WON Reports: Private Boater's Spotlight

Private Boater's Spotlight: Coastal tankers set a northern course and run into Hueneme Canyon Bass and ’cuda put on great bites for masses Western Outdoor NewsPublished: Jun 11, 2012

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PRIVATE BOATER'S SPOTLIGHT... Squid beds and coastal seabass keep coming, and coming, and coming, and the newest zone to go off was right out in front of Port Hueneme Pier. Toss in great bass and barracuda fishing off Long Beach at Spots like Izor’s, the Horseshoe and the flats off Huntington and there’s something for everyone. There was even a bluefin tuna caught by one of the few boats to try, as the crew on the boat Hana made the long run down past the Catchers Mitt and trolled up a 20-pound-class bluefin tuna on a feather. It’s the prime local conditions along the beach that is drawing private boaters, as the conditions along the beach from Point Loma to Port Hueneme have been prime while the islands have been tough, thanks to all the wind that has been blowing on the outside this month. There were some 80 plus skiffs off Port Hueneme on Sunday on the squid bed that also gave up the first commercial hauls of squid for the seiner fleet of the young squid season, but still many found action on the seabass that have ranged from 25 to 50 plus pounds. Sliding down to the County Line/Deep Hole bite — dubbed the 805 bite after the area code — for the afternoon bite has been what the savvy skiffs who don’t get the close-to-home bite for limits (or wanted to cut back on the crowd factor as much as possible. The other hot zones for seabass have been in the squid grounds off — roughly — the Manhattan and Hermosa Beach piers. Both bites were good early in the week, and now look to be petering out. The Check Point area below the San Onofre Domes has totally cycled out, as in no more squid, no more seabass. What’s really around are the sand bass and barracuda. Aside from the seabass, Mark Wisch at Pacific Edge Bait and Tackle said that roughly from the Huntington Beach power plant to the end of the Horseshow Kelp has been the zone for both ’cuda and the first migratory sand bass of the summer for private boaters who want to get ten, twenty, thirty bites a day on two of the B’s (no, there’s no sign of bonito, or yellows, along the beach). Wisch himself was out fishing Palos Verdes Saturday and reported wide open “damn good, as good as it gets bass fishing” and one hook up on the fly line that looked incredibly seabass like. Great bass fishing has been the rule all the way down the coast from Salt Creek above Dana Point to Point Loma. “Boats fishing kelp bed areas along the San Diego County coast continue to find good fishing for a mix of calico bass and rockfish,” said bob Vanian at 976bite.com. “To make the picture brighter, coastal areas have also been providing occasional flurries of barracuda action and there has been a chance at picking up a nice sized yellowtail, white seabass or halibut. Some productive areas for the calico bass fishing in the Point Loma area have been the kelp at the Drop-off, Green Tank and Point Loma College. In the La Jolla area, the best calico bass fishing is coming from along the edges of the kelp at the upper end of La Jolla.  In North San Diego County calicos have been biting at the kelp at Del Mar, Solana Beach and Leucadia.