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SOUTH CAL SALT REPORTS: Stardust taps into great rockfish action locally and at Santa Rosa
Western Outdoor NewsPublished: Mar 09, 2010
SOUTH CAL WON SALT REPORTS
SANTA BARBARA — The much anticipated March 1 rockfish opener brought with it consistent rockfish action up and down the coast, with the boats fishing the Channel Islands getting the best of it.
“The rockfish and whitefish action has been insane,” said Jason Diamond, owner/operator of the Stardust out of SEA Landing in Santa Barbara. “It’s just been good fishing across the board,” he added. “Even when it’s been rough, we’ve been getting a nice mix of calico bass and rockfish along the coast.”
The 3⁄4-day on Friday was good for the boat’s first halibut of the year, a 25 pounder caught by John Watanabe of Santa Barbara, to go with 118 rockfish, 62 reds and 8 whitefish. The day prior had the Friday 3⁄4-day trip to Santa Rosa turn up 110 rockfish, 100 whitefish and 63 reds fro 21 anglers.
The conditions look prime, both along the coast and out at the islands, says Diamond: “The water is 60 degrees here along the beach, and it’s 581⁄2 at Santa Rosa. That’s warm for this time of year… about 4 or 5 degrees warmer than usual. Even in late August the water only usually gets up to 62 degrees at Rosa. It’s like summer.”
Diamond also said that the day they caught the halibut at Santa Rosa he saw signs of white seabass on the meter. With all the warmer-than-usual water showing up along the coast and at the islands, maybe the seabass will pop earlier than usual.
SANTA BARBARA SEABASS SURPRISE — Scott Schell and Nick Shalhoob from Santa Barbara landed a hefty 33-pound white sea bass while fishing on Shalhoob’s 22-foot Shamrock along the Santa Barbara coast during the March 1 rockfish opener.
Channel Islands greet boats with limit style rockfish action -Signs of bonito and warm water add to prospects
OXNARD — After two months of sitting at the dock or doing boat work, the Ventura County fleet got back to work last week once the March 1 rockfish opener kicked in. Weather was an issue at times — as it has been all winter up and down the coast — but weather aside, the action was rated as good to great on rockfish and company.
Staff at Channel Islands Sportfishing said they didn’t have any whoppers for the week to turn in, but it was limits galore for most every trip, especially the overnight runs that were able to put the extra time on the water to use on both rockfish and whitefish. Sunday night the Seabiscuit returned with over 20 around when 19 anglers headed home with 190 rockfish, 190 whitefish and 10 sheephead. Ditto for the Mirage’s overnight trip, which nabbed 190 rockfish, 64 whitefish and 6 sheephead. The weather scared some anglers away from jumping on the 3⁄4-day on the Gentleman Sunday, but the 7 anglers who went for it were rewarded with limits of rockfish to the tune of 70 rockfish. A full day on the Cobra ended up with 77 rockfish and 2 sheephead on Sunday.
Rewinding back to the March 1 opener shows how consistent the fishing has been since rockfish season kicked in. The first rockfish trip of the year for the Gentleman was good for 255 rockfish, 35 reds and 5 sheephead for 29 angers. The Mirage had 10-fish limits on the rockfish to go with 65 whitefish for its 20 anglers on the opener. The Sea Jay posted limits of rockfish (110), 1 sheephead, 2 bonito and a sculpin on it opening day full-day trip. The first trip of the year on the Coral Sea found 170 whitefish, 160 rockfish, 15 sheephead and 5 bonito for its 17 anglers.
The bonito were signs that the water is warmer than usual. Staff at Channel Islands Sportfishing said the bonito were caught up around the west end of Santa Cruz and at Santa Rosa.
The weather was a real thorn in the sides of sportboat operators the first week of the season, as seen by the fact that Channel Islands Sportfishing didn’t get a boat out Tuesday through Thursday.
Captain Hook’s Sportfishing reported good to great rockfishing for its first round of trips to fish rockfish. The opener had a full load of 50 anglers on the Island Spirit load up on 406 rockfish. On Sunday 21 anglers nailed limits to the count of 185 rockfish and 25 reds. Friday had the Channel Isle run its first trip of the year out of the landing, and it came back with 80 rockfish for 8 anglers. The same day the Aloha Spirit returned from its full day with limits of rockfish (100) for 10 anglers who added 13 sheephead, 19 whitefish, 8 sculpin and a sole to the day’s count.
