Monday May 13th 2019

PM Updates marked in RED *****Attention iPhone and iPad users***** The new iOS FishDope app for iPhone and iPad is here! Search for FishDope in the App Store to download and install. We recommend a minimum of iOS 9 to run the app, and newer versions will give the best performance. Note: Please use your FishDope username, not email address, to log in. The app offers all the charts and the latest 7 days of fishing reports, and you can now stream live VHF radio while online. It automatically stores the fishing reports for offline use, and it also saves the last chart region and chart layers you’ve viewed so that you can take them with you on the water and out of wifi range. You can also continue to view the FishDope website with a browser like Safari or Chrome on your phone or tablet, but only the app will save reports and charts for offline use. We’ve created a FAQ page for the app (with instructions for using it) here: FishDope App Frequently Asked Questions If you have other questions or notice bugs, please post them up in our forums.

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—– Weather —– Awesome weather today. No wind and flat seas early followed by just some breeze and light chop in the afternoon. There is nearly a 100% chance of rain and wind on Thursday according to the NWS forecast. There is also a good chance of showers on Sunday the 19th into Monday the 20th. As always, please keep a close eye on the latest forecast and conditions for your local area before you head out! Synopsis for Inshore Waters of the Southern California Coast Generally weak onshore flow will continue this coming week, with some increase Wednesday through Friday. Showers likely on Thursday.  

LIVE Weather Broadcast Northern Sector – Santa Barbara to LA Southern Sector – Orange and San Diego County and SCI Baja Sector (experimental, may not be updated every day) —– Bait Report —– Bait Barge Contact Info Everingham Bros Bait Company San Diego – 4-6″ sardine (5-7) Mission Bay – 3-6″ sardine (5-4) Oceanside Bait Barge Recording (760) 434-1183 – 5-6″ sardine  (5-4). Dana Point – 5-7″ sardine (5-10). Newport Bait Barge (310) 461-5370 – 4-6″ sardine (5-8) Nacho’s Bait Barge (updated when members report) –  5-7″ sardine – NO squid (5-10) San Pedro Bait Barge (310) 365-2516 CH.11 – 4-6″ sardine (5-8) Redondo Bait Report (310) 372-2111 – medium size sardines – Available most mornings. Call 909 721-5849 for Mike at the bait barge (5-4) Marina Del Rey (updated when members report) – Sardines. $30/scoop, half scoops not available (5-6) CISCOS Bait Barge –  sardine & anchovy mix  (5-9)

