SOCAL SALT REPORT

WON STAFF ON THE SPOT: Winter’s Seabass Journal BY BRANDON HAYWARD/WON Staff WriterPublished: Mar 05, 2010

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SOUTH CAL WON STAFF ON THE SPOT SOMEWHERE ABOVE OCEANSIDE — “It’s a seabass! Get a gaff, get a gaff! Gaff! Gaff!” go the barks from Gene Wessel from Tim Husband’s skiff. Husband grabs the gaff, and a few seconds later, the first seabass of the year hits the Parker. Man screams and high-fives drown out the thuds coming from the fish flopping around the deck. Stoked. While the seabass season is just getting started for most anglers, the four of us — Tim Husband, Jack Dalla Corte, Gene Wessel and I — started paying our dues early this year. Now the time on the water has finally paid off; after fishing La Jolla all night and looking at all the major kelp lines from La Jolla to Barn Kelp earlier in the day, Husband has us sitting perfectly in prime conditions north of Oceanside. The bass are eating the squid in 60.4-degree water to the point of being nuisances, and we’re getting thumped by the reef’s big black seabass as well. If only all the trips this year were like this. They weren’t. Good and bad, here’s my winter seabass journal: JAN. 2 — There was a message on my phone this morning. It was from Teera Saivichit: “I think I just got the first seabass of the year. Call me.” Turns out he and Jack Dalla Corte (the former owner of the Phantom) did the New Year’s “death mission” taking Jack’s 17-foot skiff from Catalina, to San Clemente Island and back to Catalina, where they both got seabass off the East End. Teera’s was 51; Jack’s was a 30 pounder. Turns out it’s not the first seabass on the year. Some kayakers got fish on the first and second off La Jolla. Erick Benham got the first one of the year. There were at least three fish caught off La Jolla the first two days of the year. The kayakers did a good job of keeping it quiet. (La Jolla will go on to kick out seabass off and on throughout the winter.) Yeah, seabass fever set in. 1 • PLENTY OF BISCUITS have come flying over the rail of Tim Husband’s Parker, but this one taken on Friday was his first ever February seabass. WON Photos by Brandon Hayward 2 • A SEABASS ON THE DECK will do wonders for your rail time. Tim Husband, right, and his brother Dwayne put in time hoping for another shot last Friday. JAN. 8-9 — Fished Catalina on Tim Husband’s Parker with his wife, Cory, and Gene “Geno Machino” Wessel. We set up off the East End where Jack and Terra said they caught their fish a week earlier. Wide-open bass fishing made for a fun night, but no seabass. It’s crazy how the bass bit so good at night and then the rest of the day we got zero bass. Geno got a nice halibut off China Point and we cut off a few leopards and a big soupfin. The squid floated full speed off the Isthmus; water got up to 60 degrees in afternoon. Fished from Seal Rocks to Banana Rock. FEB. 9 — A light boat buddy called and told me that he’s scooping full loads (eight tons) of squid right in front of Avalon, as in right there on a mooring. It was a first for him. All the squid on the front bodes well for this season. I always hear these stories about catching seabass and yellows when there were bait grounds on the front “back in the day.” Maybe this will be the year? Going to try this weekend again, that is if the weather holds. Seems like there’s been weather every weekend this winter. FEB 13-14 — Fished Catalina again with Tim and his brother Dwayne. The Avalon squid shot out, but we saw good sign in Toyon Bay where the light boat guys told us to start. It wanted to float, but the seals and porpoise got on us. Started up the back around Rabbit Hutch for nothing. Fished Junk Spot, Banana Rock — all the spots you’d hope to get an early-season fish from, especially with it being the dark of the moon — for nothing. Tino (Valantine on the Options) gave us a couple scoops of squid later in the day. Turned out to be good karma. His second captain, Andrew Salinsky, hooked and handed off a 10-pound seabass. It was the first seabass of the year for a sportboat. Tino’s fished Catalina five times this year and it’s the first fish he’s seen. They lost one other right at gaff. Plenty of rumors of other white seabass, though. I think sticking local might be the best. Maybe the Newport Artificial Reef or Barn Kelp next time? FEB. 23 — Planning to go back over to Catalina with