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Fishing Report: Sardine bait is back
Bluefin spotted but not caught; whales also spotted but not caught
Some decent halibut caught inside San Diego Bay during the Dolphin Wednesday Halibut Derby trip.
Dock Totals 3/16 – 3/22: 947 anglers aboard 35 half-day to 3-day trips out of San Diego landings over the past week caught 15 bonito, 5 calico bass, 6 halibut (22 released), 4 lingcod, 6 perch, 102 rockfish, 307 sand bass, 258 sanddab, 1 sargo, 1374 sculpin, 28 sheephead, and 728 whitefish.
Saltwater: With one more week to go until rockfish season reopens in Southern California waters, sculpin, sand bass, and whitefish are still topping the counts from the local fishery. The standout is the Wednesday Dolphin Halibut Derby, a series of trips fishing primarily inside San Diego Bay. This past Wednesday, Captain Jason Coz reported 6 legal halibut out of 26 caught, with plenty of bass, short barracuda, and bonito action on what was actually a slow, picky day. If you ever want to fish the bay on an 85’ sportboat that serves cold beer and hot hamburgers, the Wednesday Halibut Derby trips are your best and only chance. The trips will run through the end of April. To date, the leading halibut in the derby weighed in at 34, 29, and 28 pounds.
After a few months of anchovy and very little sardine in the mix, the bait situation may be turning around. Everingham Bros Bait Co is reporting 5 to 7-inch sardine available at the San Diego Bay bait receiver as of March 20. With the angler counts increasing and more boats coming online, this is good news. Better bait equals better fishing, especially for fly-line fishing as we head into spring and summer.
A couple boats took a look for those bluefin reported off Ensenada over the weekend. They had no luck on the tuna, but reported good fishing for rockfish and lingcod. The Tribute is running 1.5-day trips down toward Colinet departing on Fridays, and will be looking around for bluefin on their way down. This weekend, they found no bluefin and so headed on to the rockfish grounds, where they caught bag limits of 145 rockfish, 25 whitefish, and 80 lingcod for their 25 anglers aboard.
Cristain Catian of K&M Sportfishing out of San Quintin with a nice lingcod.
With at least five large schools of fish sighted by spotter planes within 1.5-day range, it shouldn’t be long now before we begin seeing bluefin in the counts. We know the fish are there, but most of the mid-range boats have been offline for seasonal repairs and will begin running trips in April and May. Given the windy conditions and trade shows keeping angler numbers down, very few boats have been out looking for those fish, despite the reports.
A little further down the Baja coast, yellowtail, lingcod, and rockfish have been on the chew every time the wind abates enough for folks to go out and chase them. Much of the yellowtail action has been on the top, with surface irons doing most of the damage. Cristian Catian of K&M Sportfishing running out of San Quintin has been reporting solid catches of rockfish and yellowtail for his clients on every outing over the past few weeks, and with the water slowly warming up as we ease into spring, I doubt that bite will go away anytime soon.
Surf fishing has been picking up when the conditions allow, with many females holding fry. It is a good practice to release pregnant females, but if you do decide to keep them, you can still give the fry a chance by opening the birth canal and squeezing them out into ankle-deep water. Their odds of survival may be low, especially if not fully developed, but it is better than not giving them a chance at all. I am not normally a huge fan of surf perch, but it is better than nothing, and I can access the beach here in San Quintin easily within minutes from my digs. So, these days I tend to do more surf fishing than normal — as opposed to targeting halibut and other larger gamefish on the kayak, which can be a lot of work and requires good timing concerning tides and access to my usual launch point at the San Quintin Bay mouth. That said, I do like surf perch ceviche and I have been getting a hankering for some after these past cool months.
Feeding gray whale, tail up, head down while scooping the bottom for arthropods in Bahia San Quintin
Yesterday, I took the dogs for their daily beach outing and decided to run out to the point at the bay mouth, since it was a low tide and the point was easily accessible. I always have a couple rods in the car and decided to pump some ghost shrimp for later and toss a lure in the channel. Unfortunately, by the time I tied on a Kroc spoon to cast in the hole in hopes for a halibut, I counted six gray whales feeding in "my spot." I pumped a few shrimp and moved back down the beach where there was some surf, but had no takers. Giving up on the idea of fresh ceviche, I took the mutts back to the Boca and watched the whales for a while. A couple of them were very close to shore, so close that even Rona, my dog with no eyes, knew they were there. Even when fishing is slow, getting out there is usually rewarding in itself. Whether the beach, bay, lake, or offshore, they’re out there so go out and get ‘em!