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Inshore GPS Spots are here.   Sheephead news: As of Apr. 1st you can now fillet sheephead on board your boat thanks to a collaboration between SAC and CA DFW. Fillets must be at least 6.75″ long with the full skin attached. See the DFW press release for details. Channel Islands …SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH LATE TONIGHT… White seabass fishing this morning was excellent. Boats in the Becher’s Bay area at Santa Rosa Island were all bit up before sunrise and many had full limits for passengers and crew by 8am. This is the premier bite time as far as the moon phase goes. 1st quarter moon was on the 11th and the full moon is on 18th. This current bite took off on the 12th the day after the 1st quarter. These seabass are running in the 15 to 25lb class mostly with a few bigger and a few smaller. Most are coming on the dropper loop rig with the hook placed 4-5 feet above the sinker. Guys are also scoring with white leadheads and with the plastic tube baits. Yellow Banks is still producing a few for private boaters. Boats there are getting the seabass on the plastic tube jigs and on frozen squid. Also happening right now is a pretty decent bite for big barracuda in the Smugglers to Yellow Banks area. Some were shorts but there was a fair amount of legals and up to the 7-8lb class along with those little ones. As for the lingcod and rockfish bites those remain outstanding pretty much anywhere you go. The quality is best way out west at San Miguel and Santa Rosa but all areas are seeing great numbers of rockfish and whitefish. Santa Monica Bay The Bay is finally starting to wake up. There are lots of short barracuda at Rocky Point and now the calico bass bite is starting to turn on too. Not just Rocky but up off Malibu as well. Plastic’s and the smaller sardines are getting the bites. Of course there is always the rockfish and sculpin on the South Bank to fall back on if need be. LA Harbor / Long Beach Shelf / Newport Beach Yellowtail fishing is on the slow side but there were a couple yellows caught this morning at the Mussel Farm. Over-all though the bite for those fish is miserable. No sign of barracuda yet. They are due at anytime now if history is going to repeat it’s self. Other than that all the reports we are getting is for rockfish at the Southeast Bank and west slope spots for a mix of bocaccio, reds, chuckleheads, whitefish, and sculpin on fresh dead squid. Catalina Island Squid; No boats are at the Island selling squid. The Long Beach Carnage will likely be back out Wednesday night and could have squid for sale Thursday morning. Until then you are on your own. Mills Landing is the location for the squid but it is very hard to catch right now. The stuff is not coming up to the surface and there isn’t much volume. Be sure and bring the squid jigs as you might not be able to scoop any at all. Fishing; Hit and miss yellowtail action. There are yellows pretty much all around the Island but if conditions are not right they just refuse to bite. #1 CURRENT. Without it the yellows just seem to go to sleep and not do much of anything. #2 Live squid. The sardine and jigs were working early last week but not so much anymore. The yellows have been fed the squid and now they are spoiled. #3 Light boat pressure. The yellows are being spooked by big parking lots of boats. In recent days all of the best bites have come away from the crowds. In general here is the run down around the Island… Front side action for yellowtail has slowed way down. Water has greened up. Guys are catching a yellowtail here and there but the big bite between Little Gibraltar to Red Bluff is now history. On the backside from the east Under the Light spot all the way to Salta Verde there is a lot of legal size barracuda now with some yellowtail mixed in. There was also some good fishing for barracuda at the mooring cans inside of Cat Harbor Saturday night. Lots of big 7-8lb ones. The entire back side calico bass fishing is also turning on. They are on the boiler rocks and all the kelp and shallow rock piles and biting the plastics and the smaller sardines very good. On top of that a lot of them are legal size fish over the 14″ size limit. The Farnsworth Bank is also holding a good number of yellowtail. These are biting the squid and yoyo iron. The Mills Landing squid area gave up some more yellowtail today and from there there is a decent chance you can find yellowtail from Little Harbor up to the West End. Seabass are showing a little bit. Most being caught right now are BIG in the 40-60lb class. For the most part they are up in tight to the beaches on the back side in the classic milky greenish white water that is 30 feet or less in depth. This bite might get a lot better in the coming days leading up to the full moon. One thing is certain here. You need squid! Live is greatly preferred but very fresh dead works good too. Frozen works sometimes and is a better choice than sardines or mackerel right now. Guys are pinning 1 or 2 live squid to either a leadhead, a 1/4oz sliding sinker rig or on a dropper loop. Use a big hook. A 6/0 to even a 9/0 ahi twist works perfect San Clemente Island Currently this Island is the best bet for yellowtail and they are big ones too! Yellowtail action at the Dunes / Runway area has been good for the past several days and is so once again today. These are big yellows. Most are in the 20-25lb class with a few pushing the 30lb mark. Most are coming on live squid brought over from Catalina and fished on either the dropper loop rig or with a 1/4 to 1/2oz sliding egg sinker. As for hooks the guys are using size 4/0 to 7/0 ahi twist style hooks and pinning 1 or 2 squid to the hook. In addition to the yellows the guys are catching a few of the “3 B’s”. Bass, barracuda and bonito. There is a high likely hood that there is squid in the Dunes / Runway area. Something is holding these yellows to the area and squid will for sure do that. That said we have not heard one way or the other if there is squid there though. Best bet is to bring some with you from Catalina. No word from the front side in a couple of days now so we have no idead if those 8-15lb class yellows are still biting in the Gold Bluff / White Rock area. Be sure to check the Navy closure schedule  before heading out. Always monitor VHF Ch. 16 and obey any requests to clear out of closed security zones. Click here  for info on how to read the closure schedule. Dana Point / Oceanside Report from rsmmax on the Maxtivities: Flat seas, calm wind and southeast flowing current working the inshore kelp and surrounding areas from just North of Dana Point to San Onofre. Water was dirty green north of the Dana headlands , milky green at San Clemente and clear green, clear blue/green at Onofre. All that being said, they just weren’t biting today….good marks in all the usual locations and threw every color in the rainbow plus nice market squid strips on lead heads and no one wanted to come out to play…even the lone party boat out of DP didn’t sit on any location for very long indicating they weren’t doing much better..a few short bass and a 22 in short WSB was all to show for the effort….couldn’t even catch a keeper to open the gut and see what they are eating….sometimes it actually is better at the office! Evening Email Report from Jordon; Spent full day on water 8-4. Launched out of Oceanside. Did a loop from harbor (tons and tons of anchovies right outside – made 30 in 5 min) down to Carlsbad canyon .. out 10 miles and then back around to Box canyon looking for paddies. Found a nice one off the golf balls out 5 miles holding 100s of 8-10 inch yellowtail. Passed several legit paddies on the way that were totally empty with no bait. Water was clean blue 65 degrees. Caught some tiny rockfish at box.. descended all of them. Wind finally picked up a bit after noon so I worked my various inside/outside halibut spots back south to harbor (180 – 30 ft). Marking tons and tons of bait everywhere but bot even a short bite. Still a great day on the water even though the highlight of my day was full sabiki stringers of chovies! Del Mar to Imperial Beach Early am and the mid to late afternoon hours continue to see some nice 10-20lb yellowtail bite from just above the MPA to the Hotel and out to the NW Corner. Some boats are getting them fly lining sardine but most are getting these by slow trolling sardines or rapalas. **** Attention **** There is now an ice vending machine at the Shelter Island launch ramp for your convenience. It’s located right near the bathroom building at the top of the ramp. The machine takes credit cards and 20 lb. bags are $6.95 each. Swipe your credit card to open, take as many as you want, and it charges by weight when you close the door. ——— Mexican waters ———— Getting Permits To Fish Mexico – An Angler’s Guide To Baja by That Baja Guy-Gary Graham Coronado Islands / Rockpile Good yellowtail fishing today for both private boats and for the sport boats. The Mission Belle called in with 50+ yellows just before 11am. They said all the yellows were in the 10-20lb class. The yellowtail are being found along the weather side of north Island, the Gun Site area, on bird schools inside South Island from Ribbon kelp to the flats and also down in the SKR area. The ridge running through the Middle Grounds is also very likely worth a good look as well. Slow trolling sardines and mackerel while scanning for birds has been effective on some days but on some days the sea lions make it all but impossible. If this happens switch over to rapalas. The sea lions won’t bother those. Troll them on 40lb and pull hard to get the “dogs” from getting your yellow or big bonito as those are still around as well. Heads Up! Mexican Navy is checking permits and kicked out a few boats yesterday for no biosphere or fmm. Once again getting any current info from today was difficult. Watch for an evening update…. With so few boats fishing the Islands again reports are very hard to come by so if you fished the Islands please shoot us a report to Reports@www.fishdope.com. Bracelets are now required to fish within Pacific Island Biosphere Reserve areas, including the Coronado Islands, Todos Santos, and San Martin Island. See the Mexico Info page in the Resources section for more info. **** ATTENTION **** You must stay at least 250 meters (820 feet) away from any tuna pens. If you don’t you are at risk of losing your boat and landing in a Mexican jail. Click here for more details on this subject *********************** The Mexican Navy regularly patrols the islands and checks boats for the required paperwork, including Mexican Fishing License, Vessel Temporary Import Permit, FMM and valid Country of Residence Passport for each person on the boat (can’t purchase the FMM (Tourist Card) without a passport anyway). Required permits are listed on the CONAPESCA website for fishing within 12 miles of land including the islands. The permits can be purchased through their website. Ensenada Yellowtail and bonito are biting just outside of Punta Banda. They are under birds and biting trolled rapalas and surface iron. San Miguel reef also has some yellowtail but these are deep and biting the yoyo iron.

