FISHING NOTES : Big Barracuda Run Tops the Action With Sea Bass on the Rebound

A big barracuda bite has led most Southern California sportfishing boats to reach their limits on day trips.

The run started last week at Rocky Point but soon moved to deeper water as the hungry fish searched for more anchovies. Catches as large as 10 pounds have been reported in water as deep as 150 feet.

White sea bass fishing at Catalina Island has also rebounded with some large fish being hooked. The Top Gun from L.A. Harbor Sportfishing, carrying a posse of lady anglers, reported that 14 women caught their limits of barracuda and each also hooked a single white sea bass, the maximum allowed by the Department of Fish and Game. Jane Griffin of Lomita won the jackpot, landing a 42-pound sea bass. She had help from a deckhand, who gaffed the fish. Apparently, it had slipped the hook and was about to go free.

Also aboard the Top Gun, Edith Braida of Harbor City caught a 33-pound sea bass.

Two San Pedro fishermen, Brian Dull and Robert Singer, were fishing in a skiff at Sieners Reef, a sunken ship near Terminal Island, when their search for small mackerel turned into a guessing game with a 10 1/4-pound halibut.

Using a line of small feathers to snag bait, the men watched the halibut nibble, then return to the bottom unhooked. They changed to halibut rigs, but the fish were too smart to take the live bait and disappeared.

Finally, Dull reeled his line in slowly, checking the bait, and noticed the halibut trolling along with it. Dull raised his line with a jerking motion and the flattie went for it. He reeled it in but Singer attempted to pull it out of the water with a net that was too small. It also had a hole in it.

They struggled with the fish and eventually knocked it into the skiff with the net.