San Diego Bay (San Diego County), CA Fishing Report

San Diego Bay has never been better. Not only is the bay fishing good for winter, but it's better than it has been all year.There are mass schools of pinhead anchovies roaming the bay. Look for diving birds, throw small grubs and spoons, and you will do...

The big tide swings this past week made for some very interesting drift fishing. We have been catching plenty of bass during these conditions. Phenix and Gitzem leadheads 1/2-1oz are the name of the game.

Spotted Sand Bass can be found anywhere from 10-35'. The Barred Sand Bass are more in the 25-45' range.

Grubs are the best bet, but swimtails are also working. Key baits to watch are Western Plastics' Tommy Knockers, and Tickler Series Grubs. Colors range from Halloween to pure White, depending on amount of sunlight.

Liberal use of scent like UniButter is the key.

Get out there and have fun.

     LONG RANGE UPDATE: San Diego sportfishing landings are beginning their long-range 12 to 16-day trips and are finding the same kind of great fishing they’ve had at much shorter ranges this fall. It’s not that the bite has shifted far south, it’s just the normal operations for this time of year. Skippers on these trips are reporting very good success on yellowfin tuna and wahoo. The Royal Polaris had on Sunday reported yellowfin to 250 pounds, while the Excel has been on some tuna to 255 pounds. There are also schoolie tuna in the 15 to 25 pound range being caught on these trips.

     SAN DIEGO EXOTICS STAY HOT: The fishing for San Diego’s 3/4-day to two-day fleet hasn’t slowed down for the exotics, but the landings report minimal passenger loads. It seems that anglers aren’t getting the message that the fishing is still great. The Royal Polaris wwas out on a 1-1/2 day trip earlier this week and 31 anglers caught 21 yellowfin up to 65 pounds, limits on yellowtail with 165 fish, nine skipjack, and 11 dorado. Most ocean observers can’t remember ever seeing this kind of action this late into November. It’s the season that doesn’t want to end, and the fish are likely to stick around into at least the middle of November. Too many anglers have put hung up their saltwater gear way too soon this year.

     SAN DIEGO LOCAL: Good fishing locally, 3/4 day boats, whether staying in close or moving off shore, are doing a good job getting their customers on fish. One boat with just 15 anglers came back with a couple of nice halibut, a few calico and sand bass, seven sheephead, 27 rockfish, 27 sculpin, and 103 red snapper. A boat out of Seaforth Landing on a 3/4 day trip with 36 anglers caught six yellowfin tuna and 142 yellowtail.

     LOS ANGELES AND ORANGE COUNTY LOCAL: Fishing has been good off of Orange County and up in Santa Monica Bay for rockfish, but the surface action has stalled. There is still a fair bite off Dana Point for bass, but that is slowing. Squid is still thick in the region, and with the candy bait there is still a good shot for white seabass to show during the coming new moon cycle.

     LOCAL ISLANDS: San Clemente and Catalina Islands don’t have a lot of anglers, but the few anglers there are still reporting a fair number of white seabass and yellowtail at both islands in a slowly slowing bite. The calico bass bite is slowing as well, but you can still get decent numbers of fish, and this action at both islands is likely to continue until the weather finally turns cold and shuts down this bite.

     LOBSTER SEASON UPDATE: Lobster have remained “pretty good.” The Pride, out of Seaforth Sport Fishing, went out with only three anglers on board early this week and returned with 20 lobster. The Jig Strike, out of H&M Landing, went out with 10 anglers and boated 17 lobsters and 22 rock crabs. The Lisa had 10 anglers with nine lobster and nine rock crab.

     INSTRUCTIONAL CHARTERS: The staff of 976-TUNA is hosting instructional charters throughout the year, offering advice to beginning or veteran anglers and on-the-water teaching of techniques for different saltwater species. Trips are booked for the rest of this season and will restart after the first of the year. For information on upcoming 976-TUNA instructional charters, call 562-352-0012 or go to the website at www.976-TUNA.com.