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——- MEXICAN WATERS ———— Coronado Canyon Evening Email from the Hooked Up Boat Club; Hooked up boat club member Phil scored on 10-15lb yellowtail found on kelps just west of the Coronado islands. They managed limits for 3 anglers and the fish bit bait no problem. 21.96 over 20.76 425-101 / 475 Knuckle / Finger Bank / Upper Hidden Bank Yesterday ended up being a pretty good day for the few boats that actually were out on Mother’s Day. Today not a lot of overnight or 1.5 day boats out due to last night being Mothers Day. To bad because today was a very good day for bluefin fishing. The few that were out started calling in with bluefin around 10am. The Tomahawk reported in with 8 bluefin in the 30-50lb class as of 10am with 5 more more still hooked up. At noon they were up to 14 onboard with more still hanging. Right after that we got word from the Tribute that they had 15 bluefin onboard in the 25-60lb class and they also still had several tuna hanging. Then at 2:45pm the Tribute reported in with full limits of bluefin and were switching gears to look for some kelp paddy yellowtail. The San Diego called in at 1:30pm with 20+ bluefin in the 50-70lb class with another 6 still hanging The bulk of the bluefin are being found in the area from the 101 to the 475 Knuckle and west 4-5 miles. There appears to be quite a bit of bluefin in the area right now. Far more than the counts show. This is because they smart and not really interested in a sardine with a hook in it. Boats are driving from school to school and once in a while one of them will give up a few biters. They rush the chum, boil around and then bug out. They are being found up on the surface and on sonar marks from 30 to 200 feet down Most bites if you can get them are coming on light line, no more than 40lb fluoro and a hot sardine pinned on a small circle hook but some guys are getting bit on the flat fall jigs too. This zone is also holding kelps with yellowtail on them. Most of these are those little 3-5lb rats but there are some legit 8-15lbers in the mix. The following GPS numbers are where bluefin or kelp paddy yellowtail were found today but not necessarily where tuna/yellowtail were caught: 32 12 x 117 16 – Bluefin 32 11 x 117 15 – Bluefin 32 11 x 117 18 – Bluefin 32 11 x 117 29 – Bluefin 32 08 x 117 08 – Bluefin ***** General Info updated on 5-12-2019 ***** During the daytime there has been a few balloon or kite/double trouble rig bluefin caught over the past several weeks and this along with fishing the Flat Fall jigs is the #1 way to get these really big tuna to the boat as it is nearly impossible to land a 150+ tuna on 40lb flyline gear. For most guys the bites continue to come on the fly line sardine fished on 30-40lb fluorocarbon, a small circle hook and a HOT sardine. Take some time to pick the best sardine possible! You want a pale green back and NO red spots on the body. Generally speaking the hardest one to catch in the bait well is the one you want to be using. A few have been successful lately rubber banding a 4-6oz torpedo sinker to the line and dropping the sardine down deep where the tuna are holding. See the pic below. Lately there has been more flat-fall fish too. Not just at night either. Some guys are getting them during the daytime too. These are generally coming off stops where the bluefin are showing down around 150 to 200 feet and refuse to come up for the chum. Fish the flat-fall with at least a 100lb fluoro leader. 130-150lb is even better. Use at least 60lb. main line. 80 to 100lb gear is much better when fishing the flat-fall jigs. The night time hours from 7pm until 6am is all about the Flat-fall jigs. Here is a great trick/tip…. Take a black permanent marker and put a mark(s) on the braid every 50 feet. One mark for 50 feet, 2 for 100, 3 for 150 and so on. This will allow you to know exactly how deep you are fishing. You find the tuna on the sonar you know to drop down to just past the 3rd mark to allow a little extra for scope. Below is a pic of the rubber band sinker rig some guys are using to get a sardine down deep to the fish.

******************************************************************* All reports, good, bad, or otherwise are very helpful. If you go fishing please give us a call or shoot us an email. reports@www.fishdope.com 1 (619) 992-6099

Mothers Day – Sunday May 12th 2019

PM Updates marked in RED *****Attention iPhone and iPad users***** The new iOS FishDope app for iPhone and iPad is here! Search for FishDope in the App Store to download and install. We recommend a minimum of iOS 9 to run the app, and newer versions will give the best performance. Note: Please use your FishDope username, not email address, to log in. The app offers all the charts and the latest 7 days of fishing reports, and you can now stream live VHF radio while online. It automatically stores the fishing reports for offline use, and it also saves the last chart region and chart layers you’ve viewed so that you can take them with you on the water and out of wifi range. You can also continue to view the FishDope website with a browser like Safari or Chrome on your phone or tablet, but only the app will save reports and charts for offline use. We’ve created a FAQ page for the app (with instructions for using it) here: FishDope App Frequently Asked Questions If you have other questions or notice bugs, please post them up in our forums.

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—– Weather —– Light SE winds this morning. It swung around to out of the SW later in the morning. Seas were reported to be flat but with a large wide spread lump. No rain or serious wind until Thursday / Friday when another storm system is due arrive. The Channel Islands looks to get blown out. Lesser but stiff wind is expected for the inshore waters south of there to the Mexican Border. As always, please keep a close eye on the latest forecast and conditions for your local area before you head out! Synopsis for Inshore Waters of the Southern California Coast A ridge of high pressure will continue to push into the area. Dry weather with onshore flow is expected to strengthen into early next week. Areas of dense fog possible early to mid mornings each day.  

