Local Waters Serve Up Yellowtail, Barracuda and More

No matter where you are in Southern California, there is plenty of fishing to be done, and there's a good chance you will reel in something worth taking about.

In Corona del Mar and Newport Beach, private boaters are still taking in thresher sharks, several more than 200 pounds. Ed Lambeth of Chino was coming back from Catalina Island on his sailboat when he saw three thresher sharks half a mile west of the red buoy off Newport Beach. The sharks were lounging on the surface with their elongated tails sticking out of the water. “It was like they were sunbathing,” Lambeth said. 

The sport boat Freelance, out of Davey’s Locker in Newport Beach, reported catching its first tuna of 2011 at Catalina this week. It was a skipjack tuna, one of the less targeted species but a tuna nonetheless. Private boaters fishing the coastal kelp lines continue to do well on calico bass with some barracuda and an occasional big white sea bass.

Here's how things are looking elsewhere.

Over in San Diego, it remains very slow for tuna. A few nice bluefin tuna have been caught from time to time, but that’s about it. The Fourth of July has come and gone, and there's still no sign of albacore anywhere near San Diego. Anglers and captains alike are hoping for a late season. The local bite has been quite good, with excellent sand bass and barracuda fishing off Tijuana and some good calico bass and more barracuda off La Jolla. There have also been a few yellowtail taken here too. 

Cortez Bank 

Ninety miles south of Long Beach some big yellowtail are biting. So are some 10-pound bonito and lots of great-eating rockfish. There have also been some bluefin tuna, but they have been reluctant to bite. 

The Toronado out of Pierpoint Landing in Long Beach has scheduled a 1.5-day trip for Cortez Bank: Departure is Saturday at 9 p.m.; return is Monday morning. Captain Ray Lagmay says that if fishermen miss on tuna and yellowtail, they are guaranteed a sack of rockfish. The trip is $200.

 Catalina Island  

If you can live without white sea bass and yellowtail, you'll consider the bite here very good. Excellent calico bass, barracuda, perch, rockfish, and a few white sea bass and yellowtail make the island a great three-quarter-day destination. 

The Native Sun from Long Beach Sportfishing fished Catalina Island recently for good calico bass fishing, a few barracuda and some perch and rockfish. More important, skipper Gabriel Ceballos said, conditions were perfect, with 71-degree water and lots of life.

The three-quarter-day Gale Force out of LA Harbor Sportfishing has been going to Catalina and having great calico bass fishing and lots of barracuda and has been seeing more and more yellowtail every day. “Fishing has been very steady,” said captain Chris Batts.   

Oceanside to Dana Point  

There is much improved calico bass fishing here and more sand bass and a few halibut and yellowtail. Water temps are on the rise, and that has the bass bite warming up too. There are thresher sharks offshore too. 

Huntington Beach to Long Beach 

It has been up and down on the Flats, with some days of great barracuda fishing along with some sand bass, and other much slower days. The Westerly, out of Long Beach Sportfishing, had excellent sand bass fishing along with a few barracuda Tuesday. Twilight trips have been producing some calico and sand bass and an occasional halibut. One lucky first-time angler fishing on the Native Sun on a twilight trip caught a 24-pound halibut this week.

Palos Verdes 

There has been excellent calico bass fishing along the rich kelp lines, off Point Vicente, as well as around Rocky Point. There is also a very good chance for a big white sea bass and/or yellowtail. The fish are biting best on live or fresh dead squid, as well as on live sardines. Anchoring just off the kelp line during high tides has produced some of the best bites. There have also been some more halibut taken too. Jimmy Bass, from Tradition Sportfishing, has been catching lots of big sheepshead around Marine Land Reef, as well as some lingcod, perch and other rockfish. “This has been a great year for action,” Bass said.

Redondo 

The squid grounds off Hermosa Beach continue to produce occasional big halibut and some big white sea bass. As we move closer to the full moon, the bite could well accelerate, as tidal flows are normally at their apex. It is during the high tides that we see some of the best white sea bass fishing.

Justin Horwath, who is just getting into fishing, was aboard the Highliner this week and caught a nice 28-pound white sea bass off Hermosa Beach. Not to be outdone, Horwath’s friend Danny O’Connor caught his biggest halibut ever: a 32-pound flattie. Rick Pazjak then decked his first white sea bass in 25 years of fishing.

 Channel Islands

Santa Rosa Island kicked out the largest California halibut ever taken last week—a 67.1-pounder—for Frank Rivera fishing on the Mirage. This week, the white sea bass bite has been off the hook. Limits of sea bass (three per rod) has not been uncommon on croakers to over 50 pounds.

 Surf fishing

There is excellent surf fishing now around Bolsa Chica State Beach for big corbina. Shawn Morgon, from Big Fish Tackle in Seal Beach, said that corbina in the 3-4-pound class have been common. Morgon said that there are plenty of sand crabs along the beach and that they have been working great. There is also lots of barred perch.

Thresher sharks continue to be taken off the Huntington Beach Pier on live mackerel. Here there is also good perch and corbina—and an occasional halibut—fishing. Same kind of thing around the Seal Beach Pier. We are also seeing improved corbina fishing mixed with barred perch around Rats Beach and the Hermosa and Manhattan Beach piers.

 Blue whales

 Harbor Breeze Cruises in Long Beach treated a group of workers and their families from Cabi Clothing in Rancho Dominguez to day of blue whale watching. The group started at the Aquarium of the Pacific, where they spent several hours.

In the afternoon, the group headed out of Harbor Breeze Cruises and came upon three magnificent blue whales about 10 miles from port. The largest creatures to ever inhabit the earth brought the group to their feet with excitement. The trio of leviathans, each about 80 feet long, entertained the whale watchers for a good hour. There appears to be copious amounts of krill in the water, which should keep these fascinating creatures around for a while.

In the end one of the creatures took a deep dive, showing off its magnificent fluke for all to see. “I will never, ever forget the whales and will never forget the joy we all felt seeing our first blue whales,” said Ruth Guzman Jara.

 Notable catches

 Mike Plossel of Laguna Niguel caught a giant, bright-colored opah on the Searcher out of Fisherman’s landing in San Diego on a recent trip. Opah are rarely caught by recreational anglers and remain an enigma. Almost nothing is known of opah biology and ecology.

 The catch of a 1,119-pound blue marlin by Dave Albury shatters a 32-year-old Bahamas Billfish Championship series tournament record and represents a new record for the Bahamas.

It also places local angler Albury into the elite club of fishermen to have landed a "grander," or a marlin weighing 1,000 pounds or more. Only a handful of granders are caught each year around the world.