     OFFSHORE EXOTICS STILL HOT: Off-shore action in the San Diego fishing fleet contines to be very good, incredible even. This kind of fishing, especially this late in the season, is just unheard of. It has been at least 15 years since the sportfishing fleet has caught fish like this clear into late October and November. Usually there’s a bit of yellowtail around, and possibly some bluefin tuna, but this year there is still a good action on dorado, yellowfin tuna, yellowtail, bluefin tuna. The Ocean Odyssey, on a 1 ½-day trip Monday, returned with limits of yellowtail and yellowfin tuna, along with a few dorado, for all anglers on board. Fishing pressure is light, as most folks figure there’s no fish out there this time of year, plus the high gas prices have hurt. The bite is shifting a little south, between 70 and 120 miles, but boats are still seeing dorado and yellowtail as close as 25 miles out. These close fish allow even the three-quarter day boats to get in on this bite. The anglers on those trips are also catching respectable numbers of rockfish and bass to go with it. The fishing is just very good.
     SAN DIEGO LOCAL: The bite remains good close in. There are yellowtail and a scattering or halibut and white seabass, plus the rockfish bite is excellent for those who have squid for bait. The squid are doing their part, hanging in there in about 100 feet of water and making bait is easy for everybody.
     LOS ANGELES AND ORANGE COUNTY:There’s lots of squid out there in a hundred feet of water off Huntington Beach. Without squid, the rock fishing can be tough, but when you have plenty of squid, the rock fish action is phenomenal. The sand bass and calico bass fishing is very good too.
     LOCAL ISLANDS: The Coronado Islands are off limits to fishing right now while everybody is trying to figure out the new regulations. San Clemente has not been getting a whole lot of pressure. There’s a little bit of yellowtail at the east end. There’s also been a lot of smaller yellowtail, about four or five pound fish, around the east end of Catalina. There’s still a lot of squid, so it is easy to make bait.
     LOBSTER SEASON UPDATE: The lobster fishing is good. The Jig Strike and the Alicia came in early on Monday due to fog, but they had 10 lobsters apiece and combined they had 85 crabs. The night before they had 49 lobsters for 20 people and 89 crabs. The Dungeness crab season opens Saturday.
      INSTRUCTIONAL CHARTERS: The staff of 976-TUNA is hosting instructional charters throughout the year, offering advice to beginning or veteran anglers and on-the-water teaching of techniques for different saltwater species. Trips are booked for the rest of this season and will restart after the first of the year. For information on upcoming 976-TUNA instructional charters, call 562-352-0012 or go to the website at www.976-TUNA.com.

     OFFSHORE EXOTICS REMAIN HOT: The action for the day-and-a-half to two-day boats out of San Diego continues to be very good. The anglers on these trips continue to catch a good amount of fish. The bite is strongly yellowtail, with a mix of dorado, yellowfin tuna thrown in. The volume of the tuna is still high, but they aren’t biting quite as well as the yellowtail. There are a lot of five to eight pound yellowtail running around with a very few running up to 15 pounds. Nice, but nothing to shout about. The closer-in 3/4-day boats are also catching a lot of yellowtail and a few dorado. Seaforth Sport Fishing’s Sam Diego and the Malihini out of H&M Landing are getting good results. It’s still pretty good fishing out 25 to 50 miles. There’s really no sign of this bite going away. You can expect a little bit of wind early in the week but the weekend looks very good. It may be a bit unusual for this time of year, but the good fishing off-shore continues.

     SAN DIEGO LOCAL: Even the three-quarter day boats are getting in on this incredible offshore action. The San Diego, out of Seaforth Sportfishing, has been averaging well over 100 fish per day. In closer, the squid are hanging around providing anglers with plenty of bait. The New Seaforth, also out of Seaforth Sportfishing is getting a handful of yellowtail, halibut, and white seabass on its half-day boats. They are also catching respectable numbers of rock fish and bass to go with it. The fishing is just very good. For one thing, there’s a tremendous amount of bait everywhere. There’s candy bait at Catalina, San Clemente, the Coronados, you name it. There’s bait from San Diego all the way up to the Channel Islands. Along with the squid, we are seeing good numbers of  white seabass, halibut, and yellowtail mixed in all along the coast.

     LOS ANGELES AND ORANGE COUNTY UPDATE: Not much change here either. Most of the half-day boats are running out to near-shore deepwater spots and getting nice catches of rockfish, sculpin, and red snapper with a few mixed bass, sculpin, sheephead, and the odd halibut. The bite has been more toward sculpin and whitefish to the south and more toward rockfish and sheephead for the Los Angeles and Santa Monica Bay areas. A few bass are showing in all areas. Anglers are reminded there is a new regulation that forbids fishing deeper than 300 feet, ostensibly to protect cow cod.

     LOCAL ISLANDS: A “little bit of everything” is what you’ll find at the islands. San Clemente continues to get little fishing pressure, but there is a good volume of yellowtail on the front side of the island. The fish are mostly seven to 15 pounds and the key has been having squid for bait and avoiding the seals. At Catalina, it’s about the same with quite a few yellowtail all around the island, and the white seabass numbers have even increased. There’s been some major squid action both front and back there.

    LOBSTER SEASON UPDATE: The lobster action remains pretty good, with private boaters scoring very well, while on the party boats, the anglers are getting two or three per person. Overall the hoop-netting is still pretty good. The best near-shore spots have been crowded. The better action has been at Catalina and high spots off the breakwaters.

      INSTRUCTIONAL CHARTERS: The staff of 976-TUNA is hosting instructional charters throughout the year, offering advice to beginning or veteran anglers and on-the-water teaching of techniques for different saltwater species. Trips are booked for the rest of this season and will restart after the first of the year. For information on upcoming 976-TUNA instructional charters, call 562-352-0012 or go to the website at www.976-TUNA.com.

