Ocean not being kind to anglers
JIM NIEMIEC
Fishing conditions for coastal and off-shore anglers do not seem to
be improving along the Southland coast. A deepening of the algae
bloom that reaches all the way out to the Mackerel Bank and just
inside the lee of San Clemente Island, has given lockjaw to marlin,
while anglers trying to fish shallow water rockfish are having a
rough time catching enough fish for dinner.
Marine biologists are at a loss as to why the current conditions
exist to such an extreme. Some experts are saying that it has been
nearly 100 years since there has been such a serve and long lasting
algae bloom. With the storm pattern still holding to the north the
outlook for the rest of September is bleak for sportfishermen heading
out to the fishing grounds on day boats or private yachts.
Sport boats running out of Davey’s Locker and Newport Landing
Sportfishing are concentrating on the artificial reefs off Huntington
Beach for a mixed catch of sculpin, assorted rock fish and a few
legal halibut. Charlie Thomas of Costa Mesa fished aboard the Western
Pride earlier this week and decked a 12-pound yellowtail that bit on
a sardine. Captain Norris Tapp at Davey’s Locker in Balboa called in
to report that anglers fishing under the algae for rockfish are
enjoying better fishing trips than boats anchoring up near coastal
kelp. The backside of Catalina Island is holding a few white seabass
and yellowtail while the lee side of the island has been pretty wide
open on calico bass.
The San Diego-based sport fishing fleet is still catching mixed
albacore, bluefin tuna, yellowfin tuna and skipjack some 80 miles,
220 degrees from Point Loma. Better water conditions off San Diego
seem to be holding schools of tuna around high spots as they continue
their northerly migration up the coast.
The local marlin season has been almost totally shut down for
boats running out from Dana Point on up to Los Alamitos Bay due to
these adverse conditions. Not only is the water nearing pea green but
the water temp has dropped down below 70 degrees and billfish are
just not in a very hungry mood.
On the bright side of all the algae, if there is one, is that
baitfish and other organisms that thrive on algae have an abundance
of food. Channel waters are loaded with balls of baitfish consisting
of anchovies, sauries and small greenback mackerel and when and if
the water clears up and, when a warm current pushes up from off Baja
Norte, then it is possible that the marlin will pop back up again for
the typically productive “Indian Summer” fishing period.
Off-shore conditions could not have been worse this past week for
the annual Zane Grey/Cabo Yachts Invitational Marlin tournament based
out of Avalon. Thirty sportfishing yachts, consisting of 150
saltwater big game anglers, fished for a total of three days and
reported seeing very few marlin.
Algae was so bad that prop wash created foam lines behind boats as
they trolled through unproductive waters for hours. There were more
swordfish spotted from tuna towers than marlin as boats concentrated
on the best “off color” water they could find between the lee of the
east end of San Clemente Island down towards Oceanside.
The Zane Grey/Cabo Yachts Invitational Marlin tournament wasn’t
bad for all the boats competing as the After Midnight weighed in a
177-pound marlin and one released marlin to win first-place honors
and take home a check in the amount of $123,125.00. The yacht Nirvana
came in second in team competition and was awarded a check for
$27,000 for tagging and releasing the first marlin of the event, Buck
Fever finished in third-place pocketing $12,000 and rounding out the
top-place finishers was the fishing team on the Chaser winning
$33,362.50 for their conservation efforts in tagging and releasing
one marlin.
Top angler for this year’s Zane Grey was Pete Groesbeck aboard the
After Midnight with two fish and he kind of summed up the fishing
when he was quoted as stating, “It was brutal out there. Our team
fished extremely hard for three full days and we only saw four
marlin; a tailer, sleeper, feeder and a single jumper. Fortunately
for Mike Cromer’s team, two of these four fish bit on live greenback
mackerel cast in front of their noses.”
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