Thursday June 6th 2019
Evening Updates marked in RED
—– Weather —–
Great weather again today for the inshore waters. Looks to remain that way right through the weekend.
Only area with a problem is the Western Channel Islands where a Small Craft Advisory was up this morning and a Gale Warning is going up this afternoon through tonight.
The wind will continue to blow hard up there until some time on Saturday.
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
Weak onshore flow will continue through Monday, with a weak and intermittent eddy at times.
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 (5-25)
Mission Bay – 4-7″ sardine (6-3)
Oceanside Bait Barge Recording (760) 434-1183 – 4″ sardine. New hours for bait dock. Starting 5/27/19. 5 am-5pm.(6-6).
Dana Point – 5-7″ sardine (5-31).
Newport Bait Barge (310) 461-5370 – sardine & anchovy (6-2)
Nacho’s Bait Barge (updated when members report) – Live squid & sardine (6-3)
San Pedro Bait Barge (310) 365-2516 CH.11 – 4-6″ sardine (6-3)
Redondo Bait Report (310) 372-2111 – sardines – Available most mornings. Call 909 721-5849 for Mike at the bait barge (6-3)
Marina Del Rey (updated when members report) – Sardines. $30/scoop, half scoops not available (6-3)
CISCOS Bait Barge – anchovy (6-6)
G-Fly Premium California Flying Fish Baits
These locations have locally caught frozen flying fish for bluefin in stock…
Hogans Tackle in Dana Point
Dana Landing in Mission Bay
Islands Fishing Tackle in Carson
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INSHORE & ISLANDS Section
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****** Limited Inshore Report Today ********
The offshore report is taking center stage now with the arrival of yellowfin tuna into areas inside of 50 miles from Point Loma. Much of the available time spent looking for information switched over to getting tuna dope and as a result the inshore report is less complete.
This will likely be the case from now until the tuna leave us in the fall.
There will still be an inshore report everyday but it is going to rely more heavily on member contributions.
Channel Islands
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON
GALE WARNING IN EFFECT FROM THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH LATE TONIGHT
Forecast for Santa Rosa and San Miguel Islands
NW winds 20 to 30 kt with gusts to 35 kt. are forecast to blow through Saturday morning. Sunday the winds dy off to just 5 to 10 knots.
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Fishing;
While the wind was ripping out west there was very little if any wind at Santa Cruz and Anacapa Islands
The Yellow Banks area is seeing a chance for a seabass and halibut with a shot of barracuda entirely possible.
Red plastic tube baits have been the ticket for these seabass. Much of the action is coming off sonar marks and under birds. The birds can either be flying around in circles and diving on bait fish or they can just be sitting. We had a contact score pair for him and a friend in the 15lb class off a spot of sitting birds early in the day just after sunrise
Santa Monica Bay
Rockfish, sculpin and whitefish with a side of sand bass.
The rockfish are coming from the South Bank. The sand bass and sculpin from the deep end of the El Segundo Pipe.
Wish we had some surface action to report but sadly that is still very slow.
LA Harbor / Long Beach Shelf / Newport Beach
Surface action is beginning to wake up.
There were some barracuda and a fair bass bite in the Inside and Outside rock areas on the Horseshoe this morning.
We also heard a private boated score several barracuda in the 30 to 35″ class trolling mag rapalas in the Middle Grounds area which is also on the Horseshoe.
The guys are saying the water is looking much better now and temps are up in the low 60’s.
The Mussel Farm might be worth a look?
In other action the boats continue to catch rockfish on the Southeast Bank and sculpin on the various stone piles scattered around the 150
Catalina Island
Squid;
The Long Beach Carnage is out in front of Avalon selling squid.
They plan to be there through the weekend if at all possible.
The Kinely Marie is at Arrow Point with full tanks of squid for sale
Contact info;
Long Beach Carnage – Contact them on VHF channel 11 or call them at (562) 714-8103.
Kinely Marie – Contact them on VHF channel 11 or call them at (323) 742-2807
Fishing;
There was a hot seabass bite a few days ago on the west end back side areas but since then the bite dried up.
Still with this coming moon phase it might turn back on.
The 1st quarter moon is on June 9th and the full moon is coming on June 17th. This period is very often the best bet for both squid and seabass. We will just have to wait and see what happens.
Some yellowtail were biting this morning on the front side west locations. There is good current and the yellows are active. They are responding well to the chum and are biting the live squid, sardine and even a few on the surface iron
The rest of the reports from the Island are pretty much unchanged.
Yellowtail fishing remains hit and miss with some boats doing ok while others are not seeing or catching anything.
We posted this advice before and it is worth repeating….
******* Important General Info **********
Here is what you need to be one of those winning….
1. Live Squid. With out it you might score but the odds greatly favor having squid. Someday there is good fishing with the sardine and the surface iron but in general this is not the case.
2. Clean Water. The yellows right now seem to be concentrated in areas where the water is pretty clean and warm.
3. Downhill Current. This might be the most important of all as yellowtail just simply won’t bite without water movement.
4. Location. You have heard this before. It is all about location, location, location. If you are in an area devoid of yellowtail the odds of catching a yellowtail is very slim.
As for locations these seem to be changing daily. If you are in an area where they were caught yesterday but conditions are not right today the fish have likely moved on to where conditions are favorable. Be ready to adjust as needed.