     OFFSHORE EXOTICS STILL EXCELLENT: The action for the overnight to two-day boats out of San Diego has continued to be very good. Oh, the bite dropped off a little during the cooler weather late last week, but it has come right back on. The volume of fish in the area from the Cortez Bank south all the way to San Quintin continues to be good. Is it as good as two weeks ago? Probably not, but it’s still darn good. The catch has been probably 60 to 70 percent yellowtail (in a wide range of sizes, with about half or more small), five percent dorado and the rest mixed tuna, usually yellowfin, but also still a lot of bluefin. Just a couple of recent scores to illustrate this bite. On Tuesday, the Pacific Queen out of Fisherman’s Landing returned from a 1 1/2-day trip with 28 anglers who had full limits of yellowtail (140), 25 bluefin, 23 yellowfin, and 15 dorado. The Condor, also on a 1 1/2-day trip out of Fisherman’s, had 27 anglers and they landed 110 yellowtail, 26 yellowfin and 20 dorado on Monday. The Prowler on Sunday was out with 27 anglers and they landed 135 yellowtail (limits), 13 yellowfin, and 19 dorado. This bite should hold up into November this year.

     SAN DIEGO LOCAL: Even the three-quarter day boats are getting in on this incredible offshore action. The San Diego, out of Seaforth Sportfishing, has been averaging well over 100 fish per day. On Tuesday, there were 46 anglers who landed 172 yellowtail. On Sunday, 50 anglers landed 229 yellowtail, two bluefin, one yellowfin, and eight dorado. The half-day boats in the San Diego region have live squid for bait and that has translated into some very interesting local action around Point Loma. The New Seaforth, also out of Seaforth Sportfishing, was out with 33 anglers on the Monday morning half-day and they caught 10 yellowtail, a white seasbass (over 50 pounds), four halibut to 25 pounds, two calicos, four sheephead, two ling cod, two red snapper, and 26 rockfish.

     LOS ANGELES AND ORANGE COUNTY UPDATE: Most of the half-day boats are running out to nearshore deepwater spots and getting nice catches of rockfish, sculpin, and red snapper with a few mixed bass, sculpin, sheephead, and the odd halibut. The bite has been more toward sculpin and whitefish to the south and more toward rockfish and sheephead for the Los Angeles and Santa Monica Bay areas. A few bass are showing in all areas. Anglers are reminded there is a new regulation that forbids fishing deeper than 300 feet, ostensibly to protect cow cod.

     LOCAL ISLANDS: Not a lot of change at the local islands. San Clemente continues to get little fishing pressure, but there is a good volume of yellowtail on the front side of the island. The fish are mostly seven to 15 pounds and the key has been having squid for bait and avoiding the seals. At Catalina, there are still quite a few yellowtail all around the island, and the white seabass numbers have even increased over last week on the backside with fish 18 to 25-pounds reported by a number of private boaters the last few days. There is also pretty fair calico bass action at both islands, too.

     LOBSTER SEASON UPDATE: The lobster action fell off a little since the opening two weekends, but overall the hoop-netting is still pretty good. The Jig Strike and Alisha, both out of H&M Landing, continue to get about 1 1/2 lobster per angler, and a couple of nine pounders were reported in the past week. That is down from the three to seven average of earlier in the season, but still not bad. Private boaters are continuing to have pretty good success, but the best nearshore spots have been crowded. The better action has been at Catalina and high spots off the breakwaters.

      INSTRUCTIONAL CHARTERS: The staff of 976-TUNA is hosting instructional charters throughout the year, offering advice to beginning or veteran anglers and on-the-water teaching of techniques for different saltwater species. Trips are booked for the rest of this season and will restart after the first of the year. For information on upcoming 976-TUNA instructional charters, call 562-352-0012 or go to the website at www.976-TUNA.com.

Bonefish! Fishing the deeper flats with ghost shrimp is producing some amazing bonefish trips for my guests. We are also getting lots (and I mean lots) of Spotted Bay Bass. They are everywhere, and are schooling up on dropoffs, and around visable cover. Reaction baits are getting some good bay bass action, but pumpkin grubs are working the best.

Get out there, and get fishing!

     OFFSHORE EXOTICS STILL EXCELLENT: While winds hammered the offshore fish for the San Diego fleet fishing the exotics from 20 to 200 miles south of San Diego, the action was still very good to excellent with boats averaging from 60 to 100 mixed fish per day of fishing. The mixed yellowfin and bluefin made up about half of those count, but the wind pushed a lot of the yellowfin off the kelp but skippers found some schools of big bluefin from 40 to 50 pounds that hammered on anglers and produced high loss ratios. The Ocean Odyssey out of H&M Landing returned from a 1 1/2-day Tuesday with the 30 anglers on board catching 37 yellowtail, 30 dorado, five yellowfin tuna, and 17 big bluefin to 55 pounds (with at least twice that many more lost). Even the ¾-day boats are still cashing in on the offshore action. The San Diego out of Seaforth Sportfishing on Saturday was out with 50 anglers in the wind and they still managed to get full limits (250) of yellowtail. The wind and the backside of the full moon led to this slight downturn in the action over the past week, but the volume of fish in that warm water south of San Diego is still spectacular with yellowfin, dorado, bluefin, yellowtail and even some albacore in the mix. This cool front moving through this week is a weak system and not expected to change conditions very much and this bite is expected to continue well into October if not into November. Most skippers and ocean anglers are expecting the action to go back to 200 fish days as we move toward the new moon on the 15th.

