2013 Catalina Seabass Forecast

[Mikey]

2013 Catalina Seabass Forecast




Posted on February 10, 2013



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Everything changes, and last year our seabass fishery changed
dramatically. While I poured over logs and notes from years past, I was
left scratching my head trip after trip at Catalina last season. On
the coast we saw seabass bites that re-wrote history books, and the fish
that should have been at Catalina seemed to gang up in mass at the
Channel Islands. There were seabass at Catalina, but not any
bites that resembled what we’d seen in the last 10 years. Has something
fundamentally changed? If so, this forecast will mean next to nothing.
Only time will tell, and I for one, am hoping things get back on
track.

Free
diving spearfishermen have given me a wealth of knowledge, information
and insight to what is really happening before most bites start. While
most rod and reel fishermen have forged a philosophy that these watermen
are mere pests, I embrace them. Not wanting to don a wetsuit and get
in the water myself, I get the details of our underwater environment
from these guys and learn things impossible to know with just a
fishfinder and sonar. Since 2009 I have been getting early reports of
seabass from the divers, and most of the time it turns into a bite after
I get the intel. Interestingly, the seabass move into an area where
the free divers can target them, but when they bite they are not doing
what helps the spearos get their shots. This means the intel I get from
spearos comes BEFORE the bite, and this helps immensely.

For as long as I have kept logs and notes the first seabass catches
each year have occurred along the Palos Verdes peninsula. This can
happen as early as December but typically from January to March.
Astonishingly, this area gets looked at much less often than further
away Catalina Island. When I get the call that a spot of seabass have
moved into Palos Verdes, I know the ball is rolling and soon they will
be at the island.

Breakwall sized seabass

While a few of the smaller fish show up along the Federal Breakwater
just weeks after the first reports come in from the Peninsula, the bulk
of the fish apparently swim to Catalina’s West End. Unless weather and
wind are a major factor like in 2011, you can expect to find the first
really good scores to come from spots like Johnsons Rock or West Cove.
In what I would call a normal year this happens in March or April.
Historically the first really good go-around happens in March during
the Fred Hall show.



April 2012 seabass at Catalina

Last year there were signs that things were off kilter early on, but I
would not have guessed that we would have such a tough season at
Catalina. This year I see nothing out of the ordinary and am really
hoping for your standard seabass season. Not to take away from last
years epic bites at Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz and even Santa Barbara
Islands, but Catalina is my backyard and I want my seabass back thank
you.

While the air and water are still cold right now, its not abnormally
cold or late like this time last year. Free divers have seen a few
seabass along the Palos Verdes area already, and all the signs are
looking like a normal year. It’s my hope (more than prediction) that
the seabass will make the migration to Catalina on schedule in the next
few weeks, so sometime in early March. Fred Hall is from March 6th
through the 10th and the show falls during a prime new moon phase. The
fact that I will be working the show further solidifies the chances of a
huge bite at this time.

One thing that will be different this year is the yellowtail fishing.
I hooked and landed a smaller grade yellowtail this year in the
beginning of January, and I have little doubt that this is a holdover
from our great kelp paddy fishing this past summer season.

January 4th, 2013 yellowtail

I suspect that we will see that there is some real volume of these
smaller yellows, and over the next few years these will grow into the
home guards we all want to have around. Past El Ninos have deposited
large numbers of small yellows at our local islands, and in the
following years we enjoy great fishing for the forkies.

So with what looks very much like a normal pattern in 2013, I predict
a seabass season more like what we are used to seeing. What happens
along the coast in another matter, but I hope our coastal tanker fishery
continues to grow. If nothing else, having bites in more than one area
will thin the crowds a little, as that is the one huge downside to a
typical seabass year at Catalina. If the one abnormal aspect of this
years season is less drama and good fishing, I will be pleasantly
surprised.

[Saltwater Bass]

Jeff, I will put one on the deck this year!

[Mikey]

Saltwater i am with you on this one!

[Fresh One]

What's wrong saltwater!? Can't catch a seabass! Haha

[Saltwater Bass]

What's wrong saltwater!? Can't catch a seabass! Haha

You'll see!

[Oatums]

I want a 40 lb seabass, already got a 30.

[Mikey]

i havent got one yet either

[captjeffjones]

If things back to normal you guys will all get to see one of those wide open stupid bites that make your head spin. I saw just two good bites last year at Catalina and barely got to 100 seabass in August. Typically getting to 100 happens in April or May. Dumbest fish in our local waters, you'll see. You just have to focus and TARGET them. No bass fishing, no rockfish, no impatience. 100% focus on the task at hand. You can catch a bass when you have limits of seabass.

[Saltwater Bass]

If things back to normal you guys will all get to see one of those wide open stupid bites that make your head spin. I saw just two good bites last year at Catalina and barely got to 100 seabass in August. Typically getting to 100 happens in April or May. Dumbest fish in our local waters, you'll see. You just have to focus and TARGET them. No bass fishing, no rockfish, no impatience. 100% focus on the task at hand. You can catch a bass when you have limits of seabass.

Deal!

[Here Fishy Fishy]

Catching on of these WHITE SEA BASS, they always seem to not be anywhere near when i try for them, WHY, how do i get one or two of these fish?