This Is One Good-Sized Fishing Hole

It’s not quite the best of both worlds, but South Bay anglers fishing offshore or near-shore waters have little to complain about.

At the outer banks, increasingly large schools of tuna are breezing through the clear, blue water. Closer to home, sand bass appear to be carpeting the sandy bottom because limits remain the rule rather than the exception.

“We still have great sand bass fishing and a lot of barracuda,” said John Glackin, owner of Redondo Sportfishing. “Limits have been the rule for the last six days. Our Sea Spray on Sunday had 560 sand bass for 56 anglers.”

Take your pick of any South Bay landing--they’re all reporting the same thing. And some are adding a touch of calico to the picture. Malibu and Marina del Rey boats are finding calico bass at Big Kelp Reef north of Malibu pier. Redondo Sportfishing is finding them at Rocky Point and L.A., and Long Beach Harbor-based vessels are occasionally hitting the jackpot at Horseshoe Kelp. The Matt Walsh out of L.A. Harbor Sportfishing on Tuesday afternoon had 33 anglers sack 316 calico bass.

The tuna, meanwhile, have been harder to catch, with most boats returning from 1 1/2-day trips with only a handful. But the presence of so large and powerful a quarry close to home has the local sportfishing community excited nonetheless.

“There are a lot of fish in the area, we’ve seen a lot of them jumping around,” said Mike Goggin, skipper of L.A. Harbor’s First String, which returned from the Cortez and Tanner banks on Tuesday with 11 bluefin tuna. “I imagine we hooked 45 fish,” Goggin added.

The Aztec out of Long Beach Sportfishing returned from another area Monday with one bluefin, eight yellowfin, 14 yellowtail and limits of skipjack tuna.

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South Bay anglers who had their hands full with tuna this past week include: Steve Miles of Long Beach, a 40-pound bluefin; Bill Wymore of San Pedro, a 36-pounder, and Ditmar Kruger of Santa Monica, a 24-pounder. All were fishing aboard L.A. Harbor’s First String.

Although Bryon Smith of Long Beach Sportfishing earned top honors with a 93-pound bluefin, he was fishing south of the border out of San Diego, where huge tuna have been feeding for weeks.

Other noteworthy catches: a 34-pound yellowtail by Kenny Swanson of Redondo Beach aboard the First String and a 27-pound yellowtail by Brian Holmes of Long Beach aboard Long Beach Sportfishing’s Toronado.

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There are some yellowtail to be had at San Clemente Island and the Farnsworth Bank. The bite had been spotty but appeared to be picking up Wednesday.

Redondo Sportfishing’s Blackjack reported that as of 10:30 a.m. Wednesday its eight passengers had boated 25 yellowtail at about 15 pounds apiece and that the bite was still in progress.

Notes

HISTORY--If you’ve ever wondered how your Southern California predecessors--namely, the Chumash Indians--lived and worked the marine environment around them, you need only visit the Cabrillo Marine Museum in San Pedro. A traveling photographic exhibit, entitled “Gifts From the Sea,” is on display through Dec. 31. The Chumash once inhabited 19 villages in the northern Channel Islands (now the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary), subsisting on sea lion meat and fish and using snail shells for bead money. Information: (310) 548-7562.

MISCELLANY--The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is offering a variety of day programs throughout the summer, ranging from twilight hikes and nature discussions to bird-watching tours. Information: National Park Visitor Center (818) 597-9192 or the Mountains Park Information Service (800) 533 7275.