     SQUID EVERYWHERE: The warm water-cold water contrast is striking this year. Squid have never disappeared from the local islands and high spots, and the number of squid is increasing again with the candy bait showing up at the 14 mile bank, 43 spots, all the local islands, and even nearshore spots from La Jolla up to Huntington Beach and into the Santa Monica Bay. The candy bait is making for some interesting mixed bag fish for island and nearshore trips.

     SAN DIEGO NEARSHORE: The local fleet in San Diego has been turning the squid into great bags of mixed fish. The New Seaforth out of Seaforth Sportfishing was out Sunday with 48 anglers who caught 21 yellowtail, six halibut, 15 calicos, five sand bass, five sheephead, one whitefish, 38 rockfish, six sculpin, and 34 red snapper. On Monday, the Seaforth on an afternoon half-day was out with 43 anglers who caught eight yellowtail, five calicos, 11 sheephead, two whitefish, 42 rockfish, four ling cod, 15 sculpin, and 13 red snapper. The yellowtail on these trips are most eight to 12 pound fish with some into the 20s.

     LOS ANGELES AND ORANGE COUNTY UPDATE: Most of the half-day boats are running out to nearshore deepwater spots and getting nice catches of rockfish, sculpin, and red snapper with a few mixed bass, sculpin, sheephead, and the odd halibut. There are also a few ling cod on most trips.

     LOCAL ISLANDS: San Clemente continues to get little fishing pressure, but there is a good volume of yellowtail on the front side of the island. The fish are mostly seven to 15 pounds and the key has been having squid for bait and avoiding the seals. At Catalina, there are still quite a few yellowtail all around the island, and the white seabass are still showing off the backside with fish 18 to 25-pounds reported by a number of private boaters the last few days. There is also pretty fair calico bass action at both islands, too.

     LOBSTER SEASON UPDATE: The lobster season remains very good with many hoop netters reporting half to full limits of bugs. The Jig Strike and Alisha, both out of H&M Landing, have been running nearly daily evening trips for bugs and they been averaging from three to seven lobster per angler.

      INSTRUCTIONAL CHARTERS: The staff of 976-TUNA is hosting instructional charters throughout the year, offering advice to beginning or veteran anglers and on-the-water teaching of techniques for different saltwater species. Trips are booked for the rest of this season and will restart after the first of the year. For information on upcoming 976-TUNA instructional charters, call 562-352-0012 or go to the website at www.976-TUNA.com.

     OFFSHORE ACTION CONTINUES WIDE OPEN: The yellowfin tuna action has been phenominal for the overnight to two-day boats running out of San Diego. The volume of yellowfin from 16 to 20 pounds is the best it has been all season and limits are common, if not the rule, on all the boats. Add in a good mix of yellowtail and dorado, along with some schools of Bluefin, and this incredible season just keeps perking along and there’s really no end in sight right now. While wind over the weekend made for tougher conditions, the seas flattened out early this week and that has been shown in the counts. Just a few to give you an idea of the action: The Azetc out of Seaforth Sportfishing returned Tuesday from an overnight trip with 24 anglers and they had full limits (120) of yellowfin, 90 yellowtail, and 17 dorado. The Pacific Queen out of Fisherman’s Landing returned Tuesday from a 1 ½-day trip with 21 anglers who landed 100 yellowfin, 31 yellowtail, 21 dorado, and two Bluefin. The Fortune out of Fisherman’s Landing, on a two-day instructional charter through 976-TUNA, returned Tuesday with the 22 anglers on board having 220 yellowfin (limits), 50 yellowtail, and 23 dorado. The New Lo An out of Point Loma returned Wednesday morning with limits of yellowfin, 40 bluefin, 29 dorado, and 11 yellowtail. The Ocean Odyssey out of H&M Landing came back Tuesday with 29 anglers who caught 145 yellowfin, 120 yellowtail, and 10 dorado. Well, you get it. The fishing is off the charts.

     THREE-QUARTER DAY EXOTICS: The San Diego out of Seaforth Sportfishing continues to run offshore ¾-day trips, and there are still tuna in that close to San Diego. On Tuesday, 28 anglers landed six Bluefin and 68 yellowtail. The private yachts out of Los Angeles and Orange County landings are also still getting into the exotics on day trips. The Bongos III out of Davey’s Locker, had five anglers Tuesday and they landed 28 yellowtail, but they have been getting a nice mix of yellowtail and dorado most days. The Gail Force out of LA Harbor Sportfishing had 12 anglers and they landed 10 yellowtail, a dorado, and a marlin.

     LOCAL ISLANDS: San Clemente, while getting little fishing pressure because of the awesome offshore action, has a huge volume of yellowtail on the front side of the island. The fish are mostly seven to 15 pounds and the key has been to have the right bait (squid) and avoiding the seals. At Catalina, there is also fair volume of yellowtail all around the islands, and there is still pretty good white seabass action on the backside with limits (three fish per angler) of 18 to 25-pound fish reported by a number of private boaters the last few days. There is also pretty fair calico bass action at both islands, too.

     NEARSHORE UPDATE: There are still decent water conditions from San Diego up through the Newport Region which has led to some pretty fair calico bass action around the kelp beds and rocky structure areas, but that action has slowed on the backside of the full moon, and many skippers are fishing for rockfish with some excellent action on the bottom fish.

