Lack of Proper Bait Puts Bite on Fishing

As the squid goes, so goes the fishing for exotics.

Thanks to heavy pressure in recent weeks by commercial fishermen and their nets, the squid appears to be gone.

But with yellowtail and white seabass apparently still breezing about, South Bay-based skippers continue to make the long and costly journey to the northern Channel Islands in search of squid--the best bait for both species.

Only these days, most of them are returning empty-handed.

“It’s gotten a lot worse,” said Scott McKelvey at Redondo Sportfishing. “I heard that (Monday night) only one boat made squid, and there were 15 seiners and three other sport boats that did not get any .”

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Should more squid be found somewhere, look for the fishing to improve accordingly. Those fortunate enough to have the 10-tentacled critters on their hooks are hooking into yellowtail after yellowtail.

Redondo Sportfishing’s Sea Spray took a load to Catalina on Saturday and the fishermen put 42 yellowtail on board. “And they caught all those fish in only a couple of hours,” McKelvey said.

The Islander, out of 22nd Street Landing in San Pedro, took a small batch to Cortez Bank and its 21 anglers landed 11 yellowtail before the squid ran out. They proceeded to use sardines to catch 13 bluefin tuna, 11 skipjack and a dorado. Between bites, they fished the bottom and hauled up 250 rockfish.

“They had one dorado and, shoot, this is November,” said Mark Pisano, owner of the vessel. “It’s almost unheard of to be catching dorado out there at this time of year.”

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Catching dorado in November may be uncommon, but then so are water temperatures in the upper 60s. Too warm for the squid to come within a practical range of the South Bay fleet--the current effort is at Santa Cruz Island, about a 90-mile run one-way--yet not warm enough to hold tuna or dorado in any quantity.

“I took out the boat and looked around the local area and saw only one squid,” Redondo’s McKelvey said. “Locally it’s still 67 degrees.”

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There are some boats doing what boats are usually doing in November--fishing for rock cod. And they are doing well. Malibu Pier Sportfishing’s Monday rock cod trips are producing limits and Redondo Sportfishing’s Saturday-Sunday trips to the outer banks are doing the same--only with bigger fish.

Included in the Blackjack’s count Sunday night were 55 cow cod to 25 pounds.

And yellowtail and bonito are being caught locally. On Wednesday, the Monte Carlo out of 22nd Street Landing, with its anglers using cut squid and anchovies for bait, brought back four yellowtail, 71 bonito, 25 calico bass and eight barracuda.

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South Bay catches: Carl Heber, San Pedro, 33-pound yellowtail on First String at Horseshoe Kelp; Mel Daniels, Redondo Beach, 25-0 yellowtail on Monte Carlo at Horseshoe Kelp; Ron McQueen, Long Beach, 25-0 lingcod on Toronado at Catalina; Jerry King, Palos Verdes, 25-0 cow cod on Blackjack at Cherry Bank; Howard Bagley, Long Beach, 18-0 yellowtail on Southern Cal at Horseshoe Kelp.