*******
Best bet for yellowtail lately has been front side west centered around Stoney Point to Indian Rock but here is also a good chance to score back side east in the Silver Canyon / Salta Verde area.
Other areas seeing some signal of yellowtail this past week include the West End to Iron Bound, Little Harbor to Mills Landing, Farnsworth Bank, and the Can Dumps on the back side.
On the front the locations with yellows include the west end front spots already mentioned above plus the Isthmus Reef, Empire Landing/Yellowtail Point, Little Gibraltar, Hen Rock and the Condos.
Guys are also catching some barracuda and calico bass but not very many bonito lately.
In the deep water the fishing for rockfish remains very good at the West End Humps and off the East End.
San Clemente Island
General information…
Sea lions are a MAJOR issue! While the yellowtail and seabass bite has been on and off the sea lion problem is everyday!
They are stealing a lot of hooked fish and are not making things easy to catch squid either.
A lack of current has been a big issue too. Most days it has been slack or just a trickle. Without good current flowing these fish just do not want to bite very good if at all.
Squid;
There is squid in Pyramid Cove near the Caves spot in 90 feet of water. Last night the boats made squid early well before midnight. We heard is was much tougher to make in the early AM before sunrise as there was a lot of sea lions on it then.
Fishing;
The bite here is entirely dependent on current which has been just a trickle to none at all quite often lately.
When the current isn’t running the fishing is very slow. A trickle and the guys catch a few yellows and seabass but over-all it is tough.
When there is a good steady current flowing down hill the bite has been good to excellent!
Bottom line… There are a LOT of yellowtail at the Island right now just some days you would swear they are all gone.
The yellows are running in 2 different size classes.
There is some 20-35lb stuff and some 6-15lb yellows.
The larger grade fish is being found in Pyramid Cove on the squid bed near the Caves in 90 feet of water. There is some seabass on this stuff too. Dropper loop live squid is the ticket here has been between 4am and 8am although there was a pretty good bite at mid day yesterday and the day before.
Fish these with HEAVY GEAR! 40-50lb is perfect. You do not want to have a hooked yellow or seabass in the water very long or it will become a sea lion snack.
The smaller grade yellows are spread out along the front side with the best concentration being found in the Gold Bluff/White Rock area. These yellows want the squid but when in a biting mood they have also been caught on the sardine and the surface iron.
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 in the Dana Point area is OK, not great and not poor either. There is not many legal size bass though. Not biting ones anyway. Most all the bass being caught right now are shorts but these can be a lot of fun on plastic’s and light line. 8 to 10lb test spinning rod and small 3inch swimbaits will get you plenty of action as long as you keep them chummed up with squid bits.
The sardines the Dana barge has right now are to big (6-7″) for most of these bass. If they have ANCHOVY grab a scoop!
Nothing turns on bass more than anchovy chum!
Oceanside got a fresh load of little 4″ sardines and these will work great for calico bass.
Rockfish action at Box Canyon is still good. The fish are wandering around a little moving from stone pile to stone pile so the one you hit yesterday and scored well on might not be the hot one today. The catch is mostly reds right now with some bocaccio, treefish, barber poles, whitefish and sculpin mixed in. Depth is 220 to 240 feet.
If you want the sculpin you are better off hitting the shallower spots in 180 to 200 feet. Boats that focus on the sculpin are doing well. Quite a few limits are being caught.
Del Mar to Imperial Beach
Nothing new to report. Word is the area is still covered in Red Tide and the only fish biting are rockfish.
Hopefully this will clear up soon.
**** 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 ñ An Angler’s Guide To Baja
by That Baja Guy-Gary Graham
Coronado Islands / Rockpile
Status Quo. Still mainly just rockfish.
There are some yellows around but getting them to bite is proving very difficult. The weather side of North Island from Pukey Point to the Keyhole, the ridge in the Middle Grounds, in tight to Middle Island and the north end of South Island has seen a few schools of yellowtail over the past several days.
Best bet for yellows right now is not at the Islands at all but on kelps from 1 to 5 miles west of the Islands.
This same zone could see yellowfin pop up soon as well as they appear to be coming up the line very quickly.
Audio Report from Mike Seymore on the Sea Section:
With so few boats fishing the Islands 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. You can purchase bracelets for $5 per person per day at Fisherman’s Landing Tackle Shop, Point Loma Sportfishing Tackle Shop, and Dana Landing Market & Fuel Dock. You will need to provide your boat name, boat owner’s name, number of passengers, and dates you will be in the reserve areas, but you don’t need any other special IDs or info to purchase the bracelets. Everyone on board must have a bracelet to enter the Biosphere Reserve. Biosphere Reserve boundaries are now available on the FishDope Charts (click the Closures layer). For more information, please see https://www.bdoutdoors.com/pacific-islands-biosphere-reserve/ and for the full Biosphere Reserve Declaration click here: (may need to refresh a few times to display the document ñ in Spanish)
The boundaries of the Biosphere reserve:
N32 20.000′ to N32 29.000′, and W117 12.000′ to W117 20.000′
**** 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
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The Mexican Navy is there and checking boats on a regular basis for Vessel Temporary Import Permit 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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OFFSHORE Section
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Breaking News! Yellowfin Tuna
Yellowfin tuna are now a part of the picture as those tuna are being found in a bunch of areas from just 35-40 miles from Point Loma to west of Ensenada to off Colonet and below that there is talk of a large volume of yellowfin being found due west of San Martin Island.
We just jumped right past June and July into August!