     LOBSTER OPENER: The lobster opener this past weekend was excellent all along with coast, from the Santa Monica Bay through San Diego. Most private boaters using hoop nets reported from two to five lobsters for an evening of effort. The Jig Strike out of H&m Landing was out with 10 anglers Tuesday evening and they returned with 35 legal lobsters (releasing about 100 shorts) and 10 red rock crabs. There has even been some pretty good action all the way up into the Channel Islands region. On Monday, 10 anglers aboard the Cobra out of Channel Islands Sportfishing had 20 lobsters, 26 red rock crabs and three spider crabs. On Tuesday, five anglers had three lobster, 15 red rock crab and four spider crabs.

     INSTRUCTIONAL CHARTERS: The staff of 976-TUNA is hosting instructional charters throughout the year, offering advice to beginning or veteran anglers and on-the-water teaching of techniques for different saltwater species. Trips are booked for the rest of this season and will restart after the first of the year. For information on upcoming 976-TUNA instructional charters, call 562-352-0012 or go to the website at www.976-TUNA.com.

     EPIC OFFSHORE FISHING CONTINUES: Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, it does. The offshore bite on yellowfin, dorado, bluefin, and yellowtail has been even better in recent days than it’s been the past week. Most of the boats are now getting full limits of yellowfin tuna from 12 to 18 pounds with some from 25 to 50 pounds. Add in a few Bluefin averaging 12 to 25 pounds with some schools of tackle busters, and then dorado in the 12 to 25-pound range. There are two sizes of yellowtail in the mix – small rats under eight pounds that are getting released in big volume and then some nice fish from 12 to 25 pounds.

epic fiushing continues, just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, it gets better. The bulk of the action is from 70 to 120 miles of Point Loma, perfect for overnight to two-day boats to cash in. Here are some recent scores just to show how good the fishing has been. The Legend out of Seaforth Sportfishing was out with 31 anglers and returned Tuesday with full limits of yellowfin (155), 53 yellowtail, and 21 dorado. The New Lo An out of Point Loma came in Wednesday morning with limits of yellowfin along with a nice mix of bluefin, yellowtail and dorado. They caught limits of yellowfin off a single kelp on Tuesday. The Aztec out of Seaforth reported in at 9 a.m. Wednesday still fishing on its first kelp and the anglers on board already had over 150 mixed yellowfin, Bluefin, and dorado. The Fortune, on an overnight trip out of H&M Landing, reported that they were on a kelp Tuesday morning where the yellowfin and yellowtail were battling for each sardine flipped over the rail. They ended up with limits of yellowfin and a mixed bag of other fish.

     EXOTICS FOR THREE-QUARTER DAY BOATS: But the action on the exotics isn’t just for the overnight and longer boats. The Mission Belle out of Seaforth Sportfishing, was out of Tuesday with 38 anglers on a three-quarter day trip and they landed 51 yellowtail, eight yellowfin, seven dorado and five bluefin – on a three-quarter day trip! The Bongos III out of Davey’s Locker had five anglers Tuesday and they landed 34 yellowtail and four dorado. The Freelance, also out of Davey’s, was out with 55 anglers and they caught nine yellowtail and a dorado. There is a good band of warm water that extends from the Catalina Channels south along the coast past Dana Point and San Diego that connects with the warmer water to the south, allowing schools of fish to have access all the way up the coast. The forecast warming trend for later this week and the full moon on Saturday should just keep this bite wide open for now.

     NEARSHORE UPDATE: Water temperatures along the coast have been cooler and most of the landings are running half- and three-quarter day boats for rockfish with excellent action on the reds and limits not uncommon in a very good early season rockfish bite. There have also been flurries of good calico bass action during the better tides with some decent picks off Dana Point in recent days and up in the Channel Islands. For example, on Monday, the Island Tak out of Channel Islands Sportfishing, was out with 10 anglers and they landed 99 calicos and a white seabass on a full-day trip.

     ISLANDS GETTING LITTLE PRESSURE: Both Catalina and San Clemente are getting light fishing pressure right now, even though Clemente has been producing quite a few yellowtail when the military allows anglers at the island and the sea lions leave the boat alone. Catalina has consistently had a decent calico bass bite and there are quite a few shore white seabass showing on squid (yes, they are still generally available along the coast), and there are yellowtail on the east end and along the front side of the island.

     INSTRUCTIONAL CHARTERS: The staff of 976-TUNA is hosting instructional charters throughout the year, offering advice to beginning or veteran anglers and on-the-water teaching of techniques for different saltwater species. Trips are booked for the rest of this season and will restart after the first of the year. For information on upcoming 976-TUNA instructional charters, call 562-352-0012 or go to the website at www.976-TUNA.com.