Flash (L) and blind Rona(R) looking directly at a whale as it slips back under the surface.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Fishing Report: Sardine bait is back
Bluefin spotted but not caught; whales also spotted but not caught
Fishing Report: Sardine bait is back
Bluefin spotted but not caught; whales also spotted but not caught
Some decent halibut caught inside San Diego Bay during the Dolphin Wednesday Halibut Derby trip.
Dock Totals 3/16 – 3/22: 947 anglers aboard 35 half-day to 3-day trips out of San Diego landings over the past week caught 15 bonito, 5 calico bass, 6 halibut (22 released), 4 lingcod, 6 perch, 102 rockfish, 307 sand bass, 258 sanddab, 1 sargo, 1374 sculpin, 28 sheephead, and 728 whitefish.
Saltwater: With one more week to go until rockfish season reopens in Southern California waters, sculpin, sand bass, and whitefish are still topping the counts from the local fishery. The standout is the Wednesday Dolphin Halibut Derby, a series of trips fishing primarily inside San Diego Bay. This past Wednesday, Captain Jason Coz reported 6 legal halibut out of 26 caught, with plenty of bass, short barracuda, and bonito action on what was actually a slow, picky day. If you ever want to fish the bay on an 85’ sportboat that serves cold beer and hot hamburgers, the Wednesday Halibut Derby trips are your best and only chance. The trips will run through the end of April. To date, the leading halibut in the derby weighed in at 34, 29, and 28 pounds.
After a few months of anchovy and very little sardine in the mix, the bait situation may be turning around. Everingham Bros Bait Co is reporting 5 to 7-inch sardine available at the San Diego Bay bait receiver as of March 20. With the angler counts increasing and more boats coming online, this is good news. Better bait equals better fishing, especially for fly-line fishing as we head into spring and summer.
A couple boats took a look for those bluefin reported off Ensenada over the weekend. They had no luck on the tuna, but reported good fishing for rockfish and lingcod. The Tribute is running 1.5-day trips down toward Colinet departing on Fridays, and will be looking around for bluefin on their way down. This weekend, they found no bluefin and so headed on to the rockfish grounds, where they caught bag limits of 145 rockfish, 25 whitefish, and 80 lingcod for their 25 anglers aboard.
Cristain Catian of K&M Sportfishing out of San Quintin with a nice lingcod.
With at least five large schools of fish sighted by spotter planes within 1.5-day range, it shouldn’t be long now before we begin seeing bluefin in the counts. We know the fish are there, but most of the mid-range boats have been offline for seasonal repairs and will begin running trips in April and May. Given the windy conditions and trade shows keeping angler numbers down, very few boats have been out looking for those fish, despite the reports.
A little further down the Baja coast, yellowtail, lingcod, and rockfish have been on the chew every time the wind abates enough for folks to go out and chase them. Much of the yellowtail action has been on the top, with surface irons doing most of the damage. Cristian Catian of K&M Sportfishing running out of San Quintin has been reporting solid catches of rockfish and yellowtail for his clients on every outing over the past few weeks, and with the water slowly warming up as we ease into spring, I doubt that bite will go away anytime soon.
Surf fishing has been picking up when the conditions allow, with many females holding fry. It is a good practice to release pregnant females, but if you do decide to keep them, you can still give the fry a chance by opening the birth canal and squeezing them out into ankle-deep water. Their odds of survival may be low, especially if not fully developed, but it is better than not giving them a chance at all. I am not normally a huge fan of surf perch, but it is better than nothing, and I can access the beach here in San Quintin easily within minutes from my digs. So, these days I tend to do more surf fishing than normal — as opposed to targeting halibut and other larger gamefish on the kayak, which can be a lot of work and requires good timing concerning tides and access to my usual launch point at the San Quintin Bay mouth. That said, I do like surf perch ceviche and I have been getting a hankering for some after these past cool months.
Feeding gray whale, tail up, head down while scooping the bottom for arthropods in Bahia San Quintin
Yesterday, I took the dogs for their daily beach outing and decided to run out to the point at the bay mouth, since it was a low tide and the point was easily accessible. I always have a couple rods in the car and decided to pump some ghost shrimp for later and toss a lure in the channel. Unfortunately, by the time I tied on a Kroc spoon to cast in the hole in hopes for a halibut, I counted six gray whales feeding in "my spot." I pumped a few shrimp and moved back down the beach where there was some surf, but had no takers. Giving up on the idea of fresh ceviche, I took the mutts back to the Boca and watched the whales for a while. A couple of them were very close to shore, so close that even Rona, my dog with no eyes, knew they were there. Even when fishing is slow, getting out there is usually rewarding in itself. Whether the beach, bay, lake, or offshore, they’re out there so go out and get ‘em!
Flash (L) and blind Rona(R) looking directly at a whale as it slips back under the surface.