There are still plenty of bluefin around too.
No dorado or albacore that we know of but this is shaping up to be another crazy year and it appears that anything is possible
——- MEXICAN WATERS ————
9 Mile Bank / Coronado Canyon / 226-302
There are yellowtail on kelps just to the west of the Islands.
Not all of them want to bite but the volume of fish appears to be increasing. Definitely worth checking out while traveling up and down from the tuna grounds to the south.
Also be sure and drag some feathers while looking for kelps. You could very well get jig bit by yellowtail and there is a building possibility of getting some yellowfin tuna as there is a bunch to the south and they are coming north very quickly.
226-302 / 390 / 371 / 425-101 / 475 Knuckle / Upper Hidden Bank / Hidden Bank
Big News! Yellowfin tuna are beginning to filter into this area. Yesterday and again today boats are beginning to see decent numbers of them.
Yesterday the New Lo-An scored 18 yellowfin. The Pegasus scored 28 yellowfin and 3 yellowtail. There were other boats that returned with yellowfin too.
The yellowfin are in the 15 to 25lb class and are coming on blind jig stops and are being followed up with a decent amount of bait fish. FUN STUFF!!
It would be advised to check out any dolphin you happen to run across as well.
Feathers are working as are halco plugs. Black/purple and Mexican flag colors are drawing strikes.
These yellowfin are being found in the general area from the 371 towards the Hidden Bank.
As for bluefin the action is very hit and miss. Some do well while other struggle to even find any.
That said the boats that do find them often times don’t get them to bite either. It is taking a lot of chum to get them to stick with a boat and bite.
The San Diego had a big day yesterday. They only had 6 passengers and they caught 7 bluefin. No big deal right? Wrong, except for 1 bluefin weighing in at 65lbs the remaining 6 bluefin ranged from 115 to 150lbs each!
Today they called in just before noon with 14 bluefin in the 50-100lb class and 2 yellowfin in the 15-25lb class.
Other boats called in with yellowfin scores too.
The Tomahawk called in at 9:20am with 12 Yellowfin Tuna (15-25#), 12 Bluefin Tuna (50-80#) and 12 Yellowtail (15#) for 28 anglers. An update at 1pm had them with 16 yellowfin and 16 bluefin
The Cortez had 8 yellowfin and 1 bluefin as of 12 noon
Best bite time for the bluefin lately has been in the late afternoon from about 4pm until just after dark but there has been some mid day action as the San Diego found.
The majority of the schools are made up with 50-90lb class bluefin but there are schools of those bigger units from 100 to 150+lbs.
Location(s)
Bluefin;
These fish are being found in a number of areas now. There are spots of the big ones near the 302 in a 4-5 mile block around 32 25 x 117 40. They are also in the area near the 475 Knuckle from roughly 32 06 down to about 31 58 and east-west from about 117 09 out to about 117 15.
Yellowfin;
The dope we got on the yellowfin was they were below the 371 around 32 05 x 117 25 to 30 down to just above the Hidden Bank at 31 55 x 117 22 to 28
The following GPS numbers are where bluefin or yellowfin were found today but not necessarily where tuna/yellowfin were caught:
32 25 x 117 40 – BIG bluefin
32 04 x 117 11 – Bluefin
32 01 x 117 30 – Yellowfin jig stop with bait fish
31 57 x 117 27 – Yellowfin jig stop
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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
Wednesday June 5th 2019
Evening Updates marked in RED
—– Weather —–
Awesome weather again today.
Inshore it is forecast to remain this way for at least 5-7 more days.
The Channel Islands look to get windy beginning late this afternoon/evening. A Small Craft Advisory has been issued this afternoon through tonight. Expect to see a Gale Warning go up Thursday for winds in the 20-30 knot range with gusts to 35 knots.
Wind and seas are expect to begin coming down on Saturday and be nice on Sunday
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
Weak onshore flow will continue through Sunday, with a weak and intermittent eddy circulation at times.
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 (5-25)
Mission Bay – 4-7″ sardine (6-3)
Oceanside Bait Barge Recording (760) 434-1183 – 5″ sardine. New hours for bait dock. Starting 5/27/19. 5 am-5pm.(5-25).
Dana Point – 5-7″ sardine (5-31).
Newport Bait Barge (310) 461-5370 – sardine & anchovy (6-2)
Nacho’s Bait Barge (updated when members report) – Live squid & sardine (6-3)
San Pedro Bait Barge (310) 365-2516 CH.11 – 4-6″ sardine (6-3)
Redondo Bait Report (310) 372-2111 – sardines – Available most mornings. Call 909 721-5849 for Mike at the bait barge (6-3)
Marina Del Rey (updated when members report) – Sardines. $30/scoop, half scoops not available (6-3)
CISCOS Bait Barge – anchovy (6-3)
G-Fly Premium California Flying Fish Baits
These locations have locally caught frozen flying fish for bluefin in stock…
Hogans Tackle in Dana Point
Dana Landing in Mission Bay
Islands Fishing Tackle in Carson
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INSHORE & ISLANDS Section
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Channel Islands
…SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH LATE TONIGHT…
…GALE WATCH IN EFFECT FROM THURSDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH LATE THURSDAY NIGHT…
Santa Rosa Island remains on the slow side for seabass. There are a few being caught daily but the big numbers are not happening. Squid is hard to come by as well.
