| With each passing day things are getting more and more interesting on the salt front, to the point now where there are enough prospects--sans local tuna--that it's pick-you-target style fishing, from local bass and barracuda on L.A. sportboats to yellowtail at the islands and white seabass all over for both skiff and sportboat anglers.
The furthest up the line exotic prospects along the beach are below Ventura; that's where some squid has shown up and the Aloha Spirit had 20 seabass to over 50 pounds yesterday.
Here's a pic of the meter on Shawn Steward's Aloha Spirit, along with a shot of one of the big biscuits coming to gaff:
The Channel Islands are coming together as well, with seabass, bass and halibut in the mix to go with the rockfish.
Here's the copy-and-paste rundown from Joe Villareal on the overnight boat Mirage: "Things are starting to show signs of life up here. There is a little bit of squid to scratch at and some seabass and halibut we had 14 fish and a couple halibut one day last week."
Then there's little Santa Barbara Island, where the Outrider had two-day limits on the white seabass on the trip it's currently on. There's some little samples on the seabass at Catalina as well, and then there's the Check Point bite down off Pendleton (where a certain blogger who is trying to write in third person went 5 for 5 on seabass trips since the bite started. The key? Find not just a squid nest, but the actual egg nest that is like a squid hive).
Here's P Line Pro Staffer Greg Trompas with a 40 pounder picked off in the dark on Friday night with a squid fished on a dropper loop with P Line CXX. (He was on the bloggers vessel, not his 18.5-foot panga.)
The best shots at yellowtail continue to come from the Coronados, while for sportboat anglers looking for action on two of the B's (where are the bonito, anyways?) the best bet has been a half- or three-quarter day out of San Pedro/Long Beach. The Horseshoe is its best spring shape in years, but then again that goes for the entire SoCal Bight. It's just an exciting time to be a SoCal angler.
To hell with third person: I think this is going to be a great month on the inshore, islands front that will dovetail right into some offshore action on bluefin next month, if not later this month close to home. The American Angler and Royal Star have already show the bluefin above Alijos want to bite.
Oh, and the SAC spotter plane saw some spots of bluefin within 100 miles. Now we just need some coverage.
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