There’s Nothing Cold About the Fishing This Winter

A long, cold winter was supposed to feel much longer and colder for Southern California landing operators because of regulation changes banning the fishing for rockfish and other bottom fishes.

These are the bread and butter for many of the fleets, the fish that lure the kind of fishermen who don’t mind going out when it’s cold and rough.

With rockfish out of the picture, prospects for any kind of a season were bleak at best.

But a funny thing happened this winter, in Southern California anyway. Winter never really materialized. And, despite poor fishing in some areas, the spring- and even summer-like weather has brought hordes of ordinary anglers out of hibernation.

“People love to go fishing on a nice, calm sunny day,” says Rick Oefinger, owner of Marina del Rey Sportfishing, whose passengers have enjoyed an April-like halibut bite for the last two weeks in the Santa Monica Bay, catching fish to 35 pounds.

His boats aren’t the only ones filling up.

“I got out with 43 people on Sunday and that’s not bad for any time of year,” says Norris Tapp, captain of the Freelance and manager of Davey’s Locker in Newport Beach. “We got over to Catalina and went around the east end, where it was protected from the northwest wind. It was glassy, in the mid-70s and there was nothing but sunshine. It was gorgeous.”

The passengers spent the day catching calico bass and blue perch. But Tapp and other captains, as delighted as they are about the weather, are encouraged that unseasonably warm weather and water will eventually spark an increase in activity among more exotic species, notably yellowtail and white seabass.

“We’ve already been catching some yellowtail at San Clemente [Island], and I would not be surprised whatsoever if there are yellowtail right now at Catalina,” Tapp says. “It’s just that nobody’s really looking for them yet.”

The water temperature at Catalina is holding at 60-61 degrees, or about three degrees above normal. Along the coast, surface readings have been as high as 64 but are averaging closer to 60 degrees. This too is higher than normal and credited largely to the lack of persistent westerly winds and the upwelling they cause.

But some are also giving credit to a weak-to-moderate El Nino condition in equatorial waters. “There are some interesting things happening out there,” says Steve Crooke, a marine biologist with the Department of Fish and Game.

Crooke pointed south to the Colonet region of Baja California, where San Diego boats are legally targeting rockfish but also encountering schools of seven- to 10-pound bonito and even some larger yellowtail.

Some have also had run-ins with jumbo squid, perhaps the same squid that invaded Southland waters by the thousands last August, visitors from South America that seem to show mainly during El Nino cycles.

These voracious mollusks, if they are of the same schools, have doubled in size and weigh as much as 28 pounds, with mantles up to 1 1/2 inches thick.

On this side of the border, at San Clemente Island last Saturday, passengers aboard the Pacific Star out of Davey’s Locker thought they had stumbled onto a frenzied school of yellowtail when gulls and pelicans started diving on baitfish chased to the surface by much larger predators.

The predators turned out to be barracuda, a lesser-prized game fish but one nonetheless that usually doesn’t appear until spring.

Closer to shore, although passenger loads are unseasonably high, fishing remains poor in most areas. The most notable exception is Santa Monica Bay, where the fishing might even be better if some wind would blow.

“It’s been almost too calm,” Oefinger says. “On some of the days, we haven’t even been able to get a good drift going, which we really need for halibut fishing.”

He was not complaining.

Double Whammy

If there’s a downside to the warmer water it’s that it has resulted in much smaller squid schools around the islands and along the coast. Live squid is the top bait for white seabass and one of the top baits for yellowtail.

Additionally, this is shaping up as one of those seasons when anchovies, rather than sardines, are the predominant species of baitfish coming up in the seiners’ nets. Anchovies, while ideal for bass and other small game fish, are not as effective for white seabass and yellowtail.

Winds of Change

How weird has this winter been?

“Very weird,” says Gene Allshouse from San Quintin Sportfishing, in the typically wind-swept fishing haven south of Ensenada. “Normally at this time of year, we hope for one or two days a week that are fishable. This year, so far, there has been one or two days that were questionable and that’s about it. Very warm and little to no wind. I’m not sure if this is a sign of El Nino, but it is a sign of something.”

Rockfish and lingcod are not off-limits in Mexico and Allshouse says fishing has been very good for the bottom fish.

Hot Tuna

On the other side of the Baja California peninsula, in the popular East Cape region on the Sea of Cortez, the water has yet to drop below 71 degrees -- it usually dips to as low as 67 at least once during the winter -- and the north winds the region is notorious for have not been as persistent this year.

“This has been the nicest winter we’ve had in the 12 years I have lived here,” reports Mark Rayor, owner of Vista Sea Sport dive center and an avid fisherman. “The weather is more like the beginning of April than February. Last year, we burned about two cords of wood in the fireplace. This year I can count the number of times we have used it on one hand.”

The hotel fleets have enjoyed almost summer-like fishing for 20- to 40-pound yellowfin tuna, which are being located beneath porpoises, “and dorado are charging our lures through the porpoise and tuna,” Rayor adds. “It has been solid for weeks and it’s just getting better. Hotter than any bite I saw all last year.”

Lost, Not Forgotten

Seven young people who lost their lives in a tragic wilderness accident last Saturday are being remembered as very special people this week in Alberta, Canada.

Michael Shaw, Daniel Arato, Ben Albert, Scott Broshko, Alex Patillo, Marissa Staddon and Jeffrey Trickett, all sophomores at the same Calgary-area high school, were swept up in a massive avalanche while they were skiing in the British Columbia wilderness.

Theirs was the second such tragedy in the area in less than two weeks. The first also killed seven people -- including four U.S. citizens, one of them a champion snowboarder.

There are questions left unanswered and details to sort out. Some are questioning the wisdom of leading kids on an outdoor-education field trip into an area where there was even the slightest risk of avalanches. And with 14 victims in so short a time span, others have called into question the means by which backcountry travelers are warned of avalanche dangers.

The Canadian government has called for a comprehensive review of safety precautions and procedures, but experts maintain that because the dynamics of snowpacks are so complex and vary so from slope to slope, there is no way to guarantee anyone’s safety, short of keeping them out of the ungroomed wilderness.

X Factor

Shaun White, 16, long dubbed “future boy” by his peers, has come into his own as a top-flight snowboarder. White won both the superpipe and slopestyle events at last week’s ESPN Winter X Games in Aspen.

In the former, he beat out, among others, Olympic medalists Ross Powers, Danny Kass and J.J. Thomas, thus stamping himself the front-runner for 2006 in Turin, should the affable redhead decide to give the Olympics another try. He failed to make the team last winter.

Boarding for a Cause

The annual Boarding for Breast Cancer Board-a-Thon at Mountain High is scheduled Saturday, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. The event features free product demos, live music, breast cancer awareness and educational exhibits, a raffle and, of course, an after-party.

The Wrightwood resort is donating a portion of the day’s ticket sales to the cause. Details: www.b4bc.org and www.mthigh.com.

Winding Up

Jerry McKinnis, host of “The Fishing Hole” and co-host of “The CITGO Bassmasters” is among five people who will be inducted this spring into the Professional Bass Fishing Hall of Fame.

The others are former tournament star Tom Mann, 1974 Bassmasters Classic champion Tommy Martin, two-time Classic champion Hank Parker and 1972 Classic champion Don Butler.

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FISH REPORT: DAY IN SPORTS