Becher’s Bay is still the location with the best chance for scoring any squid. If you get lucky and make some sit on the spot as it will be the best chance you have for a seabass and maybe a yellowtail too for that matter.
Becher’s is also still giving up a few big halibut from 15 to nearly 40lbs. These are all coming on live squid just like all of the seabass and yellowtail at this Island are.
The 1st quarter moon is on June 9th and the full moon is coming on June 17th. This period is very often the best bet for both squid and seabass. It was the best time the past 2 months for seabass. We will just have to wait and see if that happens this time too
The limit for seabass is currently 1 per person. It jumps up to 3 per person on June 16th
The Eagle’s Nest area gave up some 15-25lb class yellowtail this morning. The spot has been seeing some yellowtail action most mornings for about a week to 10 days now. You need squid to have any shot at these yellows.
Santa Cruz Island is seeing some seabass action again. We are told it is happening in the greater Yellow Banks area.
Red plastic tube baits and red surface iron is accounting for most of the seabass even though some of the boats had a little live squid and they had sardines for bait too.
Also caught in the same general area are a few nice grade halibut from 7 to 15lbs and some legal size barracuda.
Lingcod fishing at San Miguel and off the north side of Santa Rosa is good right now and is picking up the slack for the slow seabass bite.
Guys fishing a live sardine, mackerel or sand dab on a long leader dropper loop rig are scoring lings from just legal up to nearly 20lbs. They are also scoring full limits of red and chuckles in the these same areas.
Deep Hole / County Line
The deep water outside this area was good today for a bunch of lingcod up to 10lbs and lots of mixed red rockfish and a few deep water sand bass as well
Santa Barbara Island
There are some yellowtail in the Anchorage area and there is some signal of seabass on the back side in tight to the Island in the Caves area.
Very little boat pressure right now. This Island might be your best option this coming weekend.
Just be sure and bring some squid with you. Pick some up at either Nacho’s or from the Long Beach Carnage or the Kinely Marie which will most likely be parked out in front of Avalon in the early AM over the weekend
***** Reminder *****
This Island is in the Cow Cod Conservation Area so you may not fish in water deeper than 240 feet if you have rockfish, whitefish, sheephead, etc. on board your boat.
Santa Monica Bay
Still just rockfish, whitefish and sculpin.
Surface action is very slow.
You might be able to score some sand bass and sculpin on the Art reefs or the El Segundo Pipe with the leadhead and squid combo but other than that it is rockfish out on the South Bank
LA Harbor / Long Beach Shelf / Newport Beach
There are a few reports of yellowtail floating around. Some of breezers in the deep water out near the Eureka Rig in a 1000 feet of water and some guys seeing some at the Mussel Farm.
As far as we know nobody has been able to get any of these to bite. Conditions are poor with bad water color and chilly temps.
Sculpin are biting good on the various rockpiles spread out around the 150. If you stop on one and it doesn’t bite instantly pull up and find another one.
Rockfish are biting ok on the Southeast Bank. You might have to meter around for a bit to locate the schools as they are moving around from stone to stone but once found you should be able to score a bunch of reds, chuckleheads, bocaccio and whitefish.
Fresh dead squid is what you want for bait.
Catalina Island
Squid;
The Long Beach Carnage is out in front of Avalon selling squid.
They plan to be there through the weekend if at all possible.
The Kinely Marie is also out in front of Avalon with full tanks of squid for sale
Contact info;
Long Beach Carnage – Contact them on VHF channel 11 or call them at (562) 714-8103.
Kinely Marie – Contact them on VHF channel 11 or call them at (323) 742-2807
Fishing;
There was a hot seabass bite at the back side west spots from the West End to Lobster Point at sunset on Sunday evening.
The bite time was around 7:45pm until about 9:30-10pm and then it shut down.
At the time it was all live squid fish on the dropper loop or with a 3/4oz slider. A white jig head probably would have worked well too.
A few guys hit the zone last night. Conditions appeared to be the same but for what ever reason the seabass were MIA. No sign of them at all. Just a fair pick on calico bass with the live squid.
Yellowtail were biting today. Not wide open by any means but there were a number of boats scoring double digits and a number of private boat close by with a 1/2 dozen or more on board.
Once chummed up this morning and early this afternoon a number of guys scored with the surface iron. Mint and wounded soldier were productive colors. Of course live squid was working too and there were also some sardine fish caught too.
Locations for this are listed below;
The rest of the reports from the Island are pretty much unchanged.
Yellowtail fishing remains hit and miss with some boats doing ok while others are not seeing or catching anything.
We posted this advice before and it is worth repeating….
******* Important General Info **********
Here is what you need to be one of those winning….
1. Live Squid. With out it you might score but the odds greatly favor having squid. Someday there is good fishing with the sardine and the surface iron but in general this is not the case.
2. Clean Water. The yellows right now seem to be concentrated in areas where the water is pretty clean and warm.
3. Downhill Current. This might be the most important of all as yellowtail just simply won’t bite without water movement.
4. Location. You have heard this before. It is all about location, location, location. If you are in an area devoid of yellowtail the odds of catching a yellowtail is very slim.
As for locations these seem to be changing daily. If you are in an area where they were caught yesterday but conditions are not right today the fish have likely moved on to where conditions are favorable. Be ready to adjust as needed.
*******
Best bet for yellowtail lately including this morning has been front side west centered around Stoney Point to Indian Rock but here is also a good chance to score back side east in the Silver Canyon / Salta Verde area.
