08-13-2012, 10:45 AM
Catalina, SBI and SCI Fish Reports
Fish Report for Sunday, August 12th: (Week in review)
Catalina: This past week we entered the last quarter moon phase, and expectations were high for a rebound since this island has been quiet for way too long. The yellows are still around the East End, and we did see some bites leading up to today. Outside Orange Rocks, and up at Salta Verde. The squid has stuck around Ben Weston, even with the warmer water, and there was even some made again at Eagle Reef. The West End saw some yellowtail outside West Cove, and there are rumors of seabass along the western back sector of the island.
SCI: The island opened on wednesday and the first sportboat over there had seabass in the dark and yellows in the morning at the Caves. The yellows continue to show at the Caves every morning so far since then. The yellows are up and down the front, but it is hit and miss. The seabass on the front are a steady target for the free divers, and then today a handfull were caught at Mosquito Cove. There is enough squid inside the Cove that a light boat is there making it to sell.
OFFSHORE: The marlin put on enough of a show to get most of the marlin fleet out and fishing. Marlin were caught all week and many different areas. The inside zone around the 267 has been constant, with a few fish caught and released. Fish were also hooked near the 209, 181, Mackerel Bank, and even up off the West End of Catalina. The kelps have been holding yellowtail and dorado in many areas. Not every one is holding, and a few that are holding have fish that won’t bite. Hot zones were the 181/182 ridge, the 209 and inside from the 267 down to the 302.
LOCAL: Early in the week saw good barracuda fishing on the Horseshoe, and falling scores on the sand bass on the Flats, but with the good moon phase and tides, the sand bass fishing picked up as expected. A few foggy mornings put a hamper on the cuda fishing, but the sand bass bite rebounded good enough to get the counts up on the local sportboats. Today the cuda were on both the Flats and Shoe, and spread out too much to target. So guys anchored up to fish sandies and let the gar come to them.
COASTAL EXOTICS: A quiet bite continues at Del Mar Kelp, with a spot of squid in 80′ of water holding big seabass and yellows. The reports have been sporadic, and suspicious. That is usually a good clue that it is for real. La Jolla had excellent yellowtail fishing with calico bass and barracuda to fill in the gaps early in the week. Despite numerous warnings that too big a crowd would shut down the bite, private boaters did just that, and today saw just barracuda and bass for an armada of skiffs and small private boats.
Northern Baja: Lots of fish, and lots of fish caught. With that, a few guys running down that way and catching nothing. The inside zone was good enough to attract the 3/4 day fleet out of San Diego, and they had some good scores on the kelps on the 302, “9″ Mile Bank and below to the 371. This was mostly due to the Mex. Nave keeping it complicated for the sport boats to fish the Nados. The bluefin stacked up on the tuna pens at 65 miles, and bit good until today when the pens were at 45 miles. Today very few bft’s were even hooked at the pens. Albacore showed several times, and even today. The zone outside and west of Todos Santos Island held the longfins, and bft’s, dorado and yellows on the kelps. The 120-150 mile zone proved inconsistent, but showed a strong comeback today at 118 miles and some more of the bigger grade yft’s. Everything else is down that way too, but it is far off the beach, and not getting much attention from private boats. Overall, VERY good fishing in Northern Baja this week, even though e few guys missed completely.