LIVE Weather Broadcast Northern Sector – Santa Barbara to LA Southern Sector – Orange and San Diego County and SCI Baja Sector (experimental, may not be updated every day) —– Bait Report —– Bait Barge Contact Info Everingham Bros Bait Company San Diego – 4-6″ sardine (5-7) Mission Bay – 3-6″ sardine (5-4) Oceanside Bait Barge Recording (760) 434-1183 – 5-6″ sardine  (5-4). Dana Point – 5-7″ sardine (5-10). Newport Bait Barge (310) 461-5370 – 4-6″ sardine (5-8) Nacho’s Bait Barge (updated when members report) –  5-7″ sardine – NO squid (5-10) San Pedro Bait Barge (310) 365-2516 CH.11 – 4-6″ sardine (5-8) Redondo Bait Report (310) 372-2111 – medium size sardines – Available most mornings. Call 909 721-5849 for Mike at the bait barge (5-4) Marina Del Rey (updated when members report) – Sardines. $30/scoop, half scoops not available (5-6) CISCOS Bait Barge –  sardine & anchovy mix  (5-9)

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Inshore GPS Spots are here.   Sheephead news: As of Apr. 1st you can now fillet sheephead on board your boat thanks to a collaboration between SAC and CA DFW. Fillets must be at least 6.75″ long with the full skin attached. See the DFW press release for details. Channel Islands As expected the white seabass bite turned back on. Typically the best seabass fishing is between the 1st quarter moon and the full moon which was on the 11th and 18th respectively. Boats began calling in with limits at around 8 to 8:30am. These seabass are running in the 15 to 25lb class mostly with a few bigger and a few smaller. We believe it happened at Santa Rosa Island but as of post time we are still working on where all of this is going down. The recent past big bites happened at Santa Rosa Island at Rhodes Reef and Becher’s Bay and at Santa Cruz Island in the Yellow Banks area. Could be any of these or a whole new area. Evening Update; OK we got info more info on the seabass. The best bite is going from Becher’s Bay where some squid has moved back in. They are catching a few big halibut too. Dropper loop squid is working best but some are also biting the plastic tube baits. Yellow Banks is still producing too for private boaters. Boats there are getting the seabass on the plastic tube jigs and on frozen squid. Also happening today is a pretty decent bite for big barracuda in the Smugglers to Yellow Banks area. Some were shorts but there was a fair amount of legals and up to the 7-8lb class along with those little ones. As for the lingcod and rockfish bites those remain outstanding pretty much anywhere you go. The quality is best way out west at San Miguel and Santa Rosa but all areas are seeing great numbers of rockfish and whitefish. Santa Monica Bay Nothing has changed… Lots of little 18-22″ barracuda are snapping at Rocky Point but so far we have not heard of any legal 28″ size cudas. Hopefully they will follow in soon. Other than that everything is all about rockfish at the South Bank and all the other regular rockfish locations. LA Harbor / Long Beach Shelf / Newport Beach Local yellowtail action at the Mussel Farm and surrounding areas has dried up. Only reports we are getting is for rockfish at the Southeast Bank and west slope spots for a mix of bocaccio, reds, chuckleheads, whitefish, and sculpin on fresh dead squid. Catalina Island Squid; No boats are at the Island selling squid. The Long Beach Carnage will likely be back out Wednesday night and could have squid for sale Thursday morning. Until then you are on your own. Mills Landing is the location for the squid but it is very hard to catch right now. The stuff is not coming up to the surface and there isn’t much volume. Be sure and bring the squid jigs as you might not be able to scoop any at all. Fishing; Front side action for yellowtail has slowed way down. Water has greened up. On top of that there is still quite a bit of boat traffic. Not as bad as yesterday but still a lot. Guys are catching a yellowtail here and there but the big bite between Little Gibraltar to Red Bluff is now history. On the backside from the east Under the Light spot all the way to Salta Verde there is a lot of legal size barracuda now with some yellowtail mixed in. There was also some good fishing for barracuda at the mooring cans inside of Cat Harbor last night. Lots of big 7-8lb ones. The entire back side calico bass fishing is also turning on. They are on the boiler rocks and all the kelp and shallow rock piles and biting the plastics and the smaller sardines very good. On top of that a lot of them are legal size fish over the 14″ size limit. The Farnsworth Bank is also holding a good number of yellowtail. These are biting the squid and yoyo iron. The Mills Landing squid area gave up some yellowtail today and from there there is a decent chance you can find yellowtail from Little Harbor up to the West End. One thing stands out most important of all for the yellows and seabass on both the front and the backside… CURRENT! If there is no current running where you are the yellows will not bite. You either need to move to another location OR sit and wait them out until the current does start to flow. If you see or know there are yellows in the area where you are anchored up and have the time to sit them out waiting this is the best option. Keep a very slow chum line going of live sardines and squid bits while you are waiting. Very slow! The bait will likely sit and hide under the boat boat but that is ok. The fish can see it and will hang around. The squid bits will draw in hordes of blue perch which again is a very good thing. San Clemente Island Currently this Island is the best bet for yellowtail They are in the 15 to 20lb class were biting well on live squid in the Dunes / Runway area today. They were up boiling on finbait and were chomping on the squid fished on 40lb good. There is still some small mixed grade yellows on the front from NW to Purse Seine but the bite for these has been off mainly due to a lack of current. The boats are also catching a few bass, barracuda and bonito. Be sure to check the Navy closure schedule  before heading out. Always monitor VHF Ch. 16 and obey any requests to clear out of closed security zones. Click here  for info on how to read the closure schedule. Dana Point / Oceanside Nothing new to report in this area today…. Bass fishing is pretty good and getting better. Most are shorts under the 14″ min size but they are tons of fun on 10lb gear. They are biting the plastic pretty good once you get them chummed up with squid bits. Most of the sardines at the bait barge are to big. The bass bite them but they just run around like a dog with a bone and do not swallow them. They can’t it is to big for them to swallow it. Pretty much most all the regular locations are working as is any kelp spot you can find. If you want rockfish Box Canyon continues to provide plenty of reds, bocaccio and sculpin. The rockfish are on the deep end of the cobble stone hard bottom in 220 to 240 feet while the sculpin are on the shallower end in about 180 to 200 feet. Squid and red plastics are both working great. Lastly some kelp paddy yellowtail have been spotted just a few miles off Box Canyon. We did not get any reports of them being caught but it might be worth a look. Check the offshore report for more info Del Mar to Imperial Beach Local guys in kayaks and small skiffs continue to score yellowtail just above the MPA in La Jolla and out at NW Corner. Slow trolling sardines or mackerel is effective but the sea lions are brutal and stealing a lot of the baits. A few guys are also scoring with the trolled rapalas and the sea lions won’t touch those. Mornings and evening seem to be best with the middle of the day not doing so well. **** Attention **** There is now an ice vending machine at the Shelter Island launch ramp for your convenience. It’s located right near the bathroom building at the top of the ramp. The machine takes credit cards and 20 lb. bags are $6.95 each. Swipe your credit card to open, take as many as you want, and it charges by weight when you close the door. ——— Mexican waters ———— Getting Permits To Fish Mexico – An Angler’s Guide To Baja by That Baja Guy-Gary Graham Coronado Islands / Rockpile Yellowtail are on bird schools inside South Island from Ribbon kelp to the flats. There is also signal down in the SKR area. Slow trolling sardines and mackerel while scanning for birds has been effective on some days but on some days the sea lions make it all but impossible. If this happens switch over to rapalas. The sea lions won’t bother those. Troll them on 40lb and pull hard to get the “dogs” from getting your yellow or big bonito as those are still around as well. Heads Up! Mexican Navy is checking permits and kicked out a few boats yesterday for no biosphere or fmm. Once again getting any current info from today was difficult. Watch for an evening update…. With so few boats fishing the Islands again reports are very hard to come by so if you fished the Islands please shoot us a report to Reports@www.fishdope.com. Bracelets are now required to fish within Pacific Island Biosphere Reserve areas, including the Coronado Islands, Todos Santos, and San Martin Island. See the Mexico Info page in the Resources section for more info. **** ATTENTION **** You must stay at least 250 meters (820 feet) away from any tuna pens. If you don’t you are at risk of losing your boat and landing in a Mexican jail. Click here for more details on this subject *********************** The Mexican Navy regularly patrols the islands and checks boats for the required paperwork, including Mexican Fishing License, Vessel Temporary Import Permit, FMM and valid Country of Residence Passport for each person on the boat (can’t purchase the FMM (Tourist Card) without a passport anyway). Required permits are listed on the CONAPESCA website for fishing within 12 miles of land including the islands. The permits can be purchased through their website.

