Provided by Captain Woolley of Dana Wharf Sportfishing
The 1/2-day bass fishing really picked up midweek once the sunshine came out. We finally saw some good 68° water, and with that came solid action in a lot of areas — both up above Dana Point and down through San Clemente. Bass were biting well on artificial lures, especially fluke-style baits and swimbaits. Hard jerkbaits like the Lucky Craft and Salt Minnows also got the job done. There was some good calico bass fishing on the surface iron, too.
The calicos started showing signs of spawning behavior, with a lot of fish turning up in their bright yellow-faced spawning colors. We also saw some great halibut activity in the shallows, with multiple fish coming over the rails on several trips this week. Live anchovies fished on reverse dropper loops accounted for most of the halibut, but it’s hard to beat a flylined anchovy when you’re targeting bass.
On the 3/4-day trips, we continued fishing deep around the 14, and the catching was very good. It took some work — most of the better bites came in over 100 fathoms (600+ feet) — but the quality of the fish made the extra effort worthwhile. The jig anglers had no problem catching all they needed and reported fantastic action. Down the coast, we also got into the kelp on a few trips to chase bass. The big kelp beds off Camp Pendleton have grown in size, and the abundance of healthy kelp is looking great. In those areas, like The Barn Kelp and Yellowtail Kelp, we found nice clean water, and with a decent current running, the bass fishing was a blast. We also caught a mix of sand bass and sheephead for anglers who were dropping live bait down to the bottom.
Out at San Clemente Island, the Fury put together another solid week of fishing. Some better-grade yellowtail in the 20 to 28-pound range finally let their guard down and were caught on a few different trips. We knew it was just a matter of time before those island-grade yellows bit. Most were hooked on live bait, though some of the smaller yellowtail were taken on surface iron and yo-yo jigs. On top of that, there was plenty of fun bonito bites, along with good numbers of rockfish and calico bass in the mix.
