Blue-light special on white seabass off Catalina, San Clemente islands

White seabass are perhaps the most highly prized saltwater game fish to frequent Southland waters.

They are powerful, yet elusive. The bag limit is one, but one large seabass will produce enough fillets to feed a large family.

Their flesh is tender and white; with a light marinade these fillets are delectable. Some might argue that they have no rivals as table fare.

Thus, the Memorial Day weekend was one to be savored by those who got in on the weekend seabass bite at Catalina and San Clemente Islands.

Anglers aboard the Freedom out of 22nd St. Landing in San Pedro put 62 seabass and several yellowtail -- another valued game fish -- on the deck during a two-day trip.

Cliff Hughes of Los Angles claimed the jackpot with a 46-pounder.

Capt. Tom Lee reports that most of the fish were caught Saturday, as boat pressure sent the noise-sensitive fish into hiding for much of Sunday.

Saturday was special for private boaters too. Philip Friedman, the 976-tuna.com founder and a weekly contributor to this column, arrived at the island at 5 p.m. to find the bite going "full speed."

"We wanted to beat the weekend crowd because we knew it'd be busy this weekend," said Friedman, who was fishing with son Philip Jr., Luke Hardin of Torrance and Terrence Berg of La Mirada.

Berg landed a 60-pounder on a live squid on a Seeker rod and Avet SX reel spooled with 20-pound test monofilament. Anglers have been using 20- to 30-pound test.

Other landings logging seabass counts on Saturday or Sunday were Pierpoint Landing in Long Beach, L.A. Harbor Sportfishing, Long Beach Sportfishing, Newport Landing, Davey’s Locker Sportfishing, Dana Wharf Sportfishing, and . Two best bets

Courtesy of 976-tuna.com:

1) White seabass and yellowtail at Santa Catalina Island. Huge volume of seabass and more yellowtail by the day. Tremendous fishing broke loose Saturday afternoon, with fish topping 50 pounds. The Phantom out of Pierpoint added four 30-pound yellowtail to seabass haul.

But talk about boat pressure: An estimated 250 vessels converged on the seabass grounds with a predictable result: slow fishing for most of Sunday and today.

If history holds true, though, the bite will resume once the pressure subsides on Tuesday. Expect an explosive rebound.

2) Albacore and bluefin tuna. The Excel scored the first albacore and bluefin tuna of 2008 on Sunday and Monday while on an exploratory trip 180 miles from San Diego. Excel anglers decked 32 bluefin tuna and 26 albacore.

The albacore were 12 to 15 pounds and the bluefin 15 to 40 pounds. "There is a big area of albacore and bluefin tuna here and they are up and active," said Excel skipper Justin Fleck. More noteworthy, the schools appeared headed toward San Diego "and there are a lot of them," Fleck added.

A 976-Tuna two-day charter departs Friday night on the Islander. Cost is $350 and space is limited. Details: (310) 328-8426.

Local saltwater

There have been some white seabass and yellowtail showing around Rocky Point, which was the site of a strong calico bass bite.