The much-anticipated rockfish season kicked off with some really good fishing for the local 3/4-day fleet from LA/LB down to San Diego. Here for us in Dana Point, we saw excellent rockfish fishing in a few different areas, and even the 1/2-day anglers had an opportunity to get into some of it.
Dana Wharf Sportfishing photo
On the more local side of things, the deep hard bottom areas in 200 to 300 feet off San Onofre and Camp Pendleton produced well after being untouched since the end of December. Some very nice mixed bags of rockfish were caught by our anglers using both live baits and artificial offerings like jigs and rubber lures. The vermilion rockfish, or “reds” as they’re also known, jumped on the live anchovy that the fleet had for live bait. Along with the baits, the smaller sniper-style metal jigs in the 80g to 120g size caught reds, too. The best jig colors were the blue & pink combination as well as green anchovy.
What’s been a difficult hurdle is California’s two-fish limit on vermilion rockfish. There’s been no shortage of these reds, and having to really keep track of an angler sub limit of 2 reds has been tricky. We’ve had to move the boat to avoid catching them and have spent a lot of time using descending devices to release the vermilion rockfish once our limits are filled. Along with the reds, we’ve seen some great catches of bocaccio rockfish, copper rockfish and whitefish. Double dropper loop setups with 8oz to 10oz sinkers have been just fine with the current conditions.
On days when we’ve had lighter loads, the boats have had the opportunity and ability to get out to the 14 Mile Bank and fish even deeper water. The deeper water has the tendency to kick out a bit better quality of rockfish in relation to size. The “bank,” as it’s referred to by the local captains, was very good for the boats fishing the area over the last couple weeks. Big bank rockfish, or Floridas, as they’re called by anglers, have been jumping on live baits and squid strips. Slow-pitch jig anglers have been doing really well with the Floridas, too. A few hefty bocaccios pushing the 10-pound mark have also been coming up on live baits out there. Additionally, chilipepper rockfish and the occasional red have rounded out the sacks, and while lingcod aren’t typically thick at the bank, one or two respectable fish have found their way over the rail.
On the inshore side of the report, there hasn’t been too much going on. Water temps are in the 55° to 59° range. Both the calico bass and sand bass fishing has been slow due to the cool water. Anglers catching bass have really had to scale down their line size and fish light 8 to 12lb monofilament for enhanced stealth. Anglers incorporating a fluorocarbon leader have had an advantage, too, by helping present a better bait with less line visibility.
Any little trick to get an extra advantage has been helpful with the cool water and the fish not biting really well. There have been some standout sheepheads caught on the inshore reefs, with a large female sheephead going almost 9lbs caught on a half-day trip last week. A large female fish like that being caught along the coast isn’t an everyday occurrence. Half-day trips have also fished for rockfish off Dana Point in water over 300′. There have been nice catches of reds for those anglers and some bocaccio in the mix too. As we push through April, we hope to see the water continue to warm up.
Finely over at San Clemente Island, the charter boat Fury got their overnight fishing season rolling. They found excellent rockfish biting in the deep water at the island. Big reds have been a staple and catching their two fish bag limit has been a very quick catch there. Filling a 10 fish bag limit wasn’t too difficult with some nice copper rockfish, bocaccio rockfish, and other mixed species mixed in. After the rockfish limits have been filled, the remaining time has been spent catching big, chunky whitefish and looking around for any kelp line that might produce a few calico bass. Capt. Marcus hasn’t seen any real intriguing sign of yellowtail or white seabass quite yet, but there’s been some squid on the island. The squid attract bigger game fish like seabass and yellows but is also good for live bait for rockfish and as cut bait. A bit of sunshine, which we haven’t had on the water in a few weeks, would be very helpful, and an improvement in water temperature would also be beneficial.
The opportunity to catch fish in these different areas has been very welcomed. There’s no doubt that we’re seeing some encouraging signals. As we push through another week or two, we anticipate slight improvements to help keep the needle moving in the right direction. Keep an eye on the weather, make a reservation, and let us get you out on the water soon!