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***** Limited Offshore Report ***** Due to this being Mothers Day a lot of the private boat fleet, over night and 1.5 day fleet was in port today. –——— US WATERS ———– Off Dana down to off La Jolla Yellowtail are beginning to move in on kelps from 2 to 8 miles off the beach. There isn’t a lot of them yet and a lot of kelps are empty but maybe 1 in 10 or so does have at least a few yellows on it. One one these was found right on the 100 fathom line just outside of Box Canyon today at 33 14 x 117 32. We did not get word if they bit though. 178 / 9 Mile Bank This area has some kelps with yellowtail on them and there is some signal of bluefin too. Whale watch boat have been reporting seeing jumpers the past 2 days right on top of the upper 9. ——- MEXICAN WATERS ———— 9 Mile Bank / Coronado Canyon / 226-302 Bluefin have moved into the Canyon. A few spots of them were found yesterday and more again this morning. They appear to be both the 25-30lb stuff and the 40-80lb stuff although it is entirely possible those big units in the 100-200lb class are there as well. They are spooky and not really eager to bite but we did hear of one 60lb bluefin caught on a stick bait plug cast into a school of foamers. There is also a good chance that any kelp you find has some yellowtail on them. The following GPS numbers are where bluefin or kelp paddy yellowtail were found today but not necessarily where tuna/yellowtail were caught: 32 24 x 117 23 – Bluefin foamer 425-101 / 475 Knuckle / Finger Bank / Upper Hidden Bank Not very boaters out today that would have been fishing this zone if it wasn’t the Mothers Day Holiday. Yesterday the boats saw lots of bluefin. Way more than the counts would lead to believe. Boats were driving from school to school and once in a while one of them would give up a few biters. They rush the chum, boil around and then bug out. Most bites if you can get them are coming on light line and a hot sardine pinned on a small circle hook but some guys are getting bit on the flat fall jigs too. This zone is also holding kelps with yellowtail on them. Most of these are those little 3-5lb rats but there are some legit 8-15lbers in the mix. There is tonnage of red crab in the area and those are showing up as huge red blobs on the meter which could easily be mistaken for tuna. The tuna and yellowtail are stuffed full of them! The following GPS numbers are where bluefin or kelp paddy yellowtail were found today but not necessarily where tuna/yellowtail were caught: 32 15 x 117 21 – Bluefin 32 14 x 117 16 – Bluefin 32 13 x 117 14 – Kelp paddy yellowtail 238 down to below Colonet including the 1140 Finger and the Lower 500 This zone has some decent kelp paddy fishing for 5-12lb yellowtail. Not every kelp is holding but enough that you should stop and check any out you happen to find. The Aztec was down in this area on Friday and scored 130 yellows. They didn’t see any sign of tuna but we hear some other boats did over the weekend. Even a yellowfin tuna was caught down this way yesterday. They reported water to be very clean, 63-64 degrees and full of those by the wind sailors and a some turtles. This zone will likely get a better look beginning tonight as a number of boats are online for 1.5 day trips. ***** General Info updated on 5-12-2019 ***** During the daytime there has been a few balloon or kite/double trouble rig bluefin caught over the past several weeks and this along with fishing the Flat Fall jigs is the #1 way to get these really big tuna to the boat as it is nearly impossible to land a 150+ tuna on 40lb flyline gear. For most guys the bites continue to come on the fly line sardine fished on 30-40lb fluorocarbon, a small circle hook and a HOT sardine. Take some time to pick the best sardine possible! You want a pale green back and NO red spots on the body. Generally speaking the hardest one to catch in the bait well is the one you want to be using. A few have been successful lately rubber banding a 4-6oz torpedo sinker to the line and dropping the sardine down deep where the tuna are holding. See the pic below. Lately there has been more flat-fall fish too. Not just at night either. Some guys are getting them during the daytime too. These are generally coming off stops where the bluefin are showing down around 150 to 200 feet and refuse to come up for the chum. Fish the flat-fall with at least a 100lb fluoro leader. 130-150lb is even better. Use at least 60lb. main line. 80 to 100lb gear is much better when fishing the flat-fall jigs. The night time hours from 7pm until 6am is all about the Flat-fall jigs. Here is a great trick/tip…. Take a black permanent marker and put a mark(s) on the braid every 50 feet. One mark for 50 feet, 2 for 100, 3 for 150 and so on. This will allow you to know exactly how deep you are fishing. You find the tuna on the sonar you know to drop down to just past the 3rd mark to allow a little extra for scope. Below is a pic of the rubber band sinker rig some guys are using to get a sardine down deep to the fish.

