More Rockfish for Anglers

Surf fishing was good along most of the beaches around Seal Beach for barred perch along with some corbina. There is still an abundance of sand crabs and they make the perfect bait for most surf fish. Once again, four to six pound test is essential for getting a bite for corbina as they are discriminating feeders.

Many anglers anticipate the arrival of harder-fighting species like yellowtail, bonito and barracuda. The arrival of those species is tied to water temperature. Water temperatures of 60 degrees and above are needed for gamefish to appear and bite.

Windy weather this week will not help us in our quest to surpass water temperatures of sixty degrees. Breezy weather on the ocean results in a reduction of water temperatures. For the foreseeable future, it looks like more rockfish for local anglers.

Long Beach Sportfishing kicked off its annual Pot of Gold Halibut Derby on Wednesday morning with 31 anglers fishing on board the native Sun.

The derby will run every Wednesday through Sunday for the next eight weeks. Trips cost $58 and include entry into the derby as well as a day of fishing. There are daily prizes, weekly prizes and a fish-off on June 5. The anglers with the top 25 heaviest halibut will compete on June 5 for thousands of dollars in cash and prizes.

There are a few things you can do to catch the winning halibut. Keeping your bait on the bottom seems obvious when halibut fishing but too many anglers just don't use enough weight.

The amount of weight can differ from hour to hour depending on factors like wind, depth and current. Using a 16-ounce weight is sometimes not out of the question. Halibut are ambush predators that attack from a hiding place on the bottom. Use as much weight as is necessary and you'll catch more fish.

Watching for grunion runs is another great way to put yourself in the midst of good halibut fishing. Halibut become very active and move into the shallows to feed during grunion runs. You also have a much better chance of catching flatfish surf fishing during this time. Planning a halibut trip around grunion runs is a good idea.

Finally, light line leaders seem to be very effective for catching more halibut. In fact, Cpt. Shawn Morgon from Good Karma suggests anglers use fluorocarbon leaders.

“Halibut can't see fluorocarbon leaders as well and the result is lots more hook-ups,” he said.

Good bottom fishing was on tap for Long Beach anglers this week as most landings continued to concentrate on bottom fish. A mix of sculpin, lingcod, bocaccio and other deep water dwelling species provided fishermen with great tablefare.

The Enterprise, of Marina Sportfishing in Long Beach, had limits of rockfish (15 fish per angler) on most of her trips this week.

“My dad and I caught sculpin and limits of rockfish,” Chris Leighton, of Hawthorne, said. “It was great fun and great eating."

Pierpoint Landing dispatched the Toronado to San Nicolas Island where the bottom bite was fabulous. Anglers found limits of rockfish and three lingcod. Don Ashley from Pierpoint Landing reported rockfish weighing as much as 12 pounds.

The Rocky Point area continues to produce white seabass to more than 50 pounds for several free divers who have taken the fine eating members of the croaker family spear fishing. White seabass can detect the slightest sounds so scuba equipment seems to scare them off. Anglers have had no luck so far for white seabass and continue to focus their attention on rockfish.

Many anglers anticipate the arrival of harder-fighting species like yellowtail, bonito and barracuda. The arrival of those species is tied to water temperature. Water temperatures of 60 degrees and above are needed for gamefish to appear and bite.

Windy weather this week will not help us in our quest to surpass water temperatures of sixty degrees. Breezy weather on the ocean results in a reduction of water temperatures. For the foreseeable future, it looks like more rockfish for Long Beach anglers.