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Sports

Still Waiting for the White Seabass

Meanwhile, there has been good rockfishing.

Surf fishing was good again around 14th St in Seal Beach. There were a few halibut taken in the surf as well as lots of barred perch. Some spotfin croaker and yellowfin croaker were also in the mix. Sand crabs and ghost shrimp were very good baits for all the aforementioned species. Small chrome lures were effective for halibut. The beaches are still loaded with lots of sand crabs and you can pick up ghost shrimp and other surf fishing supplies at Bobby’s Big Fish in Seal Beach.

In the Long Beach area, the halibut started to bite this week. Halibut become more active, move into the shallows and like to feed during grunion runs and this week was no exception. On Saturday, four halibut were taken in the Pot of Gold Halibut Derby out of Long Beach Sportfishing. The largest flatfish was a monster 34.5 pound halibut caught by Sik Kim from Los Angeles. Kim brought another halibut to gaff weighing 18.1 pounds. Andrew Kreuger from Cypress caught an identical 18.1 pound halibut while Sean Hagerty from Cypress landed a 4.1 pound flattie. The Pot of Gold Halibut Derby has another six weeks to go as anglers compete for weekly prizes as well as a grand prize worth thousands.

The key to catching halibut is keeping your bait on the bottom. If there is a lot of wind and current, this may require 12 ounces of weight. Halibut are ambush predators that hide on the bottom and sneak attack their victims. Use as much weigh as is necessary.

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Rockfishing continued well for boats out of Pierpoint landing in Long Beach. The Pacific Star headed to San Clemente Island and caught ten fish limits of bottom fish for two days with the greatest of ease. Pam Sharp from Torrance said that the fishing was as good as it gets for a variety of bottom dwellers including vermillion rockfish, chillipeppers, and lingcod.

Captain Frank Savino is Captain of the Enterprise out of Marina Sportfishing in Alamitos Bay. Savino said that while he has been catching mostly rockfish, the conditions off Seal Beach are ideal for a barracuda run. “The water is clean, 61 degrees and there is a lot of bait there,” said Savino. “If I had to put a time on when they (barracuda) will arrive, I would say from now to another couple of weeks.”

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Redondo Special skipper Eric Hobday had a good feeling Monday as he headed toward Rocky Point. The full moon, warming water temperatures and reports of free divers spearing some monster white seabass on the Palos Verdes kelp line had him feeling very optimistic. Almost immediately, Hobday started to sonar white seabass. “The PV kelp line is loaded with white seabass,” said Hobday. “When this thing explodes, it’s really going to be something.”

Hobday started catching a few calico bass on frozen squid when lighting struck and a freight train hit. Line began to peel off Hobday’s reel as the might fish screamed back towards the kelp. “I have caught a lot of seabass in my day; no doubt this was at least a 40 pound croaker (white seabass),” said Hobday. He battled the fish for another 10 minutes before the fish became entangled in the kelp and broke Hobday’s line.

King Harbor private boater Frank Gray was fishing near the Palos Verdes kelp recently when he saw a free diver surface with an estimated 40-pound white seabass. “We are all wondering when the seabass are going to bite,” said Gray. “I just hope it’s not too much longer.”

Hobday and the Redondo Special have a special white seabass seminar day planned for Friday April 29th on both their morning and afternoon trips. Captain Larry Moore will join the crew on the Redondo Special on both the morning and afternoon trips to teach you all the inside secrets about how you can catch more white seabass. Contact Captain Moore for more information at capt_larry@hotmail.com .

 “If we can stay away from any wind and storms, look for some good surface action soon,” said Hobday. In the meantime, there has been good rockfishing on most days.

Surf fisherman continued to catch a few leopard sharks around Torrance beach using a chuck of mackerel for bait. There were also several nice barred perch taken again this week. Best bait remains sand crabs. There is still good opaleye perch fishing around the rocky areas in Palos Verdes along with just a few calico bass.

 

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