FISHING : Anglers Have a Pipeline to Run of Bonito

A warm water flow from the nearby Edison plant’s pipeline has attracted bonito to an area off the Redondo Sport Fishing Pier.

Anglers who use bait or jigs with a bobber and cast toward the bubbles rising from the pipeline have been hooking bonito with great success.

The distance is only 120 feet from the rail of the pier and steady catches have been reported for more than a week.

Mike Dinicola of Torrance, who regularly fishes on the pier, said this has been the best bonito bite in a year.

Warren Torres of Redondo Beach, another pier regular, said he has recently caught bonito that weigh as much as four pounds.

Paul Boesche of the Redondo Sport Fishing office said a good supply of bait remains for his sportfishing fleet and pier anglers.

An unusual catch was made last weekend by a San Pedro angler aboard the Annie B barge.

Joseph Alvarez was bottom fishing for halibut when he felt a strike. When he set his hook, the fish refused to budge.

With assistance from barge deckhands, the fish was freed from rocks and kelp.

After 15 minutes of reeling in his catch without a fight, Alvarez discovered that he had hooked a large lobster that weighed 10 1/2 pounds.

Francis Stewart, the Annie B Barge master, said it has been several years since a legal lobster has been caught by a barge fisherman and that this one was the largest ever weighed on the barge.

The half-day boats Monte Carlo and Matt Walsh returned with catches of white seabass last weekend.

San Pedro fisherman Ben Broen, aboard the Matt Walsh, caught a 13-pounder, and Pat Lopez, aboard the Monte Carlo, landed a 10-pounder.

Fishing off Palos Verdes, skiff anglers continue to hook seabass, although most of the fish caught in recent days have been small.

Surface action for calico bass is excellent at Horseshoe Kelp, Rocky Point and San Clemente Island.

Tom Childs of Long Beach, fishing aboard the Victory at Horseshoe Kelp, caught an eight-pound calico bass.

Anglers have also been catching rock cod off deep water banks during the past week. Limits of cow cod, along with lingcod and salmon grouper, also have been caught.

Returning from a recent rock cod trip to the Santa Rosa Flats aboard the China Clipper, San Pedro fishermen Bruce Root and Derek Tom Sun caught their limits.

Root’s biggest catch was a 25-pound cow cod and Tom Sun’s biggest was a 20-pounder.

South Bay Catches: Pattie Bollin of Long Beach, aboard the Sportking off Catalina Island, used squid for bait to catch the whopper of the week, a 34 1/2-pound lingcod. She hooked the fish at a depth of more than 500 feet.

John Fomer, aboard the Toronado off Santa Barbara Island, caught a 19-pound lingcod.

David Fields of West Los Angeles, aboard the Spitfire off Venice Reef, caught a 19-pound halibut.

Del Calvert of San Pedro, aboard the Pacifica at Cherry Bank, caught an 18-pound lingcod.

Jamie Tani of Long Beach, aboard the Southern Cal at Horseshoe Kelp, caught a 13-pound sheephead.