     OFFSHORE BITE STILL AWESOME: The offshore action for the San Diego-based boats is still exceptional. The only thing even remotely slowing this action has been winds that make fishing difficult and knock down fish-count tallies a little. On the overnight and longer boats, limits of yellowfin tuna have been the rule this week, and there continues to be a huge variety of other species. Everything from dorado, yellowtail, and bluefin are caught daily, and some days albacore even show in the counts. The Fortune out of Fisherman’s Landing reported early Wednesday on its overnight trip with 39 bluefin, 28 yellowfin, 18 dorado, and eight big albacore to 40 pounds. The anglers on Tuesday’s overnight trip had limits of five yellowfin each. And both of these trips were with winds. The Condor out of Fisherman’s Landing was out with 36 anglers on a 1 ½-day trip and they landed 86 yellowfin, 20 dorado, 10 yellowtail, and five Bluefin. The Dominator out of Point Loma returned from a 1 ½-day trip on Tuesday with 25 anglers who had 125 yellowfin (limits), 15 dorado, five yellowtail, and three skipjack. The Eclipse, returning Tuesday from a two-day instructional charter out of Seaforth Sportfish, had 28 anglers who caught 125 yellowfin, 11 bluefin, 50 yellowtail, and 26 dorado. The Voyager, also out of Seaforth, was out on a 1 ½-day with 14 and they returned Tuesday with 70 yellowfin, 22 yellowtail, and 14 dorado. With the nearshore and island bite off, even the Orange County boats have been targeting the offshore fish that have pushed up into the Catalina channel. The Freelance, out of Davey’s Locker, reported in with 15 dorado on Wednesday and the anglers on board the day before had 14 dorado on floating kelp. The six-pack yacht, Bongos III out of Davey’s Locker, was out with five anglers on Monday and they had eight yellowtail, five dorado and one mako shark. On Tuesday, four angler had 23 yellowtail and two makos. The ¾-day San Diego boats, like the Malihini out of Point Loma, have even been averaging from 30 to 100 fish per boat.

     LOCAL ISLANDS: Catalina and San Clemente islands have been very spotty this past week. Clemente is still seeing a fair calico bass bite, but there has been a major slowdown at both places this past week that matches with the nearshore slowdown.

     NEARSHORE LOCAL: The half and three-quarter day boats for the Los Angeles-Orange County landings have been focusing on bottom fish this past week with pretty fair rockfish action, but the bass bite went in the tank since the new moon last Friday. The Channel Island-area boats are focusing on rockfish, too.

     INSTRUCTIONAL CHARTERS: The staff of 976-TUNA is hosting instructional charters throughout the year, offering advice to beginning or veteran anglers and on-the-water teaching of techniques for different saltwater species. The next trip is a two-day aboard the Fortune out of Fisherman’s Landing, leaving Sunday, Sept. 30, and limited to 22 anglers. Cost is $325 per angler, and the trip will be targeting bluefin, yellowtail, and dorado on floating kelp paddies. For information on upcoming 976-TUNA instructional charters, call 562-352-0012 or go to the website at www.976-TUNA.com.

     SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EXOTICS: These are the “good ol’ days.” The offshore action for the San Diego-based fleet is simply exceptional and remains that way. Even on poor weather, busy weekend days, the overnight and 1 ½-day day boats are returning with 50 to 150 fish, and on the good weather, lighter boat traffic mid-week days, the counts have been from 100 to 350 fish per boat. And it has not been unusual to get seven different species off a single kelp paddy. The Grande out of Point Loma Sportfishing reported yellowfin, bluefin, black skipjack, skipjack, yellowtail, dorado, and albacore all on the same kelp. On Wednesday morning, the Legend out of Seaforth, reported in with 49 bigger dorado to 30 pounds, 14 yellowfin, 14 yellowtail, nine bluefin, and a couple of skipjack before 10 a.m. and the bulk of the day was ahead of them. The  Dolphin II out of Fisherman’s returned Tuesday from a 1 ½-day trip with 21 anglers who landed two Bluefin, 43 yellowfin, three albacore, 25 yellowtail, 42 dorado, and two skipjack. The Ocean Odyssey out of H&M Landing, also on a 1 ½-day returning Tuesday this week, had 30 anglers who landed 49 bluefin, 16 yellowfin, three albacore, one skipjack, 29 yellowtail, and 60 dorado. The overnight to two-day zone is just jugged with fish and this week’s tides going into the new moon on Saturday night are just excellent, which means this bite isn’t slowing down anytime soon.

    DORADO ON KELP EVERYWHERE: The warm water has pushed well up into the Catalina Channel, and dorado are showing well up into this region, but the best action is off the Los Angeles and Orange County coastline to the west. The Freelance out of Davey’s Locker has been running daily trips offshore for the dorado and averaging 15 to 25 each trip with the loss ratio pretty high. On Tuesday’s trip there were 25 anglers who had 14 dorado early in the day, but a final count never came in.

     LOCAL ISLANDS: There has continued to be good action at both Catalina and San Clemente islands. Catalina has been very good on the front side with a lot of calico bass, with about 70 percent right at legal size. There continues to be a good volume of squid at the islands, and this had led to some shots on white seabass at both Clemente and Catalina. San Clemente has also had quite a few yellowtail and very good bass fishing this past week.

