Fishing / Dan Stanton : All Kinds of Surface Fish Hit the Hooks in Local Waters
Just about every species of surface fish was caught during the past weekend.
As the water temperatures crept up to the 60s, the cork was out of the fish bottle, giving anglers a taste of things to come.
Catalina and San Clemente islands were the hot spots for exotics.
Yellowtail have been cruising around San Clemente, and with improving conditions a wide-open bite can be expected.
The Sportking from L.A. Harbor Sportfishing had outstanding catches Sunday and Monday.
Chester Arthur Jr. of Gardena, using 12-pound test line, made a cast toward a boiling school of barracuda at Catalina and a white sea bass grabbed his anchovy. He let it run and straight to the bottom the croaker went, spooling his line.
Arthur slowly reeled the fish to the surface. It again headed down but Arthur brought the tired fish to the surface and the deckhand made one swipe of the gaff, ending the 20-minute fight.
Arthur’s sea bass weighed in at 44 1/2 pounds and awarded him the whopper of the week. It was one of the largest fish caught at the island this season.
Ted Histaomi of Gardena used a red and blue jig Monday at Catalina to hook up with a white sea bass that weighed 28 pounds.
Ronn Anderson of Carson used an anchovy and brought up a 25-pound white sea bass.
Oliver Younger of Long Beach had a small sea bass on his line chased by a shark. He bounced the bass that weighed in at 15 pounds.
News Note:
The Inglewood Flyfishers have changed their name to South Bay Flyfishers and will continue to meet in Westchester.
South Bay Catches:
David Warner of Long Beach, fishing aboard the Reel Special, won the jackpot with a 27-pound white sea bass at Catalina.
Chuck Fisher of Long Beach, aboard the Admiral, caught a 20-pound lingcod at Deep Hole.
Joe Mealey of Santa Monica, on the Topgun at Catalina, caught two halibut that weighed a total of 17 pounds.
Tang Lu Chung of Hermosa Beach, fishing aboard the Southern Cal at Twin Roads, snared a 15-pound halibut.
John Bousquet of West Los Angeles, at Catalina aboard the Topgun, caught a 12-pound halibut.
John Diaz of Harbor City, at Catalina aboard the Topgun, caught an 11-pound halibut.
Milo Halstead of Carson, working the rigs aboard the Victory, caught a 10-pound halibut.
Fish Reports:
Barracuda action could break loose at any time.
Sand bass and halibut continue to provide anglers with near-limits on most trips.
At Marina del Rey Sportfishing: The Spitfire found the sand bass at the rock reefs and returned with 158, plus 10 sculpin.
The Happyman fished the bay on a half-day trip with anglers catching 32 sand bass and 10 bonito.
At Redondo Sportfishing: The Southern Cal, fishing outside Torrance Beach, chalked up 330 sand bass, 85 sculpin and eight halibut.
The Redondo Special on a half-day trip worked Twin Roads and anglers sacked 120 sand bass and three halibut.
The Blackjack fished Cherry Bank and returned with 420 rock cod and 28 cow cod.
The barge Isle of Redondo continues to load sacks with mackerel--510, plus 145 rockfish last weekend.
At 22nd Street Landing: The First String fished Catalina and anglers caught a variety--53 sculpin, 31 calico bass, 18 halibut to 20 pounds, two yellowtail and one white sea bass.
At L.A. Harbor Sportfishing: The Sportking headed to the east end of Catalina and anglers sacked 105 bonito, 22 barracuda, seven calico bass, three sheepshead and one white sea bass.
The Outerlimits’ San Clemente Island trip resulted in a catch of 210 bull bass, 30 sheepshead and 21 sculpin.
The Topgun fished Catalina for bass and anglers sacked 66 calicos, one white and one black weighing 110 pounds. It was released.
The Annie B barge had a weekend count of 890 kingfish, 715 mackerel and four halibut.
At Long Beach Sportfishing: The Victory checked out Horseshoe Kelp and anglers caught 59 calico bass, 11 barracuda, 10 sand bass and five halibut.
The Pacifica headed to Cherry Bank for rock cod and anglers returned with 200 rock cod, 15 cow cod and 10 lingcod.
The Aztec fished the shallow rocks at San Clemente and returned with 300 rock cod, 23 lingcod and 15 cow cod.
Freshwater Notes:
Seven-year-old Long Beach angler Joey Gesicki scored with a four-pound trout at Anaheim Lake.
Using a night crawler, Dan Akley of Lawndale caught a 10-pound rainbow trout at Santa Ana River Lakes.
Gilbert Bayle of Torrance landed an 11 1/3-pound trout at Irvine Lake.
