Red tide affects fishing

JIM NIEMIEC

A red tide has been moving up and down the beach from San Diego to

Santa Monica Bay making it rough to anchor up over traditional good

fishing grounds.

Locally, barracuda haven’t schooled up off the beach, but, on the

bright side, sand bass have moved into shallower water, calicos are

biting good at Catalina, quality yellowtail are being sacked at San

Clemente Island and there is a pretty good chance that albacore will

be targeted by overnight boats running out of Davey’s Locker and

Newport Landing Sportfishing as they continue to migrate through

outer channel waters.

Conditions along the coast are not what anglers would like to see

during the summer as an upwelling has dropped the sea temperature

some 8 degrees this past week.

This colder water kind of shut down what started out to be some

pretty decent barracuda fishing and hopefully with a few days of calm

weather, warm water currents will move in and bring the fishery back

to life.

The cold water in the channel has also curtailed “catch and

release” fishing for blue sharks and there have only been a few Mako

sharks caught on the high spots.

There is plenty of live bait available with a good mix of sardines

and anchovies. For private boaters making runs to the islands or

along the beach, the bait receivers are anchored up just inside the

east jetty and are in full operation.

There are some good reports coming in from sportfishers out on the

albacore grounds. Big schools of longfins are stacked up on the

southwest corner of the Butterfly and in the area of the Dumping

Grounds, which is a good sign that perhaps the albies will soon be in

range of one day and six-pack charter boats based in Newport bay.

By July 4, boats could be fishing longfins off the east end of

Pyramid or just outside the 43 Fathom spot.

Weather has played a key roll during the first few weeks of the

tuna season. When a northwesterly kicks up, the fish don’t seem to

want to bite well. But as soon as the ocean lies down, sportfishers

are able to slide in on breaking albacore and post good scores.

Surf and pier fishing along the south coast have also been

affected by the algae bloom and colder water, but Newport bay remains

clean.

Spotted bay bass and a few legal halibut are rewarding anglers

fishing between docks and around buoys on both the incoming and

outgoing tides. The fishing dock at the Pavilion has also been a hot

spot with some good catches, consisting mostly of yellowfin croaker,

small barracuda, halibut and nearly legal white seabass. A marlin

fishing seminar, hosted by Pure Fishing, Sevenstrand and Pacific

Coast Sportfishing, will bring some of Southern California’s best

billfish anglers together for a four-hour clinic on how to catch

marlin.

The event will be at the Balboa Pavilion on July 7 and tickets

sell for $40. For information or reservations: (714) 841-0277, ext.

8502.