     NEARSHORE LOCAL: The one, not-to-bright spot in the fishing scene has been the Los Angeles-Orange County half-day boat bite, but even here there has been a very good bottom fish bite and a pick on the calicos and sand bass. The San Diego nearshore action has been very good with some quality halibut and yellowtail showing in the steady pick on bass and rockfish. The New Seaforth out of Seaforth Sportfishing had a 40-pound halibut and a 45-pound white seabass on a Tuesday morning trip this week.

     INSTRUCTIONAL CHARTERS: The staff of 976-TUNA is hosting instructional charters throughout the year, offering advice to beginning or veteran anglers and on-the-water teaching of techniques for different saltwater species. The next trip is a two-day aboard the Fortune out of Fisherman’s Landing, leaving Sunday, Sept. 30, and limited to 22 anglers. Cost is $325 per angler, and the trip will be targeting bluefin, yellowtail, and dorado on floating kelp paddies. For information on upcoming 976-TUNA instructional charters, call 562-352-0012 or go to the website at www.976-TUNA.com.

     SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EXOTICS: The fishing is beyond epic for exotic species off the Southern California coast. The best action remains out of San Diego for the overnight to two-day boats fishing the waters south and southwest of Point Loma. The mid-week bluefin tuna fishing is the best it has been in 20 or 30 years or more, and the action on yellowtail and dorado on floating kelp paddies remains exceptional throughout the week and weekend. The bluefin are running from 25 to 50 pounds with the average in the 35 to 40-pound range and there are some bigger fish to 100 pounds mixed in. None that size have been landed, but a few at 60 pounds or better have been caught. Loss rate is probably 30 percent on the bluefin. There is high boat traffic on weekends, which makes the bluefin action tougher then, but the mid-week skippers are metering fish, cutting the engines and then drifting and chumming quietly to get the fish up around the boat. On weekends, they sport boats are normally focusing on floating kelp for the yellowtail and dorado. Just a couple of boat scores in recent days to illustrate the action. The Condor out of H&M Landing was out over the weekend with 37 anglers on a 1 1/2-day trip and they landed limits of yellowtail as part of a 225 mixed yellowtail, dorado, and bluefin tuna catch. Anglers aboard the Legend had over 100 bluefin on Tuesday and were still fishing when this report was done Wednesday. The Eclipse, also from Seaforth Sportfishing, returned from a two-day early this week with 57 bluefin, 11, dorado, and six yellowfin for the 27 anglers on board. The New Lo-An out of Point Loma Sportfish was on an overnight trip with 30 anglers who caught 99 bluefin and seven dorado.

     LOS ANGELES-ORANGE COUNTY EXOTICS: The band of warm water that is holding a vast number of yellowtail and dorado has continued to extend well up into the Catalina Channel and there are dorado and yellowtail on kelp all along the Orange County and Los Angeles coastline right now in very good numbers. They are getting hammered daily by private boats and the sport fleet from all of the landings, but most of the 3/4-day boats are still getting from four to 12 fish per trip. The best action has been for anglers who are the first boat to roll up on a kelp at graylight or last light. The boat pressure has kept the fish a little spooked so finding a pod of fish that haven’t been run over all day is the key to getting a few fish.

      WEIRD SCIENCE: The juxtaposition of cold-water species like squid, which are showing from off San Diego, around Huntington Beach, and at Catalina and San Clemente, with warm-water, tropical species like dorado is simply unprecedented. It’s like you can throw out all the science and everything you know about fishing Southern California, and just go out and catch everything. The New Seaforth and San Diego out of Seaforth Sportfishing in San Diego have had squid the past few days and were getting a few yellowtail and halibut on the bait in spite of warm water. On Tuesday’s morning half-day, 38 anglers on the New Seaforth landed 12 barracuda, 10 rockfish, six yellowtail, three halibut, three sand bass, two sculpin, and a whitefish for an eclectic bag. The Redondo Special out of Redondo Sportfishing had a dozen white seabass in the Santa Monica Bay early this week. Catalina Island still has been producing a few seabass and calico bass, but the warm water there and at San Clemente has the resident yellowtail lethargic.

     SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EXOTICS: The fishing out of San Diego is being described by many anglers and skippers as “once in a lifetime” style action on warmwater exotics. The yellowtail and dorado are thick on offshore kelp paddies, and the 350-mile long mass of fish extends all the way up into the Catalina Channel with the biggest volume of fish starting off Oceanside and going south, and more fish are moving into the region daily. Even half-day boats out of San Diego have landed these species. The overnight and longer boats out of San Diego are seeing the best fishing and even overnight boats out of Los Angeles and Orange County landings fishing off San Clemente are getting into this action as it moves north. There is also a good volume of bluefin tuna in this same region and many of the overnight and longer boats are getting into a school or two of bluefin,too.

