FISHING NOTES / DAN STANTON : Anglers Looking for Sea Bass Should Head for Islands

It’s building up to an early spring bite at the two popular fishing islands.

The best fishing is now at the west end of Catalina Island, which is yielding an abundance of white sea bass.

Over the weekend, the Shogun from L.A. Harbor Sportfishing stopped at Catalina to catch squid and fill the bait tanks, then proceeded to San Clemente Island to get in on the calico bass and bull bass run.

As the squid was being caught, massive schools of white sea bass were lurking in 90 feet of water.

Norm Kagawa, captain of the Shogun, said almost every angler had a hook-up, with the sea bass ranging from 12 to 26 pounds. On the first day out, Ed Ericgowen of Lomita won the jackpot with his 26-pounder.

The second-day jackpot went to Long Beach angler Bob Walters with his 32-pounder.

Guillermo Usabell of West Los Angeles caught two that weighed 18 and 24 pounds.

Anglers with limits were former Angels pitcher Dave Frost of Long Beach, Dick Ceress of Long Beach and Eddie Boagnia of West Los Angeles. The average weight was 14 pounds.

L.A. Harbor’s Outerlimits limited out on calico bass at San Clemente Island and at Catalina, where Alex Nelson of El Segundo caught a 24 1/2-pound white sea bass.

Storm conditions kept the fleet from returning to the islands Monday and Tuesday.

Now is grunion grabbing time as the first spring run started Wednesday along South Bay beaches.

The Cabrillo Marine Museum in San Pedro will feature “Meet the Grunion” programs nightly at 8 during the scheduled runs in March. Grunion will be running through March 29.

Cabrillo Beach will be the site for participants to view the spawning grunion as they come ashore to lay their eggs.

Grunion may be caught by hand only and a California license is required for anyone over 16.

Call the museum, 548-7562.

King Harbor Marlin Club member Mark Hori, fishing aboard his boat the Alibi at Cabo San Lucas, returned to Torrance with a 46-pound rooster fish.

South Bay Catches:

Bob Tyler of Long Beach, fishing aboard the Blackjack at Cherry Bank, used a squid-baited jig to catch the whopper of the week, a 35-pound cow cod that may be a California record.

Grant Nakadatz of Gardena won the jackpot fishing at Catalina aboard the Shogun with a 21-pound yellowtail.

Tom Murphy of Long Beach, fishing aboard the Southern Cal at Catalina, caught a 16- 1/2 pound sheephead.

Richard Shultz of Gardena, fishing at the rigs aboard the Hitless Miss, caught an 11-pound salmon grouper.

Fish Reports:

Local fishing remains slow with the absence of anchovies. Only a few halibut have been caught.

Island fishing is rated good when the squid can be caught at night under lights.

At Marina del Rey Sportfishing: The Spitfire fished the shallow reefs and anglers caught 100 sculpin and three halibut.

The Happyman on a half-day trip to the bay had a count of 35 sand bass, 15 sculpin and two halibut.

The Betty O rock cod special fished the local rock piles and anglers caught 175 rock cod and two lingcod.

At Redondo Sportfishing: The Sea Spray fished the Rocky Point area and anglers sacked 700 sculpin and 40 rockfish.

The Blackjack fished Cherry Bank and chalked up 525 rock cod, 36 cow cod and one lingcod.

At 22nd Street Landing: The Diawa fished Catalina and returned with 60 calico bass and 50 sculpin.

The Freedom worked Catalina and anglers caught 39 sculpin, 21 calico bass, 27 whitefish and 14 sheephead.