******************************************************************* All reports, good, bad, or otherwise are very helpful. If you go fishing please give us a call or shoot us an email. reports@www.fishdope.com 1 (619) 992-6099

Saturday May 11th 2019

PM Updates marked in RED *****Attention iPhone and iPad users***** The new iOS FishDope app for iPhone and iPad is here! Search for FishDope in the App Store to download and install. We recommend a minimum of iOS 9 to run the app, and newer versions will give the best performance. Note: Please use your FishDope username, not email address, to log in. The app offers all the charts and the latest 7 days of fishing reports, and you can now stream live VHF radio while online. It automatically stores the fishing reports for offline use, and it also saves the last chart region and chart layers you’ve viewed so that you can take them with you on the water and out of wifi range. You can also continue to view the FishDope website with a browser like Safari or Chrome on your phone or tablet, but only the app will save reports and charts for offline use. We’ve created a FAQ page for the app (with instructions for using it) here: FishDope App Frequently Asked Questions If you have other questions or notice bugs, please post them up in our forums.

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—– Weather —– Numerous light showers with some southeast wind this morning along the South Coast. Didn’t sound like seas were all that bad though. Elsewhere the seas were like glass with no rain and no wind. Forecast is still calling for a chance of thunderstorms late this afternoon and this evening. There is also a slight chance of showers tomorrow. Wind is expected to blow late this afternoon and though most of the night but should back off for tomorrow morning. Monday through Wednesday look dry with light winds early and those 10-15 knot winds in the afternoons Thursday and Friday is forecast to be showery and windy especially up in the Channel Islands area. As always, please keep a close eye on the latest forecast and conditions for your local area before you head out! Synopsis for Inshore Waters of the Southern California Coast At 2AM, a 1008 low pressure system was over Laughlin, Nevada. This system will bring showers through Sunday morning. A few thunderstorms are possible this afternoon and evening. South and southeast flow is expected during this time. Weak onshore flow will continue next week.  

LIVE Weather Broadcast Northern Sector – Santa Barbara to LA Southern Sector – Orange and San Diego County and SCI Baja Sector (experimental, may not be updated every day) —– Bait Report —– Bait Barge Contact Info Everingham Bros Bait Company San Diego – 4-6″ sardine (5-7) Mission Bay – 3-6″ sardine (5-4) Oceanside Bait Barge Recording (760) 434-1183 – 5-6″ sardine  (5-4). Dana Point – 5-7″ sardine (5-10). Newport Bait Barge (310) 461-5370 – 4-6″ sardine (5-8) Nacho’s Bait Barge (updated when members report) –  5-7″ sardine – NO squid (5-10) San Pedro Bait Barge (310) 365-2516 CH.11 – 4-6″ sardine (5-8) Redondo Bait Report (310) 372-2111 – medium size sardines – Available most mornings. Call 909 721-5849 for Mike at the bait barge (5-4) Marina Del Rey (updated when members report) – Sardines. $30/scoop, half scoops not available (5-6) CISCOS Bait Barge –  sardine & anchovy mix  (5-9)