Other areas seeing some signal of yellowtail this past week include the West End to Iron Bound, Little Harbor to Mills Landing, Farnsworth Bank, and the Can Dumps on the back side.
On the front the locations with yellows include the west end front spots already mentioned above plus the Isthmus Reef, Empire Landing/Yellowtail Point, Little Gibraltar, (these last 2 were good today and yesterday) Hen Rock and the Condos.
Guys are also catching some barracuda and calico bass but not very many bonito lately.
In the deep water the fishing for rockfish remains very good at the West End Humps and off the East End.
Report from Grumpy on the One More;
6/4/19 – 0500 launch from Huntington Harbor.
Grabbed a scoop of squid from Nachos $75 + $10 tip ($85).
Jetted strait to Catalina front side west end. Worked the entire front and V’s looking for yellows in 120’ or less. Nada. Caught a good calico about 6-7lbs on a flat fall 130. A bunch of Calicos and a couple bonito for the day. Weather was overcast, seas were awesome.
San Clemente Island
General information…
Sea lions are a MAJOR issue! While the yellowtail and seabass bite has been on and off the sea lion problem is everyday!
They are stealing a lot of hooked fish and are not making things easy to catch squid either.
A lack of current has been a big issue too. Most days it has been slack or just a trickle. Without good current flowing these fish just do not want to bite very good if at all.
Squid;
There is squid in Pyramid Cove near the Caves spot in 90 feet of water. Last night the boats made squid early well before midnight. We heard is was much tougher to make in the early AM before sunrise as there was a lot of sea lions on it then.
Fishing;
There is quite a bit of yellowtail at the Island right now along with some seabass, barracuda, bonito and calico bass. Word today is the bite was decent in the Cove and at time up the front side too.
The yellows are running in 2 different size classes.
There is some 20-35lb stuff and some 6-15lb yellows.
The larger grade fish is being found in Pyramid Cove on the squid bed near the Caves in 90 feet of water. There is some seabass on this stuff too. Dropper loop live squid is the ticket here has been between 4am and 8am although there was a pretty good bite at mid day today.
Fish these with HEAVY GEAR! 40-50lb is perfect. You do not want to have a hooked yellow or seabass in the water very long or it will become a sea lion snack.
The smaller grade yellows are spread out along the front side with the best concentration being found in the Gold Bluff/White Rock area. These yellows want the squid but when in a biting mood they have also been caught on the sardine and the surface iron.
Over-all the bite is very hit and miss. Current has been a major issue. It has not been running most days and the bite only happens when there is current, preferably a downhill current.
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
On the quiet side today.
At last word there was decent water from about Salt Creek to San Onofre but it gets dirty the farther south you go until you reach full blown red tide conditions from Solana Beach south.
Calico bass are trying to bite a little if you set up on a kelp bed where the current is flowing into the kelp and you chum squid bits and a few of the bigger sardines. Save the little ones for hook bait. Plastics are working well too.
Rockfish action at Box Canyon is still good. The fish are wandering around a little moving from stone pile to stone pile so the one you hit yesterday and scored well on might not be the hot one today. The catch is mostly reds right now with some bocaccio, treefish, barber poles, whitefish and sculpin mixed in. Depth is 220 to 240 feet.
If you want the sculpin you are better off hitting the shallower spots in 180 to 200 feet. Boats that focus on the sculpin are doing well. Quite a few limits are being caught.
Del Mar to Imperial Beach
No change…..
RED TIDE!
Inshore conditions are awful.
Only report we got this morning was for rockfish on the 32 where the guys caught a fair amount of reds along with all kinds of other mixed red rockfish.
**** 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 ñ An Angler’s Guide To Baja
by That Baja Guy-Gary Graham
Coronado Islands / Rockpile
No report by the 3pm post time again today.
Likely this means 2 things. Very few boats out on the water and/or the bite is really slow. Probably a combination of both.
The Islands proper remain slow for yellowtail.
There are yellows around and a few do bite on occasion but not in any real numbers.
The weather side of North Island from Pukey Point to the Keyhole, the ridge in the Middle Grounds, in tight to Middle Island and the north end of South Island has seen a few schools of yellowtail over the past several days. Just getting them to bite has been the problem.
Those that have bit have been early and late in the day with nothing happening during the middle of the day.
Due to the slow yellowtail bite most boats have been focused on rockfish the NE of North Island and to the WSW off the south end of South Island.
Heads up…..
There are also yellowtail on kelps a few miles west of the Islands and this is currently the best bet for putting a few in the boat.
See the offshore section “Coronado Canyon” for more details on this
With so few boats fishing the Islands 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. You can purchase bracelets for $5 per person per day at Fisherman’s Landing Tackle Shop, Point Loma Sportfishing Tackle Shop, and Dana Landing Market & Fuel Dock. You will need to provide your boat name, boat owner’s name, number of passengers, and dates you will be in the reserve areas, but you don’t need any other special IDs or info to purchase the bracelets. Everyone on board must have a bracelet to enter the Biosphere Reserve. Biosphere Reserve boundaries are now available on the FishDope Charts (click the Closures layer). For more information, please see https://www.bdoutdoors.com/pacific-islands-biosphere-reserve/ and for the full Biosphere Reserve Declaration click here: (may need to refresh a few times to display the document ñ in Spanish)
The boundaries of the Biosphere reserve:
N32 20.000′ to N32 29.000′, and W117 12.000′ to W117 20.000′
**** 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 is there and checking boats on a regular basis for Vessel Temporary Import Permit 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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OFFSHORE Section
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——- MEXICAN WATERS ————
Coronado Canyon
Report from Seaquinn on the Fishful Thinking;
From SD Bay out past the Coronados to 371 area. Saw birds and a lot of yellowtail a mile west of Coronados. Landed only one, maybe 10-12 pounds on bait, and nothing on surface irons tossed right into boil. After cleaning the yellowtail, the belly was stuffed with micro anchovies and tiny squid.
Went south and found nothing, absolutely no birds. We could finally see a few boats way south, but further than we wanted to go. Went back in SD Bay, dropped one line and within 5 minutes were told to move by Navy, and instantly landed a 29″ halibut. So, $150-plus of gas, one YT and one nice halibut.
Water looked pretty nice. Sure wanted a bluefin, but not yet.
390 / 371 / 425-101 / 475 Knuckle / Upper Hidden Bank
This large area remains the focal point for both the sportboat fleet and for the private boats.
The bite is hit and miss and is often a time of day thing as well.
Best action the past several days has been after 4pm in the afternoon until just after sunset. Today some boats got into tuna late in the morning and into the early afternoon.
Most of the tuna lately are falling in the 50-90lb class although today there has been a good showing of bluefin in the 100 to 150lb class.
When up and active these bluefin are biting the 40 to even 50lb fluorocarbon with a small size 1 to 1/0 circle hook. Guys fishing the sinker rig with 50 to 60lb fluorocarbon leaders are scoring on sonar stops.
They have also been biting the Colt Snipers cast into foamers and dropped on sonar marks. They are biting it on both the sink and when winding it back in.
Lastly they have also been biting the double trouble rig off a balloon/kite rig. This set up allows for very heavy tackle and is account for many more landed after getting a hook up.
Guys fishing the 40lb flyline rigs are getting bites too but they are losing a lot due to being hooked up for a long time and the chance of getting chewed off or the hook wearing a huge hole an going loose is very high. The odds of landing a 100 to 150lb bluefin on 40lb just isn’t very good.
The location(s) seem to have split up now into 2 general areas.
One is below and just SSW of the 371 in a big 5 to 10 mile block centered around 32 10 x 117 35.
The other one is below the 425/101 and just to the NW of the 475 Knuckle in a 5 mile block centered around 32 06 x 117 14
The following GPS numbers are where bluefin or kelp paddy yellowtail were found today but not necessarily where tuna/yellowtail were caught:
32 11 x 117 35 – Bluefin
32 10 x 117 35 – 5-10 mile block of scattered bluefin
32 09 x 117 33 – Bluefin
32 07 x 117 16 – Bluefin
32 06 x 117 14 – 5 mile block of scattered bluefin
32 04 x 117 14 – Scattered bluefin sonar marks
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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
Tuesday June 4th 2019
Evening Updates marked in RED
—– Weather —–
Inshore waters…
Except for a heavy marine layer the weather is pretty awesome right now. Seas are flat and there is very little wind even in the afternoon hours.
The forecast is calling for this to last for the next 7 to 10 days.
Offshore and the Outer Channel Islands…
Pretty good weather today through Wednesday. Winds are expected to build come Thursday out of the NW 20 to 30 with gusts to 35 knots through next Saturday.
Expect to see Small Craft Advisory’s go up for Thursday through Saturday. No marine forecast for Sunday yet.
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
Weak onshore flow will continue through Saturday, with a weak and intermittent eddy circulation at times.
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 (5-25)
Mission Bay – 4-7″ sardine (6-3)
Oceanside Bait Barge Recording (760) 434-1183 – 5″ sardine. New hours for bait dock. Starting 5/27/19. 5 am-5pm.(5-25).
Dana Point – 5-7″ sardine (5-31).
Newport Bait Barge (310) 461-5370 – sardine & anchovy (6-2)
Nacho’s Bait Barge (updated when members report) – Live squid & sardine (6-3)
San Pedro Bait Barge (310) 365-2516 CH.11 – 4-6″ sardine (6-3)
Redondo Bait Report (310) 372-2111 – sardines – Available most mornings. Call 909 721-5849 for Mike at the bait barge (6-3)
Marina Del Rey (updated when members report) – Sardines. $30/scoop, half scoops not available (6-3)
CISCOS Bait Barge – anchovy (6-3)
G-Fly Premium California Flying Fish Baits
These locations have locally caught frozen flying fish for bluefin in stock…
Hogans Tackle in Dana Point
Dana Landing in Mission Bay
Islands Fishing Tackle in Carson
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INSHORE & ISLANDS Section
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Channel Islands
Still on hold waiting for the squid and seabass to reappear at Santa Rosa Island.
There are still a few being caught along with a few yellowtail and big halibut but no big bites are happening right now. More than likely won’t either until the squid moves back in.
Becher’s has been the primary location for all of this but some good fishing as also been found at Rhodes Reef and the Eagles Nest so don’t count these areas out.
At Santa Cruz Island there are a few seabass biting again in the Yellow Banks area. Red crab plastic tube baits are once again scoring some fish.
Lingcod fishing at San Miguel and off the north side of Santa Rosa is good right now and is picking up the slack for the slow seabass bite.
Guys fishing a live sardine, mackerel or sand dab on a long leader dropper loop rig are scoring lings from just legal up to nearly 20lbs. They are also scoring full limits of red and chuckles in the these same areas.
Santa Barbara Island
Report from Mark Wisch at Pacific Edge Tackle;
After a long stretch of bad weather and boat gremlins Mike and I finally got back at it. I skipped out of work a bit early on Sat, met him at the boat and loved seeing one side of the tank already loaded with squid. On the way out we stopped by Nacho’s for a few more healthy passes and were on the way with no long night working the crowder in the forecast. And the evening crossing was so nice for a change.
We fished through dark at outside the Cove for good conditions and a pick on the bass but nothing more so opted to keep heading outside. The night was crazy clear and calm and it made for stellar traveling. And the best part when we got to the anchorage…almost deserted!!!
We started long before daylight and fished it out through breakfast for not too much. We marked a few yellows and only caught two but they were good ones. Both on flylined squid way back in the current. And surprisingly no seal grief. We fished out deeper for some nice sheephead and some tasty snappers for fish tacos and then hit the road. We wanted to save some time to give Cat another check. It turned out to be a good call.
Conditions were marginal at best but we figured “Oh well why not?” So Mike got a couple rods out, then chopped and chummed while I had a quick snack. Then I baited up, fired out a quick cast and three seconds later was bit and a couple minutes later our seabass dinner hit the deck. We marked a few more but it was one and done and time to go!!!
***** Reminder *****
This Island is in the Cow Cod Conservation Area so you may not fish in water deeper than 240 feet if you have rockfish, whitefish, sheephead, etc. on board your boat.
Santa Monica Bay
Still just rockfish, whitefish and sculpin.
Surface action is very slow.
You might be able to score some sand bass on the Art reefs with the leadhead and squid combo but other than that it is rockfish out on the South Bank
LA Harbor / Long Beach Shelf / Newport Beach
Sculpin are biting good on the various rockpiles spread out around the 150. If you stop on one and it doesn’t bite instantly pull up and find another one.
Rockfish are biting ok on the Southeast Bank. You might have to meter around for a bit to locate the schools as they are moving around from stone to stone but once found you should be able to score a bunch of reds, chuckleheads, bocaccio and whitefish.
Fresh dead squid is what you want for bait.
Catalina Island
Squid;
The Long Beach Carnage is NOT at the Island selling squid.
They plan to return Wednesday evening and be there through next weekend. They took what they had left and gave it to Nachos bait barge in Long Beach.
Contact info;
Long Beach Carnage – contact them on VHF channel 11 or call them at (562) 714-8103.
Fishing;
Last night there was some very good white seabass fishing back side west from West Cove to Lobster Point in tight with live squid.
The bite time was around 7:45pm until about 9:30-10pm and then it shut down.
The odds are good this will repeat the next couple of nights until boat traffic becomes to great.
Yellowtail fishing remains hit and miss with some boats doing ok while others are not seeing or catching anything.
We posted this advice before and it is worth repeating….
******* Important General Info **********
Here is what you need to be one of those winning….
1. Live Squid. With out it you might score but the odds greatly favor having squid. Someday there is good fishing with the sardine and the surface iron but in general this is not the case.
2. Clean Water. The yellows right now seem to be concentrated in areas where the water is pretty clean and warm.
3. Downhill Current. This might be the most important of all as yellowtail just simply won’t bite without water movement.
4. Location. You have heard this before. It is all about location, location, location. If you are in an area devoid of yellowtail the odds of catching a yellowtail is very slim.
As for locations these seem to be changing daily. If you are in an area where they were caught yesterday but conditions are not right today the fish have likely moved on to where conditions are favorable. Be ready to adjust as needed.
*******
Best bet for yellowtail lately has been front side west centered around Stoney Point to Indian Rock but here is also a good chance to score back side east in the Silver Canyon / Salta Verde area.
Other area seeing some signal of yellowtail this past week include the West End to Iron Bound, Little Harbor to Mills Landing, Farnsworth Bank, and the Can Dumps on the back side.
On the front the locations with yellows include the west end front spots already mentioned above plus the Isthmus Reef, Empire Landing/Yellowtail Point, Little Gibraltar, Hen Rock and the Condos.
Guys are also catching some barracuda and calico bass but not very many bonito lately.
In the deep water the fishing for rockfish remains very good at the West End Humps and off the East End.
San Clemente Island
This Island has good numbers of yellowtail in 2 size classes. There is some 20-35lb stuff and some 6-15lb yellows.
The larger grade fish is being found in Pyramid Cove on the squid bed near the Caves in 90 feet of water. There is some seabass on this stuff too. Dropper loop live squid is the ticket here between 4am and 8am.
The smaller grade yellows are mixed in with some barracuda and bonito on the front side mainly in the Gold Bluff / White Rock area but there are more spread down as far as Little Flower and the Fish Hook.
Up at the north end there were some of the bigger grade yellows at the 9 and the Dunes / Runway area(s) but we have not heard if those are still there. Last report from this area was about 5-6 days ago.
Over-all the bite is very hit and miss. Current has been a major issue. It has not been running most days and the bite only happens when there is current, preferably a downhill current.
One other issue….. SEA LIONS! They are brutal right now!
They simply do not want you to catch any yellowtail, seabass or barracuda and are doing their best to steal every fish hooked.
Because of this and the size of the yellows and seabass the boats are strongly recommending you fish with at least 40lb test. The front side stuff you can get away with 20-25 if the sea lions are not an issue but for the rest use the heavy gear!
