We ran a short week and only got off the dock a couple of days because of the weather. Even after that wind, the water is still 61° along the coast here, and that’s pretty wild considering everything.
Bass fishing has been a bit of a challenge this week. Most of the catch has been on light-line approaches, meaning 8–12 lb mono. Setups fished near the bottom, like a Carolina rig or a reverse dropper loop, did best. Stripped baits like sardine and mackerel caught some standout sand bass. The calico bass action on smaller profile lures like the fluke got bit on the slower sink through the water column. The dirty, off-color water has been the issue, but things are still coming together and settling out from the week of weather. We did see action and some catch-and-release on that mixed bass.
Deeper zones kept kicking out sculpin, whitefish, and sand dabs. Easy five-fish limits on the sculpin for anglers fishing rubber lures.
On our halibut derby, we knew it was a matter of time before those fish started moving around a bit, and that windy weather helped. A solid 26 lb fish was caught on Friday’s drift trip. This one has taken the lead for February, and they also had some smaller keeper halibut in the mix, along with some shorts released.
So even though it was a short week, we did see some good things happen. We’re looking forward to things getting even better this week. Weather looks pretty dang good!
