Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Sportfishing at ten percent of summer

Mexican Navy will pull you over too

The sportfishing vessel Dolphin heading out with a light wintertime half-day load. These trips are a good place for a beginning angler to learn the fishery and regulations.
The sportfishing vessel Dolphin heading out with a light wintertime half-day load. These trips are a good place for a beginning angler to learn the fishery and regulations.

Dock Totals 2/13 – 2/19: 578 anglers aboard 28 half-day to 1.5-day trips out of San Diego landings this past week caught 3 bonito, 149 calico bass (74 released), 1 halibut, 52 lingcod, 2 lobster (18 released), 38 perch, 1 sargo, 3 spider crab, 896 rockfish, 229 sand bass, 275 sculpin, and 112 whitefish.

Saltwater: Long range boats are having a great season off the southern Baja coast this winter. Cow yellowfin tuna, wahoo, yellowtail, and grouper have yet to disappoint those riding 8-day to16-day trips to more tropical climes, while locally, calico bass, sand bass, and sculpin are being targeted by the half-day boats. Mid-range overnight and full day runs are targeting rockfish in Mexican waters from the Coronado Islands south to the high spots off Colonet, with occasional yellowtail coming over the rail. All in all, this is typical winter fishing.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Bluefin tuna are undoubtedly somewhere out there, but weather, boats in maintenance, and low angler counts aren’t allowing much investigation into that bite. As bluefin migrate to eastern Pacific waters annually then stay for several years until ready to return to the western Pacific to spawn, they will be there, and I am sure will be back in the counts as newly-fitted vessels find weather windows and angler loads to justify the long trip out to the banks southwest of San Clemente Island.

To those who do not fish out of San Diego landings, several hundred anglers aboard a couple dozen trips might sound like a busy week for our passenger vessel fishing fleet, but this is the slowest time of year with around ten percent of the average ticket sales during the summer-fall seasons. Many boats are doing annual repairs and refitting, and those running are restricted in targeted species with the rockfish closure from January through February. This coming week, that restriction will be lifted, and rockfish will be open again in our local waters. By the first week of March, more boats will be running, and more anglers will be boarding. By June or July, the San Diego fleet will be running hundreds of trips and carrying thousands of passengers per week.

Many of those anglers are tourists and newcomers to the fisheries in California and off the Baja coast.

I occasionally see posts on social media showing protected species kept, over limits, and gear that is not legal for recreational angling. One sees it often in Baja; where tourists fishing on a Mexican license post their catches and harvesting of species while assuming there are few rules due to lack of enforcement as well as reinforcement of seeing others, including Mexican citizens, doing the same with no recourse. Piles of clams dug from the sand; lobsters caught by hand while freediving; over limits of finfish and other restricted or prohibited practices that are so rarely enforced due to a lack of sufficient Mexico’s National Aquaculture and Fishing Commission officers. The Mexican Navy also will enforce fishing regulations. I have seen them pull illegal gill nets and other gear used by poachers.

Fish Plants: February 24 – Lake Poway, trout (1,500), February 25 – Santee Lakes, trout, (1,500)

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Undocumented workers break for Trump in 2024

Illegals Vote for Felon
Next Article

Escondido planners nix office building switch to apartments

Not enough open space, not enough closets for Hickory Street plans
The sportfishing vessel Dolphin heading out with a light wintertime half-day load. These trips are a good place for a beginning angler to learn the fishery and regulations.
The sportfishing vessel Dolphin heading out with a light wintertime half-day load. These trips are a good place for a beginning angler to learn the fishery and regulations.

Dock Totals 2/13 – 2/19: 578 anglers aboard 28 half-day to 1.5-day trips out of San Diego landings this past week caught 3 bonito, 149 calico bass (74 released), 1 halibut, 52 lingcod, 2 lobster (18 released), 38 perch, 1 sargo, 3 spider crab, 896 rockfish, 229 sand bass, 275 sculpin, and 112 whitefish.

Saltwater: Long range boats are having a great season off the southern Baja coast this winter. Cow yellowfin tuna, wahoo, yellowtail, and grouper have yet to disappoint those riding 8-day to16-day trips to more tropical climes, while locally, calico bass, sand bass, and sculpin are being targeted by the half-day boats. Mid-range overnight and full day runs are targeting rockfish in Mexican waters from the Coronado Islands south to the high spots off Colonet, with occasional yellowtail coming over the rail. All in all, this is typical winter fishing.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Bluefin tuna are undoubtedly somewhere out there, but weather, boats in maintenance, and low angler counts aren’t allowing much investigation into that bite. As bluefin migrate to eastern Pacific waters annually then stay for several years until ready to return to the western Pacific to spawn, they will be there, and I am sure will be back in the counts as newly-fitted vessels find weather windows and angler loads to justify the long trip out to the banks southwest of San Clemente Island.

To those who do not fish out of San Diego landings, several hundred anglers aboard a couple dozen trips might sound like a busy week for our passenger vessel fishing fleet, but this is the slowest time of year with around ten percent of the average ticket sales during the summer-fall seasons. Many boats are doing annual repairs and refitting, and those running are restricted in targeted species with the rockfish closure from January through February. This coming week, that restriction will be lifted, and rockfish will be open again in our local waters. By the first week of March, more boats will be running, and more anglers will be boarding. By June or July, the San Diego fleet will be running hundreds of trips and carrying thousands of passengers per week.

Many of those anglers are tourists and newcomers to the fisheries in California and off the Baja coast.

I occasionally see posts on social media showing protected species kept, over limits, and gear that is not legal for recreational angling. One sees it often in Baja; where tourists fishing on a Mexican license post their catches and harvesting of species while assuming there are few rules due to lack of enforcement as well as reinforcement of seeing others, including Mexican citizens, doing the same with no recourse. Piles of clams dug from the sand; lobsters caught by hand while freediving; over limits of finfish and other restricted or prohibited practices that are so rarely enforced due to a lack of sufficient Mexico’s National Aquaculture and Fishing Commission officers. The Mexican Navy also will enforce fishing regulations. I have seen them pull illegal gill nets and other gear used by poachers.

Fish Plants: February 24 – Lake Poway, trout (1,500), February 25 – Santee Lakes, trout, (1,500)

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Woodpeckers are stocking away acorns, Amorous tarantulas

Stunning sycamores, Mars rising
Next Article

Syrian treat maker Hakmi Sweets makes Dubai chocolate bars

Look for the counter shop inside a Mediterranean grill in El Cajon
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader