Fishing / Dan Stanton : Barracuda, Bonito and Bass Should Make Memorable Catch
Anglers planning to go out over the three-day Memorial Day weekend should prepare for a fish fry.
Name any fish you would like to catch and chances are it can be hooked, especially the three Bs: barracuda, bonito and bass.
The hottest run continues to be barracuda with the biggest concentration outside Rocky Point.
Yellowtail and white sea bass have broken wide open at Catalina Island.
The Topgun, sailing from L.A. Harbor Sportfishing with a tank of live squid, found the hot spot early this week at Catalina.
Anglers used light tackle and the white sea bass, all quality fish, weighed 18 to 35 pounds.
Chuck Brandberry of Long Beach caught the whopper of the week with his 35-pounder. Mark Gotto of West Los Angeles landed a 28-pounder as did Dave Van Hotten of Long Beach.
With the one-fish limit on white sea bass filled, the Topgun had to leave the bite early. Capt. Bob Taft moved up the island to where the yellowtail have been tearing up tackle.
It was the right move as 27 yellows went into the bulging sacks of sea bass.
The King Harbor Marlin Club and Redondo Yacht Club’s third annual Sadie Hawkins fishing tournament was a success as 28 women participated from eight boats.
The top three catches went to Torrance women. The overall winner for the largest fish was Barbara Haynes with her 20-pound, 11-ounce thresher shark. Clinda Woodward placed second with a 9-pound, 13-ounce halibut. Dorrie Hensley finished third with a 6-pound sand bass.
Returning Monday from fishing in the Marlin Gold Tournament in Hawaii, Alex Gonzales of Wilmington and John Stembridge of Long Beach reported landing big catches but failed to win prizes.
Gonzales did battle for one hour to land a 559 1/2-pound blue marlin. Stembridge landed an 800-pound bronze shark in two hours with 80-pound test line.
South Bay Catches:
Mark Larson of San Pedro, fishing aboard the Topgun at Catalina, used 10-pound test line and brought an 18 1/2-pound yellowtail out of the kelp.
Leo Sutton of Gardena, on the Hitless Miss at Rocky Point, caught a 17-pound white sea bass.
Lloyd Auburn of West Los Angeles was at Catalina aboard the Pacifica and caught a stray salmon that weighed 16 pounds.
John Ozaeth of San Pedro, on the Outerlimits at San Clemente, won the jackpot with a 15-pound yellowtail.
Fish Reports:
Barracuda fishing is steady. The best area is from Marineland to Rocky Point.
Catalina yellowtail and sea bass are biting on squid. The exotics’ preference is squid. Bonito and calico bass catches remain steady with anchovies as choice bait.
At Marina del Rey Sportfishing: The Happyman on a half-day trip to the bay returned with 44 sculpin, 14 sand bass and nine halibut.
The Del Mar, fishing at Sunset Beach, had a variety catch of 160 sculpin, 12 sand bass, nine barracuda and six calico bass.
The Spitfire landed 150 sculpin, 78 sand bass and 22 calico bass.
At Redondo Sportfishing: The Sea Spray’s anglers caught 47 sand bass, 26 barracuda, nine calico bass and one halibut at Rocky Point.
Anglers on the Redondo Special half-day trip connected for 130 sand bass and 14 barracuda.
The Blackjack returned from Catalina with 180 bonito, 55 calico bass and 110 blue perch.
The barge Isle of Redondo had a wide-open mackerel bite with 780 sacked, plus 57 rockfish.
At 22nd Street Landing: The First String worked the oil rigs and chalked up 351 barracuda and 15 sculpin.
The Monte Carlo fished at Marineland and 183 barracuda went into the sacks.
At L.A. Harbor Sportfishing: The Sportking trip to Catalina resulted in 136 barracuda, 47 calico bass and 26 sand bass.
The Matt Walsh on a half-day trip to Horseshoe Kelp caught 93 sculpin and three halibut.
The Outerlimits worked the front side of Catalina and anglers caught 55 barracuda, 41 calico bass, 33 bonito and 21 perch.
The Annie B barge had a weekend count of 981 kingfish, 955 mackerel, 13 sculpin and one halibut.
At Long Beach Sportfishing: The Victory fished Rocky Point and found the barracuda in deep water as anglers caught 412, plus 88 sand bass.
The Pacifica tried Catalina and 160 calico bass, 10 barracuda and one salmon went into the sacks.
The Southern Cal twilight trip resulted in a catch of 155 sand bass.
Freshwater Notes: Graig Watson of San Pedro, using strips of bonito, landed the largest catfish weighed in at Silverwood Lake in two years, 20 pounds.
Ed Musberger of Santa Monica used a crawdad to land an 11-pound bass at Lake Casitas.