TO SOCAL, FOR ROCKFISH — Nor-Cal fishing buddies Josh Giordano and Craig Bentley traveled south to Santa Barbara for the rockfish opener. They took limits of quality fish on light tackle while fishing with Captain Tony Vultaggio of Santa Barbara Sportfishing Charters in the “Gap” between Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz Islands in 170 feet of water. They used four-ounce jigs with a single shrimp fly dropper to take big chuckleheads like these; they even released a few keeper-sized lingcod.
CORONADOS GET YELLOWS!
BY BRANDON HAYWARD/WON Staff Writer
SAN DIEGO — It was the best early-season signal of yellowtail since 1997 at the Coronados last week, as schools of 15- to 20-plus-pound forkies moved into the deep water off North Island, giving up big hits for both sport and private boaters fishing the yo-yo iron and even the live squid brought down from Long Beach.
North Island had signs off yellowtail off it for the past couple of weeks, but it was last Tuesday when the fishing kicked into gear, with the Malihini out of H&M Landing getting full five-fish limits on the 15- to 25-pound yellows.
Malihini owner/operator Mikey Schmidt talked to WON Tuesday right after he called it a day. Here’s what he had to say: “We got the number (as in limits, 55 yellowtail for 11 anglers). It was straight yo-yo fish and they were all big fish. It’s all that 18- to 25-pound fish.”
From Tuesday out, the bite proved to be the real deal, with Wednesday kicking out 100-plus fish days on the Malihini (103 yellows for 36 anglers) and the Point Loma Sportfishing-based Mission Belle (115 yellowtail for 23 anglers, which was limits). The Voyager ended up with 29 yellowtail for 12 anglers the same day.
The weather got choppy on Thursday, and sportboats scored from 14 to 43 yellowtail on the yo-yo irons. On Friday the Pacific Star came down from Long Beach with tanks of squid, and fishing the candy bait out on the deep water ridge outside north island produced 33 of the big yellows. Friday also gave up 15 yellows for 27 anglers on the Voyager. Skipper Jody Morgan said the Pacific Star handed over some squid and they hooked 10 fish and got 4 on the candy. Friday the Mission Belle yo-yoed up 30 yellowtail for 47 anglers. The Point Loma had 2 yellows and the Malihini put 22 yellows on the boat.
Come the weekend, the yellowtail fishing took a powder in weather that was rough and snotty. The Malihini blanked on yellows, and the San Diego managed one yellow on its first trip back out after doing winter boat work.
This week will prove if the fish are still there, or if they kept pushing up the line. Given the volume that was around, skippers believe that more pre-spring yellowtail are in the cards for this week.
Sea Horse sees signs of yellowtail, plenty of rockfish at Clemente
DANA POINT — San Clemente Island has prime conditions thanks to blue water that is a tick above 60 degrees, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Sea Horse saw some yellows out in the deep water off Clemente on Friday.
“We saw a little signal. Some bird and yellowtail got up in the afternoon, so at least we got visual confirmation that there’s some yellowtail around,” said Sea Horse owner/operator Tyler Elzig. “We didn’t get any, but the conditions look good over there. We had 8 of those big bonito on the front, and the water is 59.8 in the Cove (as in Pyramid Cove) on up to Lost Point, and it’s 60.2 to 60.4 on the front.”
What the Sea Horse did catch was limits of rockfish to go with the 8 bones, 4 calico bass, 13 goats and 22 whitefish. The boat is scheduled to run Fridays, Saturday and Sundays out of Dana Wharf Sportfishing.
A couple Catalina seabass add to the island’s prospects
LONG BEACH— From here on out Catalina's white seabass are going to be getting more attention, thanks to the fact that Pierpoint’s six-pack fleet is ready to start running more trips as of this week.
The last trip to run was a Friday trip on the Options that skirted some rough weather to come away from the island with a pair of smaller, school-sized seabass.
“We went 2 for 4 on the seabass. The two we got were small fish — 28 and 31 inchers — but we hooked a couple of better fish that got away,” said Options skipper Tino Valantine. “The island is not quite there yet, but the water is still 59 to 60 degrees and there is plenty of squid. Aside from the pair of seabass, the 6 anglers sacked up 38 calico bass, 9 sheephead and 4 sargo.
The Dreamer was at Catalina earlier in the week. It had some shorts for its day, but no legals. The MarDiosa is set to start running this week, and its owner/operator Tony Saldivar told WON that he’s been checking Catalina out on a skiff the last few weeks, and he’s seen good signs of yellowtail in addition to catching a few 15- to 25-pound white seabass.
The Pursuit fished Cat on Sunday. It was the first big sportboat to fish the island in quite some time. It had live squid in the tanks, but it didn’t turn up anything exotic. What the boat did catch was 135 rockfish, 23 whitefish, 20 salmon grouper, 10 reds, 140 perch and 2 calico bass.
