater

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Long Range Fishing Reports: up dated daily from the boats and trip update by Fisherman's Landing in San Diego

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January 17,2001

BITE UPDATES

SAN DIEGO YELLOWTAIL: There has been a little flash of yellowtail action for boats fishing the Rockpile 22 nautical miles from Point Loma and below the Coronado Islands. The 8 to 15 pounders are either showing on deeply fished yo-yo iron in blue and white, scrambled egg or dorado colors, or at the opposite end of the spectrum, on fly-line live bait right at the surface. This bite bears watching even thought it has been inconsistent this past week.

CATALINA SEABASS, YELLOWTAIL: Catalina Islanders fishing the backside of the island have found a little better white seabass and yellowtail action in recent days. The tremendous amount of squid has made the bite a little tough, but some decent catches were posted by private boaters. The mainland boats, like the Persuit, have been doing very well on blue perch and sheepshead. The weather has been cold, but flat calm recent days.

HALIBUT UPDATE: The City of Seal Beach, with 17 anglers on Wednesday, had 87 short halibut and seven legal fish. There is an ongoing halibut derby on this boat out of Seal Beach Sportfishing. Most of this action has been off Huntington Beach and Bolsa Chica. Not spectacular, but everybody is getting to pull on fish.

SHARK UPDATE: There are two areas where private boaters are seeing thresher sharks this week. The action has been in the 40 fathom area off Dana Point and just outside the Santa Monica Bay. In both instances, the fish are showing under concentrations of baitfish.

COASTAL UPDATE: For nearshore waters from San Diego into the Santa Barbara Oxnard region, the bulk of the bite has been on sculpin, a few calico and sand bass, and the odd halibut. Outside of the Seal Beach bite, the most halibut are showing out of Oceanside and in the Santa Monica Bay, but there's certainly no flurry, just an odd fish showing now and then.

CENTRAL COAST ROCKFISH: With the rockfish season still open north of Point Conception, there has been an excellent bite for boats out of Virg's in Morro Bay and Patriot Sportfishing in Avila Beach.

INSTRUCTIONAL CHARTERS: Winter instructional charters are being run on six-pack yachts out of Long Beach Sportfishing by the 976-TUNA staff. These will be white seabass, calico, and halibut special to Catalina. The next trip is set for Saturday, Jan. 20 and there is a Sunday, Jan. 21 trip. Cost is $150 per person. For more information, call (310) 328-5850 or e-mail p976tuna@aol.com. For information call (310) 328-5850 or e-mail p976tuna@aol.com.

LONG RANGE

Clarion Island has been exceptional for the long range fleet fishing this area on 16-day trips. Frank LoPreste, skipper of the Royal Polaris, finished up a 16-day trip this week and reported that his anglers caught one yellowfin at 343 pounds, 12 over 200, and had a total of 254 yellowfin and 154 wahoo. Most of the yellowfin were a nice grade of fish from 120 to 190 pounds. LoPreste said they lost 50 percent of the big fish hooked, to give you an idea on the quality and numbers of fish. The Red Rooster III, also at Clarion, reported in with a 330-pounder and lost of 120 to 160 pounder. The Excel and Polaris Supreme were also at the island and reporting similar fishing.

BAJA CALIFORNIA

Cabo San Lucas saw the striped marlin bite kick back wide open this week and winds have been less of a problem in the past week. There is also still decent action on dorado and yellowfin and more and more sailfish are starting to show in the region. The East Cape stripers also came back on and there is a continued good dorado bite, some yellowfin, and more sailfish. La Paz has seen lots of wind again this week, but there is still some pretty decent action on 40 to 60-pound yellowfin on the Imbudo Bank. Loreto is seeing very light fishing pressure, but there is still fair yellowtail action. San Quintin has also had weather this past week, but there is great rockfish action here and a decent yellowtail bite. Some bigger bonito to 15 pounds are also showing around San Martin. Ensenada is very slow except for decent rockfish action and an occasional flurry of yellowtail.

LANDING CONTACTS

The following is an updated list of sportfishing landings in Southern California and Northern Baja California (from north to south) along with phone numbers:

Southern California: