by Cory Visser

Thursday Recap Report-Weekend Possibilities:
For local fishing in the Santa Monica, Long Beach, Catalina and San Clemente Islands, with trips out of San Diego and Baja, Mexico.
Wow, what a weekend, following up opening day for Rockfish with a bang. Beautiful weather provided all anglers ample opportunity to get out and catch some fish. Almost everyone headed out for their favorite structure spot, hoping to catch Lingcod, Big Reds and assorted other Rockfish. Almost all were rewarded with great fishing. A few continued to target Halibut, while others found Exotics at the Islands.

This was a very exciting week for fishing.
Four Yellowtail were caught at Catalina over the weekend by private boater Jeff, see more details under Catalina. Generally during the Fred Hall Show, this is the time the White Seabass begin to show at the Island, although the cooler water needs to warm up a bit to set them in action. Last weekend's 80 degree weather did not hurt as we saw the water temps increase as much as five degrees from 6am to 6pm. However, the cold front that moved through on Tuesday offset the great weather on the weekend.

The Toronado out of Pierpoint Landing fished San Nicolas Island on Sunday, 03-04-12. Everyone caught limits of Lingcod, a bunch of Rockfish, Whitefish and a big Sheephead that took the Jackpot:



The Constitution ran a 1.5 day trip to Colonet and limited out on Reds and other assorted Rockfish. An 11 pound Cow Cod and a similar sized Red shared the Jackpot. Some pictures:

The Jackpot fish:








Local fishing has been sensational for Rockfish, a good shot at the Lingcod, Sculpin and some Bass. Halibut fishing continues to be excellent when targeted. Improved Bass fishing will depend on increasing water temps.

Twilight fishing: The Slammer out of Redondo Sportfishing ran a trip on Sunday, 3-04-12, with 4 anglers catching 6 Sand Bass, 1 Sheephead, 10 Rockfish, 2 Lingcod, 19 Rock Crab and 2 Spider Crab. The Native Sun ran Twilight trips on Saturday and Sunday catching some Sand Bass and a bunch of Sculpin. The Freelance out of Davey's Locker ran a twilight trip on Sunday, 03-04-12 and caught 2 Calico Bass, 13 Sand Bass, 95 Sculpin and 1 Perch.

In Santa Monica Bay
The Tradition ran ¾ day trips over the weekend, on Saturday, 03-03-12, 37 anglers caught 273 Rockfish, 2 Lingcod, 11 Sculpin, 93 Sand Dab and 1 Thresher Shark .

Private boater Jason fished on Vince's 23' Striper "Big Drum" on Saturday, 03-03-12. Captain Vince found stopped to first catch some Lingcod bait, sand dabs, and then continued on his favorite structure areas usually holding Lings and other bottom critters. The Lingcod were MIA today; however, they caught easy limits of Rockfish, starting with this Copper, then some Reds:








The ½ day boat New Del Mar caught 155 Rockfish and 175 Sculpin (limits) on their Sunday, 03-04-12 trip.

The ¾ day boat Spitfire loads up on the Rockfish:





Newport Beach and Dana Point.
The ½ day boat Patriot out of Newport Landing ran a trip on Monday, 03-05-12 and caught 32 Bocaccio, 45 Rockfish and 154 Red Snapper.

The ½ day boat Clemente found the Halibut on the chew on their Friday, 03-02-12 trip:


Long Beach and San Pedro
The 3/4 day boat Enterprise fished on Friday 03-02-12, and found the Big Lingcod on the chew:
Big Lingcod:

The Gang's all here:

More Lingcod:




The ¾ day boat Sport King out of LA Harbor fished on Friday, 03-02-12, as 18 anglers caught 2 Sheephead, 12 Whitefish, 34 Bocaccio, 20 Rockfish and 125 Red Snapper.

The ¾ day boat Sea Angler out of 22nd Street Landing ran a trip on Monday, 03-05-12 and continues to slam the Sand Dabs, catching over 2950!

The 1/2 day boat Matt Walsh out of LA Harbor caught 40 Bocaccio, (limits), 1 Lingcod, 55 Red Snapper and 100 Red Rock cod for only 20 anglers on their Sunday, 03-04-12 trip.

The 1/2 day boat Native Sun is targeting Halibut for their annual derby, and on their Saturday, 03-03-12 morning trip, they caught 4 Halibut, 7 Rockfish and 29 Sculpin.

Private boater Dean took his Skipjack out on Friday, 03-02-12, with friends John and Gary. Captain Dean found his Lingcod honey hole holding a number of the toothy critters:







The Islands

Catalina/Santa Barbara Island!
Private boater Jeff fished the Island Saturday, 03-03-12 with friend Darren. They spent the majority of the day catching a load of Rockfish, then got up early Sunday morning with Darren tossing a plastic in the shallows and getting absolutely slammed by a home guard Yellowtail to 35 pounds:

Shortly thereafter Jeff caught a small Yellowtail and then they got a double hook up on 20 pound fish:


Private boater Jonathan fished the Island Saturday, 03-03-12 with wife Jenn. They targeted Lingcod and for most of the morning found lots of Rockfish. Then Jonathan found the right kind of pinnacle, and game on! The first Ling of the day:

And a nice second Lingcod:


The Pursuit out of 22nd St. Landing, ran to the Island on Wednesday, with 18 anglers catching 2 Sheephead, 8 Whitefish, 35 Bocaccio, 53 Rockfish, 11 Sculpin and 104 Red Snapper.

San Clemente Island!
The Thunderbird is running a $99 special to the Island and on their Saturday, 03-03-12 trip they hammered the Reds and other assorted Rockfish.






The Freedom out of 22nd St. Landing is running trips during the week and on Saturdays to San Clemente where they have been catching lots of Reds, some Lingcod and assorted Rockfish. Then they head to San Nicolas on an extended day trip on Sunday's.
I fished with private boater Dave on his 28' Farallon, "Hooked" on Sunday, 03-04-12 on the backside of San Clemente. The weather was incredible and the fishing was off the charts. We caught two Lingcod, 12 and 16.5 pounds, to go with nearly 40 big Reds and limits of Rockfish for five of us.

Down South-San Diego and good ole Mexico!
The ¾ day boat out of San Diego, The Point Loma with Captain Ron Baker-34 pound Halibut:


A 29 pound Halibut caught Sat. 03-03-12, with Captain Ron Baker:




The ½ day boat Dolphin gets in on the great Halibut fishing:



The ½ day boat Chubasco 2 also gets in on the great Halibut fishing and a 21 pound Sheephead:


Captain Rod running a charter trip Saturday, 03-03-12 for Halibut hit the mother load. Some pictures:




All comments and suggestions welcomed!

WeatherThe weather forecast for the weekend looks decent along the coast in the morning and breezy in many areas for both Saturday and Sunday in the afternoon? Always check the latest forecast before leaving the dock.
Hook Up,
Cory

Comments (1)