Squid Produced Big Catches Before the Storm Struck Area

Before Sunday’s storm, the continued supply of squid had resulted in the hottest fishing in local waters in the past few weeks.

Halibut, which are caught at the highest rate in the spring, have shown up in consistent numbers for anglers in the South Bay fishing for rock cod in deep and shallow water.

If this continues, expect record catches during the halibut derbys in April.

This past week before heavy seas hit the coastline, two South Bay party boats caught nine white sea bass, but anglers had to release eight because they failed by inches to be legal.

The white sea bass hookups could be an indication that an early run is in the offing.

South Bay Catches: Danny Walters of Long Beach, fishing aboard the Sea Spray, caught the South Bay whopper of the week when he tossed a squid fishing for bass and a stray yellowtail hit the bait. After a 15-minute battle it hit the deck and weighed in at 22 1/2 pounds.

Greg Schaback of Redondo Beach, on the Spitfire, won the jackpot with a 22-pound halibut.

Jim Cutter of San Pedro, aboard the Matt Walsh at the horseshoe kelp, won the jackpot with a 15 1/2-pound halibut.

Bill Gibson, aboard the Spitfire, won the jackpot while fishing for rock cod when he landed a 12-pound halibut.

Mike Hargrave of West Los Angeles won the jackpot aboard the Spitfire with a 16-pound halibut.

Fish Report: Good catches noted before the storm Sunday. The sportfishing fleet, in port since Sunday, expects to return to action today.

At Marina del Rey Sportfishing, the Spitfire fished the short bank and chalked up 21 halibut and 60 sculpin.

The Betty O, fishing for rock cod, had 180 plus one big lingcod.

The half-day boat Happy Man caught 24 halibut plus 125 sculpin.

At Redondo Sportfishing, the three-quarter-day Sharpshooter took 35 halibut, 119 sculpin and 6 calico bass.

The Redondo Special caught 35 halibut in the flats area, 50 sculpin and 16 bonito.

The Blackjack fished Cherry Bank and returned with a full limit--250 rock cod and 14 cow cod.

The Challenger fished San Clemente Island. The squid paid off with 175 calico and bull bass, 10 sculpin and 2 sheepshead.

At L. A. Harbor Sportfishing at Ports O’ Call, the half-day trip aboard the Matt Walsh at Horseshoe Kelp came back with 65 sand bass, 1 halibut and 11 sheepshead.

The Outer Limits fished Catalina Island and caught 41 calico bass, 60 bull bass and 20 sheepshead.

The Explorer fished Catalina and took 48 calico bass, 67 blue perch and one legal white sea bass.

At Long Beach Sportfishing, the Sea Spray half-day trip at the oil rigs produced 65 rock cod, 31 sculpin and 28 whitefish.

The Reel Special in the Marineland area garnered 70 calico bass and 26 sculpin. Anglers hooked 8 white sea bass that were 1 to 3 inches short of legal and were released.