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 best from Slat Creek to about Box Canyon. South of there the water has rolled over and is brown and it gets worse the farther south you go until you reach Del Mar where you run into full blown red tide conditions
Rockfish are unaffected by red tide as it is a surface condition.
Rockfish action at Box Canyon is still good. The fish are wandering around a little moving from stone pile to stone pile so the one you hit yesterday and scored well on might not be the hot one today. The catch is mostly reds right now with some bocaccio, treefish, barber poles, whitefish and sculpin mixed in. Depth is 220 to 240 feet.
If you want the sculpin you are better off hitting the shallower spots in 180 to 200 feet. Boats that focus on the sculpin are doing well. Quite a few limits are being caught.
Del Mar to Imperial Beach
RED TIDE!
Inshore conditions are awful.
Only report we got this morning was for rockfish on the 32 where the guys caught a fair amount of reds along with all kinds of other mixed red rockfish.
**** 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 ñ An Angler’s Guide To Baja
by That Baja Guy-Gary Graham
Coronado Islands / Rockpile
No report by the 4pm post time today.
Likely this means 2 things. Very few boats out on the water and/or the bite is really slow. Probably a combination of both.
The latest intel we have has the weather side of North Island from Pukey Point to the Keyhole, the ridge in the Middle Grounds, in tight to Middle Island and the north end of South Island has seen a few schools of yellowtail over the past several days. Just getting them to bite has been the problem.
Those that have bit have been early and late in the day with nothing happening during the middle of the day.
Due to the slow yellowtail bite most boats have been focused on rockfish the NE of North Island and to the WSW off the south end of South Island.
If we hear something different than what has been the status quo we’ll be sure and add in an evening update.
With so few boats fishing the Islands 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. You can purchase bracelets for $5 per person per day at Fisherman’s Landing Tackle Shop, Point Loma Sportfishing Tackle Shop, and Dana Landing Market & Fuel Dock. You will need to provide your boat name, boat owner’s name, number of passengers, and dates you will be in the reserve areas, but you don’t need any other special IDs or info to purchase the bracelets. Everyone on board must have a bracelet to enter the Biosphere Reserve. Biosphere Reserve boundaries are now available on the FishDope Charts (click the Closures layer). For more information, please see https://www.bdoutdoors.com/pacific-islands-biosphere-reserve/ and for the full Biosphere Reserve Declaration click here: (may need to refresh a few times to display the document ñ in Spanish)
The boundaries of the Biosphere reserve:
N32 20.000′ to N32 29.000′, and W117 12.000′ to W117 20.000′
**** 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 is there and checking boats on a regular basis for Vessel Temporary Import Permit 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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OFFSHORE Section
******************************
———-MEXICAN WATERS ———-
371 / 390 / Upper Hidden Bank
Yesterday was a big day. For what ever reason the bluefin decided to bite instead of being a bunch of show and no go.
Not only did they bite good but guys did well fly lining sardines on 50 to 60lb test fluoro and up to size 3/0-4/0 circle hooks. Because of this you should have several fly line rigs ready to go at all times.
A good 30-40lb rig and a good 50-60lb rig for fly line sardines
You should also bring an 80 to 100lb rig from dropping Flat-fall jigs and Colt Snipers.
Not only did the bite the fly line sardine good they also jumped all over the Balloon-Kite / Double Trouble rig.
This rig accounted for a lot of the tuna caught and because it is on very heavy 130lb class gear the catch ratio was very high and the fight times were generally under 15-20 minutes.
The vast majority of the bluefin are still in the 50 to 90lb class with a sample of bigger units from 100 to 150lbs which shows the need for the heavy gear.
Guys using 30lb got spooled almost instantly.
Today a few boats are back in the same general area but no where near the number of boats that were out yesterday.
The word we are getting is the bite is not quite as good as yesterday but is way better than it has been.
Evening Update: Today was good day but not for everyone. There were fewer sportboats out there but there were a number of private boats and yachts that did well. Some scored limits. That said there were plenty of other boats that didn’t do well at all. Some reported seeing very little.
The bluefin today were the same grade. 50-90lb class with some signal of those 100-150lb class fish thrown in.
Fly line sardines, Colt Snipers and the double trouble rig off a balloon-kite was the ticket for a lot of bites.
Location(s)
In general the main body of bluefin has slipped to the south a tad and a little to the west and is now mainly south and southwest of the 371. A good central location would be a 5 mile block centered around 32 10 x 117 37.
The following GPS numbers are where bluefin or kelp paddy yellowtail were found today but not necessarily where tuna/yellowtail were caught:
32 13 x 117 36 – Bluefin
32 12 x 117 32 – Bluefin
32 11 x 117 37 – Bluefin
32 10 x 117 35 – Bluefin
32 09 x 117 49 – Bluefin
Evening Email Report from Koldziejsoul on the Rising Sun:
Not only is the area from yesterday not as good, it flat out sucks… just got back from 371 and south north west east pic a direction from south of the 371 and I took it. only boat I saw hooked up all day was Aztec at 730 this mourning 10 miles south of 371… dumped a massive amount of bait for one short bite. (I take 8 scoops so I can make it rain)today was a straight should of been here yesterday day…think it was the low pressure. noticing a pattern every time a low sets up the bluefin hang at 150 feet and don’t come to the surface. hope this helps anyone heading out tonight…. water 63.36 nice and blue and a shit ton of empty patties ….
*******************************************************************
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