A Banner Year for Bass Catch in Kelp off Malibu

Barracuda, bass and more bass. South Bay waters have a plentiful supply of the fish.

In the kelp beds off Malibu, one of the best calico bass bites in years is in progress.

“We’re seeing 5- and 6-pounders every day,” said Phil Campanella of Malibu Sportfishing. “This has been a banner year for bull bass.”

You don’t have to convince John Christensen, a crew member aboard the Aquarius. He caught an 8-pound, 10-ouncer.

On the sandy bottom of the bay, huge schools of sand bass are swimming hungrily about. Day boats from Long Beach to Malibu are doing OK, but twilight boats are sacking limits of the feisty fighters with relative ease.

“It’s banzai sand bass fishing at night,” Campanella said. “If you have any inclination what you are doing, you’re going to catch your limit.”

And sizable schools of barracuda are breezing about the surface to keep things interesting.

On Sunday, 40 anglers aboard Redondo Sportfishing’s Sea Spray boated 400 sand bass, 101 barracuda and two halibut.

Apparently, they were too busy to visit the kelp.

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It’s a little early for tuna at the outer banks, so it was no surprise that anglers aboard L.A. Harbor’s First String and Redondo Sportfishing’s Blackjack struck out on the exotics during exploratory trips last weekend.

There were a few large bluefin in the area, but they apparently were too large and therefore too tough to tackle. Anglers aboard the First String hooked three in the 100-pound class and were promptly broken off. The vessel will give it another try, leaving tonight. Space is limited.

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The Fourth of July traditionally marks the beginning of marlin season, and although South Bay skippers have not reported catching any, those fishing the islands are seeing a few jumpers.

“We haven’t weighed anything in yet, just white seabass,” said Rosie Cadman, the weighmaster at Avalon. “The (swordfish) boats are seeing them, but we always see them before they start biting.”

Cadman has weighed in a few large white seabass, however. She said local fisherman caught three in the past week, weighing 45, 40 and 37 pounds.

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The top catch was a 36 1/2-pound halibut at San Clemente Island by Tim Schroeder of West Los Angeles aboard L.A. Harbor Sportfishing’s Top Gun.

Other big fish included a 28.7-pound halibut by Mar Vista’s Daniel Pacific, 12, aboard Marina del Rey’s Del Mar; a 23-pound yellowtail by Dave Purkey of Palos Verdes at San Clemente aboard L.A. Harbor’s Shogun; a 10 1/2-pound barracuda by Gary Moore of Manhattan Beach aboard Redondo Sportfishing’s Redondo Special; a 10 1/2-pound bonito by George Tabata of West L.A. aboard L.A. Harbor’s Matt Walsh and an 8 1/2-pound sand bass by Carlos Belgadillo of Redondo’s Sea Spray.

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If you’d like to grab a few grunion off dark, sandy beaches for the frying pan, they are supposed to ride in with the tide and lay and fertilize eggs for four nights beginning Monday.

The first run is expected to begin at 10:40 Monday and a little later each night thereafter. There is no limit to how many you can take, but using bare hands is the only legal method to catch the fish. A state fishing license is required for those 16 and older.