FISHING / DAN STANTON : Perch Action Good Despite Bad Weather

Fishing prospects are excellent despite the recent cold snap and rain showers, which affected only the surface action in local waters.

Party boats are consistently catching rockfish, sculpin and calico bass.

San Clemente Island’s winter calico bass fishing is rated good. With blue perch in abundance, it has been easy for anglers to catch a limit.

But at Catalina Island, white sea bass and yellowtail are refusing squid-baited hooks.

Carlo Camello of Wilmington returned Sunday from a week of fishing in Hawaii, where he caught a big marlin.

Camello boarded his friend’s boat, the Show Time with captain Ky Roberts, for a day of marlin fishing on the Kona Coast.

Using 80-pound test line and trolling with a marlin jog, he hooked the fish.

After 1 3/4 hours, the fish was reeled near the boat, only to make another run that peeled most of the line from the reel.

Roberts acted quickly, putting the boat into reverse, and followed the marlin for five miles.

Finally, the fish tired and two gaffs brought it aboard. It weighed 589 1/2 pounds.

Camello, 19, said he never had any idea that a marlin could be such a fighter. He said the largest fish he had previously caught was an eight-pound bonito off Catalina Island.

Two gray whales got off course Sunday and were stranded inside the Long Beach breakwater near the Queen Mary. A call was made to boats that were whale-watching outside the harbor.

L.A. Harbor Sportfishing’s Sportking was the first on the scene. Captain Cookie Cook took the lead, with other small boats following, and safely herded the whales past the breakwater to open sea.

The whales were last seen making their way south.

Jack Wright of Redondo Beach returned Monday from a fishing trip to Punta Chivato in Baja California.

Wright said he was fishing in the rain most of the time, using jigs from his Zodiac skiff in 150 feet of water.

He said the barracuda were so plentiful that he had to fish the bottom and reel slowly to hook yellowtail, which weighed 20 pounds and up.

Wright said he released all the barracuda he hooked.

Don Hanson of San Pedro, after a recent trip to the Lyer River in Washington state, said the steelhead fishing was excellent. He caught three fish that weighed more than eight pounds.

South Bay Catches: Vince Nash of Long Beach, fishing aboard the City of Seal Beach, caught the whopper of the week, a 31-pound lingcod. He caught the fish in 600 feet of water.

John Benete of West Los Angeles, fishing aboard the Sea Angler, caught a 26-pound cow cod.

Hank Sidenfaden of Hawthorne, fishing aboard the City of Redondo, caught a 21-pound halibut.

Dennis Jones of Torrance, fishing aboard the Freedom off Catalina, caught a 20-pound sheephead.

Mark Smith of Manhattan Beach, fishing aboard the Pacifica off San Nicholas Island, caught a cow cod that weighed 18 pounds.

Ron Hardcastle of San Pedro, fishing aboard the Freedom, caught an 18-pound sheephead.

Fish Reports: Fishermen are catching limits of sculpin and whitefish in the shallow rocks. Island rock cod trips are excellent for a variety of cod, with anglers catching limits on most trips.

At Marina del Rey Sportfishing: The Betty O on a rock cod trip returned with 250 rock cod and a cow cod.

The Sumo fished deep waters and anglers caught 396 rock cod and three lingcod.

At Redondo Sportfishing: The City of Redondo, on a half-day trip, returned with 300 sculpin and five halibut.

The Redondo Special on a half-day trip returned with 195 sculpin and four halibut.

At 22nd Street Landing: The New Image worked San Clemente Island for 135 perch, 110 sculpin, 72 sheephead and 62 calico bass.

The Monte Carlo, on a half-day trip, returned with 105 whitefish.