(left): Jim Casad with his hefty 60-pound halibut caught while fishing at the Coronado Islands.
(right): Local surf fishing guru Tracy Hartman with a double catch of yellowfin croaker.

Dock Totals 7/21– 7/27: 4659 anglers aboard 193 half-day to 3-day trips out of San Diego landings over the past week caught 174 barracuda, 446 bluefin tuna (up to 220 pounds), 9 bonito, 3 cabezon, 1110 calico bass, 53 dorado, 6 halibut, 47 lingcod, 2244 rockfish, 1405 sand bass, 60 sanddab, 197 sculpin, 96 sheephead, 5 triggerfish, 275 whitefish, 4 white seabass, and 3488 yellowtail.

Saltwater: Though bluefin tuna are one of the least affected species when it comes to water temperatures, their feeding habits can be affected by the moon phase. There always seems to be a dip in numbers caught during the week of the brightest moon phases bracketing the full moon, as was the case this past week. For daytime fishing, a full moon week can slow down the action of many species that continue to feed during dark hours given the better visibility. But with bluefin, which often feed through the dark, the full moon seems to affect them both day and night. 

The July 22nd full moon was one reason for the substantial drop in the bluefin count this past week. Another might have been the schools' moving further offshore and north, such that they usually begin showing better at the banks past San Clemente Island. The third reason might be the great yellowtail action close to home, causing many boats to forgo a long 100-plus mile boat ride for iffy bluefin when there are plenty of hard pulling yellowtail within 25 miles of Point Loma. 

Out around the Coronado Islands, it wasn't all yellotwail, however. One lucky angler, Idahoan Jim Casad, caught a 60-pound California halibut while fishing the islands with his son Casey Casad of San Diego. Closer to home, this past week featured several chunky halibut catches, including a very nice jackpot winner on a morning Dolphin half-day run and a 22-pound, 41-inch unit caught in San Diego Bay by a private boater. 

Sand Bass numbers rose quite a bit this past week, with much of that due to the targeted areas between the Coronado Islands and Point Loma, with some boats stopping to take a peek at the Imperial flats. Along the beaches, yellowfin croaker, California corbina, and barred surfperch continued to bite very well on bait like squid strips, sand crabs, and mussels while in the bays, shortfin corbina and halibut highlight catches. There was even one report of a small yellowtail caught off Shelter Island Pier.

One of my favorite species to target, white seabass, is showing well along the coast just outside the kelp beds in 80 feet or so, and though the counts don’t reflect the action well, reports of the "gray ghosts" keep popping up on social media recreational angler fishing pages. This is always a thrill for me, as the white seabass, once nearly gone from Southern California waters, have made an excellent return to the fishery. This is due to the excellent work of studies and restocking programs like that of the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute’s Ocean Resources Enhancement and Hatchery Program.

Beginning in 1982 with Assembly Bill 1414, introduced by California Assemblyman Larry Stirling, and Assemblywoman Dede Alpert’s re-authorized Assembly Bill-960, the research is funded through the sale of marine enhancement stamps on fishing licenses for all saltwater anglers. Managed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the hatchery program has grown to the point of producing several million juvenile white seabass annually, with an annual release goal of 350,000 fish per year.

The first batch of juvenile white seabass were released into Mission Bay in 1986, and since then the program has tagged and released over 2.5 million fish. Through the white seabass collection efforts within the recreational angling community, over 2000 of those hatchery-reared white seabass have been recovered, most of them being subadults while others have been growing and reproducing for over 20 years. My father, John Powell, was involved with the program both as an avid angler concerned with conservation and as a mechanical contractor working on the infrastructure involved. He sat on the Hubbs SeaWorld board of directors in 1989-1990. By the time he passed in 2004, I had caught a few of the fish he helped reintroduce to abundancy while kayak fishing off La Jolla, and he would always get a kick out of that. 

I owe a great part of my love of fishing and nature to my father, and as this week was the 20th anniversary of his passing, I reckon it is appropriate to mention the Seabass in the Classroom program offered by Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute. The program allows students to grow, feed, monitor and release white seabass.