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Sports

Gray Whales and Fishing With Your Daughter: Priceless

There's excellent twilight sand bass fishing this week for anglers and some big halibut still in the mix. Plus, a breaching humpback whale dazzles onlookers.

There are still plenty of gray whales passing by, but whale watchers out of Harbor Breeze Cruises were treated to an especially breathtaking breaching humpback whale on Wednesday, we're told, along with lots of dolphin.

Fishing with Phil

We had great times and good fishing for the opening weekend of Fishing with Phil Twilight trips out of Long Beach Sportfishing on board the Native Sun. Nearly 200 sand bass and over 150 sculpin were taken for 52 anglers last weekend, Saturday and Sunday combined.

Find out what's happening in Los Alamitos-Seal Beachwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

This, despite some windy weather on the Saturday evening trip. "That was a lot of fun," said Capt. Jeff Jones who, along with his newlywed wife, Shari, caught several sand bass and sculpin. 

 Live squid was the preferred bait combined with a 2-ounce leadhead with a green or orange head. Raul Martinez from Long Beach was red hot on both trips. He caught and released over 20 sandbass on Friday night while catching another 15 bass on Friday. 

Find out what's happening in Los Alamitos-Seal Beachwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Juan Carlos and his daughter Francis were also busy having a great time together. Carlos couldn't do anything wrong on the trip, landing sand bass and sculpin all night long. Francis got to touch a guitarfish before it was returned unharmed to the sea, and to catch some fish and spend some quality time with her father. 

Don Harris from Anaheim was another angler who caught lots of sand bass and sculpin. Harris really started to catch fish when he switched to a lighter outfit. Fifteen-twenty pound test seemed to induce lots more bites.

Lots of raffle prizes were handed out and Steve Dunkerley from Redondo Beach won a free fishing trip on the Native Sun in a 10-minute contest for the biggest sand bass. 

There will be more Fishing with Phil Twilight Trips Friday and Saturday, February 17-18, from 6:30 pm-11:30p.m. You can reserve by calling 562-432-8993 or 424-237-0250. You can also e-mail FishingWPhil@gmail.com

Captain Gabriel's Twilight Tackle tips

Line: 15- to 20-pound test. Leadheads: 1.5- or 2-ounce leadheads (banana) or three-fourths to one ounce egg sinkers. Hooks: 2-O- 3-O hooks Recommended:  single tail Mogambo glow in the darks. 

The Tradition out of Redondo Sportfishing has been catching limits of sculpin along with some nice sand bass. Same thing for the boats out of Marina del Rey Sportfishing with copious amounts of market squid in the Bay again. The squid attracted large amounts of white seabass and halibut last year so we will be keeping a close eye on this for you all.

More halibut were taken this week during the Dana Wharf Halibut Derby. Here are the top 4 fish for Dana Wharf. Danny Stevenson 39-pound halibut,  Phil McDaniel 36.4, Chuck Cordova 29.4 and Paul Pappas with a 26.5-pound flatfish.

President's Day Special

The Liberty out of Long Beach Sportfishing will be running a special President's Day trip to Catalina Island for $65. The trip will depart at 6 a.m. and return at 6 p.m. They'll be fishing with live squid. The trip will focus on calico bass, halibut, and perch, as well as looking for some white seabass.

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