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.”