     The typical scores have been from 20 to 40 yellowfin and dorado on three-quarter day trips, 75 to 150 fish on overnight trips, and 100 to 300 fish on 1 1/2-day and two-day trips. Just a couple of scores since the weekend to illustrate the quality of this fishing. The New Lo An out of Point Loma Sportfishing was on a two-day trip with 25 anglers and they returned with 110 dorado (full limits), 34 bluefin and 21 yellowtail. The Dolphin II out of Fisherman’s Landing was on a two-day 976-TUNA instructional charter with 26 anglers and they landed 98 yellowtail, 62 dorado, and seven Bluefin. The Old Glory out of H&M Landing was on a 1 1/2-day with 21 anglers and they caught 94 yellowtail and 42 dorado. The Los Angeles and Orange County boats running to the west are posting similar scores. The Thunderbird, Toronado, and Freedom all have had overnight trips with scores in the 100 to 150 fish range. The Bongos III out of Davey’s Locker, a six-pack charter boat, was out with four anglers on Tuesday who landed 19 yellowtail, five dorado, and one mako. Even the half-day boats out of this part of the coast are seeing fish, although significant counts haven’t been posted yet.

     The yellowtail and dorado are mostly in the 10 to 15-pound class with some smaller five to eight-pound fish, while the bluefin are mostly 25 to 40 pounds with the odd smaller fish from 12 to 15 pounds.

     The best news is simply that there is no dirty water out there and the seas have been flat calm for over a week. This is indeed “once-in-a-lifetime” fishing.

     ALBACORE UPDATE: And just when you thought the albacore season was a total bust, there are some signs that longfins will also join the mix of exotics. Two days in a row this week, the Sea Adventure II out of H&M Landing has landed albacore – five one day and nine the next. Some of the LA/Orange County boats are also seeing longfins, which means there are two pockets of fish. The first is 50 to 60 miles out to the west and the other is 75 to 80 to the southwest. The fat lady may not have sung yet on the albacore.

     WHITE SEABASS STILL?: You have to wonder what’s going on in the Pacific Ocean. Even with the warm water and tropical conditions, there is still an incredible volume of both market squid and the white seabass that eat them. Squid have been showing off Del Mar, Newport Beach, the Huntington Beach oil rigs, Catalina Island (front and back), and San Clemente because there are squid all these places. The seabass has been quietier during the dark of the moon, but with the full moon coming August 31, the conditions point to yet another good flurry of action at Catalina, Clemente, and up into the Channel Islands.

     BARRACUDA AND SAND BASS: While the Los Angeles and Orange county half and three-quarter day fleet could switch over to yellowtail and dorado any day as numbers increase in this region’s near-shore waters, the usual mode has been to fish rockfish in the mornings and sand bass in the afternoons. While barracuda sunk out during the new moon, they have been moving back up this week as we move into the full moon and they are showing under birds again. Morning and afternoon trips mix the rockfish and bass with a shot at barracuda if they are spotted.

     INSTRUCTIONAL CHARTERS: The staff of 976-TUNA is hosting instructional charters throughout the year, offering advice to beginning or veteran anglers and on-the-water teaching of techniques for different saltwater species. The next trip is a three-quarter day jaunt aboard the Gail Force, out of L.A. Harbor Sportfishing, departing 5 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 9, targeting yellowtail and bass at Catalina (or possibly dorado and yellowtail on floating kelp paddies). For information on upcoming 976-TUNA instructional charters, call 562-352-0012 or go to the website at www.976-TUNA.com.

Where do I begin? Everything is biting. I usually don't get out into the blue water much. I usually refer other captains for that, but the bite has been so good that most all of us have been busy. So I have done a few deep blue trips. This has been a great comeback year for Yellowtail. And although you can catch quite a few in our local kelp, I would highly suggest paddy hopping. You will deal with a lot less sea lions that way, plus you might get a Dorado or even a Tuna for your efforts. Point being, get out there.

Sand Bass, Calico and Barracuda can be found on our local reefs and kelp. All of the above are eating anything that moves and/or flashes. Best lures are Plastic Squids and Irons. Best baits are green sardines.

Now if you want a bent rod, and don't particularly care for the open ocean, San Diego Bay has got a Spotted Bay Bass bite like none other. Any grub or swim bait will do. No kidding. Shallow, deep, grass, concrete, it does not matter. Mission Bay has a phenomenal hard bait bite. Spinner baits, crank baits, and even jerk baits are tearing them up.

Drifting any hunk of meat is catching Sand Shark, Leopards, Guitarfish, and a variety of Rays.

What a great time to live in such a beautiful city. The fishing in San Diego has never been better, and I am so blessed to be able to make a fulltime career out of showing our wonderful visitors just how beautiful the Greater San Diego area can be.

Thank you for reading, and God Bless,

James

There has been no movement on the part of the Mexican government, so the Coronado Islands remain effectively closed down by the new check-in requirement that makes fishing the islands unrealistic, the 3/4-day boats out of San Diego had been focusing on La Jolla kelp or fishing offshore for the exotics (see above). The Point Loma kelp has also had a few yellowtail and pretty consistent bass action, and the La Jolla area has continued to produce a few white seabass, but mostly for private boaters and kayak fishermen. 

While the Coronado Islands have been effectively closed down by the Mexican government because of a new check-in requirement that makes fishing the islands unrealistic, the 3/4-day boats out of San Diego had been focusing on La Jolla kelp or fishing offshore. The Mission Belle out of Seaforth was out Saturday with 31 anglers and had six Bluefin and two yellowtail fishing offshore. The Point Loma kelp has also had a few yellowtail and pretty consistent bass action with some barracuda.