****************************** INSHORE / ISLANDS Section ******************************

Inshore GPS Spots are here.   Sheephead news: As of Apr. 1st you can now fillet sheephead on board your boat thanks to a collaboration between SAC and CA DFW. Fillets must be at least 6.75″ long with the full skin attached. See the DFW press release for details. Channel Islands Seabass fishing remains on the slow side but it isn’t dead. There are some showing for a few boats at Santa Rosa at Rhodes and Becher’s Bay and at Santa Cruz in the Yellow Banks area. The boats in these areas are also seeing some legal size barracuda and a few big halibut. You need squid for this and right now it remains very hard to come by. There is little bits squirting around Rhodes and Becher’s. It is hard to catch though if not impossible. Hopefully some will move in on the coming moon cycle. 1st quarter is today and the full is on the 18th. Traditionally the best time for both squid and seabass. As for the lingcod and rockfish bites those remain outstanding pretty much anywhere you go. The quality is best way out west at San Miguel and Santa Rosa but all areas are seeing great numbers of rockfish and whitefish. Santa Monica Bay Lots of little 18-22″ barracuda are snapping at Rocky Point but so far we have not heard of any legal 28″ size cudas. Hopefully they will follow in soon. Other than that everything is all about rockfish at the South Bank and all the other regular rockfish locations. LA Harbor / Long Beach Shelf / Newport Beach Ton’s of boats hit the Mussel Farm for not much of anything. In fact we didn’t get any reports of any yellowtail at all today from anywhere in this general area. What we did hear about was plenty of rockfish out on the Southeast Bank and the West Slope spots. Catalina Island Squid; The Long Beach Carnage is out in front of Avalon with live squid for sale. Contact them at 562-714-8103 or hail them on VHF ch 11. They have/had a very limited amount today but will remain at the Island to try and make more for tomorrow morning. If they make any they will be parked in front of Avalon by 6am. Mills Landing is the location for the squid but again it is very hard to catch right now. The stuff is not coming up to the surface and to make matters worse seiners were making sets on the stuff Sunday night. Be sure and bring the squid jigs as you might not be able to scoop any at all. Fishing; Tremendous amount of boat traffic today! If it floats it was here chasing yellowtail. This had a negative affect on them. Most didn’t do very good but a few did ok. Much of the bite now is only on live squid although there were a few caught on the sardine and iron both surface and yoyo. One thing stands out most important of all… CURRENT! If there is no current running where you are the yellows will not bite. You either need to move to another location OR sit and wait them out until the current does start to flow. If you see or know there are yellows in the area where you are anchored up and have the time to sit them out waiting this is the best option. Keep a very slow chum line going of live sardines and squid bits while you are waiting. Very slow! The bait will likely sit and hide under the boat boat but that is ok. The fish can see it and will hang around. The squid bits will draw in hordes of blue perch which again is a very good thing. As for locations there are quite a few. In general there are yellows all around the Island right now but here is a break down of the better areas… Frontside from Little Gibraltar to Red Bluff has some mixed grade yellowtail running from 5 to about 20lbs. This area has slowed a bunch though due mainly to very heavy boat traffic. The area saw probably close to 60-100 boats fishing there this morning. There are more yellows and maybe a seabass or 2 on the front from Isthmus Reef to Starlight. On the back side there has also been an increase in the yellowtail numbers and a few large white seabass too. The West End to Little Harbor has some yellows and seabass. 95% live squid bite on these with a few on the yoyo iron. The West End and Iron Bound in particular seem best. Moving east we got word yesterday of a tanker seabass caught on the squid bed at Mills Landing while the guys were trying to jig up some squid. The Farnsworth Bank is also holding a good number of yellowtail. These are biting the squid and yoyo iron. Moving east the area between Salta Verde and the East End has some yellowtail and some signal of seabass. Orange Rocks bit very good late yesterday. The yellows are in deeper water from 50-100 feet while the seabass are in tight on the beaches in that green milky white water. There is also some legal size barracuda being caught in this area. More yellows are in the area from the Can Dump to Pebbly Beach along with some bonito. Lastly back around to the front the Condos area to White’s Landing has some signal of yellowtail along with some bonito and a few barracuda. Audio Report from Capt. Dave Hansen www.yoursaltwaterguide.com 1(949)374-0786 San Clemente Island The Navy has the Island wide open today and guess what? Yep the yellowtail are biting. The Gold Bluff to White Rock area is still holding mixed grade yellows from 5 to 20lbs. They are biting the live squid but guys are also getting them on the sardine and on the iron. The big news today though is there is a bunch of quality 20-25lb yellows now being found and caught on live squid and mint colored surface iron in the Dunes / Runway areas on the north end back side Be sure to check the Navy closure schedule  before heading out. Always monitor VHF Ch. 16 and obey any requests to clear out of closed security zones. Click here  for info on how to read the closure schedule. Dana Point / Oceanside Bass fishing is pretty good and getting better. Most are shorts under the 14″ min size but they are tons of fun on 10lb gear. They are biting the plastic pretty good once you get them chummed up with squid bits. Most of the sardines at the bait barge are to big. The bass bite them but they just run around like a dog with a bone and do not swallow them. They can’t it is to big for them to swallow it. Pretty much most all the regular locations are working as is any kelp spot you can find. If you want rockfish Box Canyon continues to provide plenty of reds, bocaccio and sculpin. The rockfish are on the deep end of the cobble stone hard bottom in 220 to 240 feet while the sculpin are on the shallower end in about 180 to 200 feet. Squid and red plastics are both working great. Lastly some kelp paddy yellowtail have been spotted just a few miles off San Mateo. We did not get any reports of them being caught but it might be worth a look. Del Mar to Imperial Beach More yellowtail caught this morning. There was a pretty good snap on them late yesterday afternoon as well. The best signal is just above the MPA. Guys here are slow trolling mackerel or sadines and some are doing well with the trolled rapalas. **** Attention **** There is now an ice vending machine at the Shelter Island launch ramp for your convenience. It’s located right near the bathroom building at the top of the ramp. The machine takes credit cards and 20 lb. bags are $6.95 each. Swipe your credit card to open, take as many as you want, and it charges by weight when you close the door. ——— Mexican waters ———— Getting Permits To Fish Mexico – An Angler’s Guide To Baja by That Baja Guy-Gary Graham Coronado Islands / Rockpile Very little info so far today. What we did hear didn’t sound very good. We did hear of 1 yellow caught in the Middle Grounds on a trolled rapalas but hear from several other guys the bite was dead. Evening Update; Well the yellows did come to life later in the day in the Middle Grounds and there was a decent showing on the Flats and below the Tuna Pens in the morning and again late in the afternoon. With so few boats fishing the Islands again reports are very hard to come by so if you fished the Islands please shoot us a report to Reports@www.fishdope.com. Bracelets are now required to fish within Pacific Island Biosphere Reserve areas, including the Coronado Islands, Todos Santos, and San Martin Island. See the Mexico Info page in the Resources section for more info. **** ATTENTION **** You must stay at least 250 meters (820 feet) away from any tuna pens. If you don’t you are at risk of losing your boat and landing in a Mexican jail. Click here for more details on this subject *********************** The Mexican Navy regularly patrols the islands and checks boats for the required paperwork, including Mexican Fishing License, Vessel Temporary Import Permit, FMM and valid Country of Residence Passport for each person on the boat (can’t purchase the FMM (Tourist Card) without a passport anyway). Required permits are listed on the CONAPESCA website for fishing within 12 miles of land including the islands. The permits can be purchased through their website.

