Barracuda Sink Their Teeth Into This Lure

If you’re planning a trip to the west end of Catalina, bring plenty of blue-and-white iron.

Barracuda are thick in the area and the lure is just too much for the needle-toothed fish, according to local skippers, who should know given the counts they are turning in.

“We’ve got an excellent barracuda bite going on right now,” said Bruce Root, captain of the Sport King out of L.A. Harbor Sportfishing. “It’s more or less an all-day bite on the blue-and-white jigs.”

Root said the live bait supply has been good but the anchovies too small for the hook. “They’re good for chum to attract the fish to the boat, though,” he said.

The lures are doing the rest. Root’s passengers put 315 barracuda in the sacks on Tuesday and vessels from Redondo Beach to Long Beach have been reporting similar results since Saturday, when L.A. Harbor Sportfishing alone accounted for nearly 1,000 barracuda.

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Seems there’s no place for yellowtail to hide.

Schools of the popular game fish have surfaced at Catalina and San Clemente islands, at Horseshoe Kelp outside Los Angeles Harbor and off Rocky Point offshore of the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Each time they were hit hard, but eventually managed to give fishermen the slip.

But the local fleet has found the fish once again, this time at Santa Barbara Island.

The crew of the New Hustler II made the discovery Sunday, with passengers aboard the vessel boating 17 fish, some weighing up to 30 pounds. Other vessels followed and on Monday found the fish even more cooperative, posting counts from 40 to 60 a boat.

But alas, the forces of nature seemed to thwart hopes of a lasting bite.

“The conditions went a little slack,” Norm Kagawa, skipper of the Shogun of L.A. Harbor Sportfishing, said Tuesday night. “We hooked or caught yellowtail at every spot we stopped to fish, but not in near the numbers as the day before.”

There was no word late Wednesday about whether the yellowtail fishing improved, but the alternative--rockfish and red snapper--is always a safe bet at the lightly fished island.

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Twilight fishing has begun or will begin this weekend at South Bay landings, with boats targeting mostly barracuda, bonito, calico bass and sand bass. The schedule:

* Malibu Sportfishing: Wednesdays from 5 to 9 aboard the Aquarius, $20 adults, children 12 and younger $15.

* Marina del Rey Sportfishing: nightly from 5:30 to 9 aboard the Del Mar, Spitfire or Betty O, $20.

* Redondo Sportfishing: Thursday-Saturday, 6 to 10 (starts nightly on May 27), $18 adults, $13 children.

* L.A. Harbor Sportfishing: nightly beginning Friday from 6 to 12 aboard Sport King, $20 adults, $17 seniors and $10 children.

* 22nd Street Landing: Thursday-Saturday from 6:30 to 11 aboard the Monte Carlo, $20 adults, $17 children and senior citizens (Thursday and Friday only).

* Long Beach Sportfishing: Thursday-Saturday from 6 to 11:30 aboard the Southern Cal, $19. (Reel Special is making bass-only trips from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m., $35.)

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The fate of our fisheries isn’t necessarily in your hands, but you can help.

The Department of Fish and Game has tagged more than 12,000 sharks, halibut, sand bass and seabass in local waters and says recovery of the tags will help provide information essential to effectively manage the species for future generations.

As an incentive for anglers to return the tags, the department is offering prizes ranging from baseball caps with the Marine Fish Tagging Program logo to deep-sea fishing trips. Shark tags are worth small cash prizes.

Anglers should note general information such as date and location of catch, depths of area fished and the condition of the fish. Undersized fish must be released alive after the tags are removed, as should giant seabass, which are protected by law.

Details are available by calling biologist Ray Ally at (310) 590-5188. Boaters who would like to assist in the ongoing shark-tagging program can call Leanne Laughlin at (310) 590-5169.