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SOUTH CAL WON SALT REPORTS SANTA BARBARA — The much anticipated March 1 rockfish opener brought with it consistent rockfish action up and down the coast, with the boats fishing the Channel Islands getting the best of it. “The rockfish and whitefish action has been insane,” said Jason Diamond, owner/operator of the Stardust out of SEA Landing in Santa Barbara. “It’s just been good fishing across the board,” he added. “Even when it’s been rough, we’ve been getting a nice mix of calico bass and rockfish along the coast.” The 3⁄4-day on Friday was good for the boat’s first halibut of the year, a 25 pounder caught by John Watanabe of Santa Barbara, to go with 118 rockfish, 62 reds and 8 whitefish. The day prior had the Friday 3⁄4-day trip to Santa Rosa turn up 110 rockfish, 100 whitefish and 63 reds fro 21 anglers. The conditions look prime, both along the coast and out at the islands, says Diamond: “The water is 60 degrees here along the beach, and it’s 581⁄2 at Santa Rosa. That’s warm for this time of year… about 4 or 5 degrees warmer than usual. Even in late August the water only usually gets up to 62 degrees at Rosa. It’s like summer.” Diamond also said that the day they caught the halibut at Santa Rosa he saw signs of white seabass on the meter. With all the warmer-than-usual water showing up along the coast and at the islands, maybe the seabass will pop earlier than usual. SANTA BARBARA SEABASS SURPRISE — Scott Schell and Nick Shalhoob from Santa Barbara landed a hefty 33-pound white sea bass while fishing on Shalhoob’s 22-foot Shamrock along the Santa Barbara coast during the March 1 rockfish opener. Channel Islands greet boats with limit style rockfish action -Signs of bonito and warm water add to prospects OXNARD — After two months of sitting at the dock or doing boat work, the Ventura County fleet got back to work last week once the March 1 rockfish opener kicked in. Weather was an issue at times — as it has been all winter up and down the coast — but weather aside, the action was rated as good to great on rockfish and company. Staff at Channel Islands Sportfishing said they didn’t have any whoppers for the week to turn in, but it was limits galore for most every trip, especially the overnight runs that were able to put the extra time on the water to use on both rockfish and whitefish. Sunday night the Seabiscuit returned with over 20 around when 19 anglers headed home with 190 rockfish, 190 whitefish and 10 sheephead. Ditto for the Mirage’s overnight trip, which nabbed 190 rockfish, 64 whitefish and 6 sheephead. The weather scared some anglers away from jumping on the 3⁄4-day on the Gentleman Sunday, but the 7 anglers who went for it were rewarded with limits of rockfish to the tune of 70 rockfish. A full day on the Cobra ended up with 77 rockfish and 2 sheephead on Sunday. Rewinding back to the March 1 opener shows how consistent the fishing has been since rockfish season kicked in. The first rockfish trip of the year for the Gentleman was good for 255 rockfish, 35 reds and 5 sheephead for 29 angers. The Mirage had 10-fish limits on the rockfish to go with 65 whitefish for its 20 anglers on the opener. The Sea Jay posted limits of rockfish (110), 1 sheephead, 2 bonito and a sculpin on it opening day full-day trip. The first trip of the year on the Coral Sea found 170 whitefish, 160 rockfish, 15 sheephead and 5 bonito for its 17 anglers. The bonito were signs that the water is warmer than usual. Staff at Channel Islands Sportfishing said the bonito were caught up around the west end of Santa Cruz and at Santa Rosa. The weather was a real thorn in the sides of sportboat operators the first week of the season, as seen by the fact that Channel Islands Sportfishing didn’t get a boat out Tuesday through Thursday. Captain Hook’s Sportfishing reported good to great rockfishing for its first round of trips to fish rockfish. The opener had a full load of 50 anglers on the Island Spirit load up on 406 rockfish. On Sunday 21 anglers nailed limits to the count of 185 rockfish and 25 reds. Friday had the Channel Isle run its first trip of the year out of the landing, and it came back with 80 rockfish for 8 anglers. The same day the Aloha Spirit returned from its full day with limits of rockfish (100) for 10 anglers who added 13 sheephead, 19 whitefish, 8 sculpin and a sole to the day’s count. TO SOCAL, FOR ROCKFISH — Nor-Cal fishing buddies Josh Giordano and Craig Bentley traveled south to Santa Barbara for the rockfish opener. They took limits of quality fish on light tackle while fishing with Captain Tony Vultaggio of Santa Barbara Sportfishing Charters in the “Gap” between Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz Islands in 170 feet of