****************************** OFFSHORE Section ******************************

–——— US WATERS ———– Off Dana Point A whale watch boat reported “There is a kelp out here a couple off San Mateo that has some big yellows on it” This is good news! Where there is one there is likely more. Probably worth going out there and having a look. 9 Mile Bank Whale watch boats saw several jumping bluefin right on top of the 9 Mile Bank today at 32 38 x 117 24. Nobody was close by to fish them. This is CLOSE! Less than 10 miles from San Diego. Evening Update; We had a contact run out to the 43 Fathom spot. They found no sign of tuna out there. On the way back in they found a spot of bluefin on the 182. Then closer to the 9 mile bank they found a foamer of tuna the size of a football field. Put divers in the water and got one. This matches up with what the whale watch boats were seeing. ——- MEXICAN WATERS ———— 9 Mile Bank / Coronado Canyon Evening Update;More bluefin were found 18 miles west of North Island today. Several spots of foamers were seen. 425-101 / 475 Knuckle / Finger Bank / Upper Hidden Bank The boats are looking at a lot of bluefin again today but not a lot of them are biting. The typical bluefin being bluefin thing. Most appear to be in either the 25-30lb class or the 60-80lb class and that is in fact what few are biting and caught are in that size class. That said some of the boats are also reporting seeing/hooking some of those BIG 200lb class bluefin. They are being seen up on the surface puddling and on the side scanning sonar. The boats are stopping on a lot of schools but most are not interested in hook bait. They rush the chum, boil around and then bug out. Most bites if you can get them are coming on light line and a hot sardine pinned on a small circle hook. This zone is also holding kelps with yellowtail on them. Most of these are those little 3-5lb rats but there are some legit 8-15lbers in the mix. There is tonnage of red crab in the area and those are showing up as huge red blobs on the meter which could easily be mistaken for tuna. The tuna and yellowtail are stuffed full of them! Evening Update; Today was the best day in the last week to 10 days. Lots of bluefin were seen. They didn’t bite all that well compared to what the boats were seeing but over-all the numbers caught were very decent. To top it off the Pacific Queen caught the 1st YELLOWFIN TUNA of the season. It was a 30lber. The following GPS numbers are where bluefin or kelp paddy yellowtail were found today but not necessarily where tuna/yellowtail were caught: 32 15 x 117 27 – Bluefin 32 15 x 117 15 – Bluefin 32 14 x 117 26 – Bluefin 32 08 x 117 13 – Bluefin 32 07 x 117 10 – Bluefin 32 06 x 117 09 – Bluefin 1140 Finger / Lower 500 This area got looked at yesterday for bluefin but the guys didn’t find any. Kelp paddy yellowtail fishing however was on fire. On top of that these were nice quality yellowtail with most in the 10-15lb class. There were a few rats but the vast majority of the yellows were those larger models. The sportboat San Diego is recommending these tackle set-ups; (1) Talica 12 2 speed filled halfway with 65 lb braid. Then topped off with fresh 40 lb mono. Next attach 5 feet of 40 lb flouro. Next attach size 1 or 1/0 circle hook. This will be your flyline bait rig. (2) Talica 12 or 16 2 speed filled halfway with 65 or 80 lb braid then topped off with 50 lb mono. Next attach 5 ft of 50 lb flouro. Then tie a 1/0 circle hook then rubber band a 6 oz torpedo sinker. The 2nd outfit can also fish a 200 gram flatfall with a crimped 80 lb leader. ***** General Info updated on 5-11-2019 ***** During the daytime there has been a few balloon or kite/double trouble rig bluefin caught over the past several days and this is the #1 way to get these really big tuna to the boat as it is nearly impossible to land a 150+ tuna on 40lb flyline gear. For most guys the bites continue to come on the fly line sardine fished on 30-40lb fluorocarbon, a small circle hook and a HOT sardine. Take some time to pick the best sardine possible! You want a pale green back and NO red spots on the body. Generally speaking the hardest one to catch in the bait well is the one you want to be using. A few have been successful lately rubber banding a 4-6oz torpedo sinker to the line and dropping the sardine down deep where the tuna are holding. See the pic below. Lately there has been more flat-fall fish too. Not just at night either. Some guys are getting them during the daytime too. These are generally coming off stops where the bluefin are showing down around 150 to 200 feet and refuse to come up for the chum. Fish the flat-fall with at least a 100lb fluoro leader. 130-150lb is even better. Use at least 60lb. main line. 80 to 100lb gear is much better when fishing the flat-fall jigs. The night time hours from 7pm until 6am is all about the Flat-fall jigs. Here is a great trick/tip…. Take a black permanent marker and put a mark(s) on the braid every 50 feet. One mark for 50 feet, 2 for 100, 3 for 150 and so on. This will allow you to know exactly how deep you are fishing. You find the tuna on the sonar you know to drop down to just past the 3rd mark to allow a little extra for scope. Below is a pic of the rubber band sinker rig some guys are using to get a sardine down deep to the fish.

******************************************************************* All reports, good, bad, or otherwise are very helpful. If you go fishing please give us a call or shoot us an email. reports@www.fishdope.com 1 (619) 992-6099