Fish Tales From The West Coast

By Bill Roecker
www.FishingVideos.com

Fish Tales From The West Coast

From Bluefin To Sand Bass, The Bite Is On

July 15, 2013

Bill Roecker

MYSTERY FISH -- Pete Corselli of La Habra Heights, Calif., asked scientist Milton Love and Sport Fishing magazine about the identity of this fish, often caught by long rangers fishing on the bottom. It has been called threadfin sculpin, Patina and several other names, but Dr. Love tells us in the August 2013 issue of SF that it is a spotback scorpionfish, Pontinus vaughani, found from Cedros Island to Peru and the Galapagos Islands. Many long rangers regard the fish highly as food. Largest spotback on record was about 22 inches, according to Dr. Love.

Bluefin Dive

Long-range boats reporting from the bluefin area south of San Diego yesterday indicated bluefin fishing was tough at best. Some boats managed one or two fish per rod; others didn’t fare so well. There were reports indicating fishing was okay in the morning, but non-compliant in the afternoon.

Skipper Andy Cates of Red Rooster III offered a typical report: “We started off good in the morning with a couple of stops on school size bluefin. We dropped the ball and spent the afternoon driving around with almost no sign of fish. Ending the day with 44 bluefin Hopefully they are up and biting tomorrow.”

Yellowtail fishing at Cedros Island was varied, with some boats saying they encountered few biters and others coming up with three per rod right off the bat. Both bluefin and yellowtail are known to produce good bites for several days and then take a breather.

Yellowfin Samples, Too

“Captain Justin Fleck called in,” reported Excel’s office July 11, “with a wrap up from yesterday. We saw excellent sign of bluefin. We saw more schools than we have seen in many years. We also caught a good sampling of yellowfin tuna.

“We ended up with 59 bluefin tuna (up to 65 pounds), 16 yellowfin tuna (20 to 25 pounds), and couple of Dorado and a few yellowtail. We are now at Cedros fishing yellowtail. They are biting [well]. We have 75 this morning. They are biting everything. The weather has been beautiful. Guys are doing excellent on Excel.”

Weather’s Right

“Our weather today was just beautiful,” reported Royal Polaris July 11, “with flat seas, sunny, and warm. We did have some early morning fog, but by 10:30 hours, it was clear skies. Our fishing was good for those who fished.

“Most of our anglers are still recovering from the excellent bluefin bite. Most of the yellowtail were in the 18 to 25-pound range, with a few going over the 30-pound mark. Our afternoon was spent catching calico bass. We did make a tank of bait last night and we will give this a try again tomorrow, then take off for points north of here.”

Local Fishing Steady

Sand bass fishing remains very good for local boats, with some calico bass, barracuda and other species providing variety. Day and a half boats are getting a few bluefin. Yellowtail fishing remains quite good for paddy fish and some from coastal areas. Summer peak fishing is beginning, and keeping up bait supplies with increasing demand means the bait boats are out hustling every day.

Arizona Sportsment for Wildlife Conservation

Mystery Fish

Pete Corselli of La Habra Heights asked scientist Milton Love and Sport Fishing magazine about the identity of this fish, often caught by long rangers fishing on the bottom. It has been called threadfin sculpin, Patina and several other names, but Dr. Love tells us in the August 2013 issue of SF that it is a spotback scorpionfish, Pontinus vaughani, found from Cedros Island to Peru and the Galapagos Islands.

Many long-rangers regard the fish highly as food. Largest spotback on record was about 22 inches, according to Dr. Love.

Cedros Island Yellowtail

You know fishing’s good when you have to leave ‘em biting! Join Bill Roecker and Matt Salas as they fish with skipper Bruce Smith aboard the 90-foot sportfisher Shogun, on a four-day summer trip that visits the Benitos Islands and Cedros Island. Whopper homeguard yellowtail load up rods and snap any line not up to the task. They’re biting on surface iron, yoyo iron, and live sardines. See ‘em bite right next to the boat!

Top off two days of fantastic fishing at Cedros/Benitos with a morning of angling like it used to be, at Sacramento Reef, near Jeronimo Island. Bass, bonito, rockfish, lingcod and yellowtail jump on jigs as fast as the guys can chuck ‘em! Rapid-fire fishing, good food and long rod demonstrations from skipper Smith and jig maker Salas make this DVD special for all anglers who love to fish for hard-slugging yellowtail.