Tim again. Squid is thick as mush off the Isthmus, but Tim found some daylight squid below Dana Point last week, so we can tank up there and head to the east end. Rumors of fish caught off San Mateo, but Tim and Jack have been there every night and never saw another boat. FEB. 24 — The most rumors of seabass are coming out of La Jolla. Got a couple text messages saying there’s fish down there. Jack went down and got a 40 pounder today. I should have gone! I passed to work on the Fred Hall Issue, even though he would have got me back in time for work. Instead I met him at a McDonalds and took a picture. He said he went one for five. Shoot! Should have sucked it up and gone. He got bait up around here (San Mateo) and brought it down to La Jolla. He said there was one other boat there. He gave them squid and they got three fish. Looks like La Jolla is the call for Thursday. FEB. 24-25 — Tim said we are going to bait up on the squid he found below Dana Point and then just keep going south and fish La Jolla. We got bait super easily just a few miles from San Mateo and then took off for La Jolla. Jack, Gene and I fished until about 5 a.m. for zero white seabass. That skiff that Jack gave bait to the night before came over just after grey — they got four fish about two jig casts away from us. We drifted halibut for a little bit, but Tim wanted to work up and fish some of the kelp lines above Oceanside that he knows better. We stopped at Del Mar (where there were rumors of seabass) for nothing. Nothing from there on up to Buccaneer Pipe. The water started looking better and better off Oceanside. We stopped at a kelp line up above Oceanside that looked really good. There was downhill current, 60.4-degree water and good life. The bass bit wide open. It was too good. We couldn’t get our squid to the bottom. Tim hooked a mystery fish. Two headshakes and then it freight-trained him in the kelp on 65-pound Spectra to 40-pound fluoro. I got bit on 65 to 60 and get taken in the kelp. I end up pulling the kelp up with a nice black seabass. Pretty fun. Then Gino got a 100 pounder. Both swim down no problem. Gino got bit next in the rod holder, and it looked like a white seabass from the get-go. It stayed up high and he worked it on the 65 to 60 (Spectra to fluoro). When we first saw it looked like a 60 pounder coming at us in the water. It went 41 on the hand scale. Geno was super pumped. He was celebrating twelve years sober today. The rest of us joke that all we have to do is quite drinking and we’ll get ours this season. FEB. 26 — Tim called this morning asking me if I want to give it another shot. At noon we got in the boat and headed back down the coast. It was like the calm before the storm. Just total glass. The water almost looked like albacore water a few miles outside San Mateo. We tried to jig squid (there had been daylight squid earlier in the week), but we didn’t give it much time. Fresh frozen was going to have to work. The conditions were similar to yesterdays at the seabass spot. Tim hooked one right off the bat on the squid with a 11⁄2–ounce slider. Again, a couple headshakes and then it just freight trained him into the kelp. Tim swore to never use 40-pound fluoro to Spectra again. (I think it would be impossible to land one here on mono.) He threw back out with 65-pound Spectra to 60-pound fluoro and got bit again. It was obvious it was a seabass right after he hooked it. It stayed up high and Tim just destroyed the thing. He made it work for every inch. Totally ruined it. Dwayne gaffed the fish; it looked to be over 40 for sure. Then Dwayne got bit and taken in the structure. He was pretty bummed to loose it, but at least he had a shot. The bass kept biting full speed, but no more shots at seabass. Can’t wait for conditions to straighten out again and get back out. MARCH 1 — The water is chocolate milk from in front of my place on down to Cottons. Looks like it could be a while before things straighten out. Top: TIM HUSBAND with his quality seabass caught on two fresh dead squid fished on a 7/0 Owner Aki hook and a 11⁄2–ounce slider to 65-pound AccuBraid and four feet of 60-pound Seaguar. Bottom: LA JOLLA kicked out no fewer than 10 white seabass last week. Here’s one that Jack Dalla Corte scored early Wednesday morning on fresh dead squid he made off San Mateo. He gave squid to another boat that had 3 seabass right next to him. WON Photos by Brandon Hayward