water. They used four-ounce jigs with a single shrimp fly dropper to take big chuckleheads like these; they even released a few keeper-sized lingcod. CORONADOS GET YELLOWS! BY BRANDON HAYWARD/WON Staff Writer SAN DIEGO — It was the best early-season signal of yellowtail since 1997 at the Coronados last week, as schools of 15- to 20-plus-pound forkies moved into the deep water off North Island, giving up big hits for both sport and private boaters fishing the yo-yo iron and even the live squid brought down from Long Beach. North Island had signs off yellowtail off it for the past couple of weeks, but it was last Tuesday when the fishing kicked into gear, with the Malihini out of H&M Landing getting full five-fish limits on the 15- to 25-pound yellows. Malihini owner/operator Mikey Schmidt talked to WON Tuesday right after he called it a day. Here’s what he had to say: “We got the number (as in limits, 55 yellowtail for 11 anglers). It was straight yo-yo fish and they were all big fish. It’s all that 18- to 25-pound fish.” From Tuesday out, the bite proved to be the real deal, with Wednesday kicking out 100-plus fish days on the Malihini (103 yellows for 36 anglers) and the Point Loma Sportfishing-based Mission Belle (115 yellowtail for 23 anglers, which was limits). The Voyager ended up with 29 yellowtail for 12 anglers the same day. The weather got choppy on Thursday, and sportboats scored from 14 to 43 yellowtail on the yo-yo irons. On Friday the Pacific Star came down from Long Beach with tanks of squid, and fishing the candy bait out on the deep water ridge outside north island produced 33 of the big yellows. Friday also gave up 15 yellows for 27 anglers on the Voyager. Skipper Jody Morgan said the Pacific Star handed over some squid and they hooked 10 fish and got 4 on the candy. Friday the Mission Belle yo-yoed up 30 yellowtail for 47 anglers. The Point Loma had 2 yellows and the Malihini put 22 yellows on the boat. Come the weekend, the yellowtail fishing took a powder in weather that was rough and snotty. The Malihini blanked on yellows, and the San Diego managed one yellow on its first trip back out after doing winter boat work. This week will prove if the fish are still there, or if they kept pushing up the line. Given the volume that was around, skippers believe that more pre-spring yellowtail are in the cards for this week. Sea Horse sees signs of yellowtail, plenty of rockfish at Clemente DANA POINT — San Clemente Island has prime conditions thanks to blue water that is a tick above 60 degrees, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Sea Horse saw some yellows out in the deep water off Clemente on Friday. “We saw a little signal. Some bird and yellowtail got up in the afternoon, so at least we got visual confirmation that there’s some yellowtail around,” said Sea Horse owner/operator Tyler Elzig. “We didn’t get any, but the conditions look good over there. We had 8 of those big bonito on the front, and the water is 59.8 in the Cove (as in Pyramid Cove) on up to Lost Point, and it’s 60.2 to 60.4 on the front.” What the Sea Horse did catch was limits of rockfish to go with the 8 bones, 4 calico bass, 13 goats and 22 whitefish. The boat is scheduled to run Fridays, Saturday and Sundays out of Dana Wharf Sportfishing. A couple Catalina seabass add to the island’s prospects LONG BEACH— From here on out Catalina's white seabass are going to be getting more attention, thanks to the fact that Pierpoint’s six-pack fleet is ready to start running more trips as of this week. The last trip to run was a Friday trip on the Options that skirted some rough weather to come away from the island with a pair of smaller, school-sized seabass. “We went 2 for 4 on the seabass. The two we got were small fish — 28 and 31 inchers — but we hooked a couple of better fish that got away,” said Options skipper Tino Valantine. “The island is not quite there yet, but the water is still 59 to 60 degrees and there is plenty of squid. Aside from the pair of seabass, the 6 anglers sacked up 38 calico bass, 9 sheephead and 4 sargo. The Dreamer was at Catalina earlier in the week. It had some shorts for its day, but no legals. The MarDiosa is set to start running this week, and its owner/operator Tony Saldivar told WON that he’s been checking Catalina out on a skiff the last few weeks, and he’s seen good signs of yellowtail in addition to catching a few 15- to 25-pound white seabass. The Pursuit fished Cat on Sunday. It was the first big sportboat to fish the island in quite some time. It had live squid in the tanks, but it didn’t turn up anything exotic. What the boat did catch was 135 rockfish, 23 whitefish, 20 salmon grouper, 10 reds, 140 perch and 2 calico bass. |
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