Looking to jump on a 2 day boat out of Long Beach or Oxnard to chase White Sea Bass, Calico's, or maybe Bluefin behind San Clemente.
Thinking White Sea Bass mainly.
Can any experienced folks here tell me which boat/captain to steer towards and which ones to run from?
Thanks,
Steve
White seabass are pretty much seasonal, spring is best. Oxnard can be really good and not the BS you run into on the boats down there. Even the Santa Barbara 3/4 day boat wacks them when they're around. Overnight boat so you can find the squid is the ticket.
Right now calico bass fishing is good and of course rockfish. Aloha Spirit is a good boat that fishes calicos consistently
Thanks Swami805,
I was told the WSB were resident.
:'( it.
Appreciate the 411.
There around somewhere and a few are caught here and there but not like in the spring time. If there's squid spawning that's when the numbers are good. Watch the fish report out of cisco's. There's also guys who target them in private boats year round that find them. All the channel islands can be good
Thanks again Swami805.
Think I'll wait till spring, WSB is on my bucket list.
Calico's not so much.
Think I'll concentrate on the local Albacore.
Holler if you're coming down here, maybe we can go catch a few
Like Swami said, spring & early summer is prime time for c-bass in SoCal. The Endeavor & Pacific Dawn out of Ventura Harbor Sportfishing have top reputations fishing the northern CI. I have not fished the Dawn but have regular charters with Tucker McCombs on the Endeavor and in short he delivers. Both boats offer open party trips when not chartered. One thing to consider is that limits increase from 1 per to 3 per in mid-June.
Friends have had success on the Mirage & Island Tak out of CI Harbor ("CISCOS"). Older boats w/fewer amenities but they produce. Pacific Islander & Ranger 85 are bigger boats with good crew reps.
Many of the boats mentioned above head to San Diego for the summer/fall tuna season. Many More options for multi day trips offered out of Pt Loma (3 co-located landings) & Mission Bay (Seaforth). Bluefin fishing the past 5 years has been stellar. Just returned this am from a 1.5 day chartered trip on the Endeavor. We returned with limits (2 per) for 16 anglers 10-35#. Fish did not show until the pm which is a good reason to do longer than overnite (1-d) trips.
Happy to answer any questions by pm.
Good luck, Keith
Thanks sciaenops,
Good info.
Swami805,
Would love to rip a lip with you.
Either of you have interest in chartering a 2 day?
If so how many anglers can you get to commit?
Much rather charter than jump on a overloaded open boat.
Anyone else reading this want to join in?
I've fished on the Island Tak quite a bit, it's charter only and is good for nine passengers. Just day trips though and it's sparse to say the least, no galley but a rudamentery bunk room. Fishy as hell. About $185 each for 9. Had a couple good sea bass trips last year. I'm going on it a week from Sunday, I'll ask what the story is for next spring.
There's also the Sea Biscut that does over nights out of ciscos too that does charters. My best island trip ever was on that boat, limits of fat seabass, limits of reds and lings, then on the way home we ran into a foamer of salmon so a limit of fat kings too. Believe it or no we had some good salmon years here in the 90's.
With this covid thing the passenger loads are lighter than before so open party isn't bad,
I'd do a 2-day next year preferably after limit jumps to 3. We had a great day on wsb & halibut in Jul (22nd) this year but you know how that works - every year is different.
The Endeavor can handle 20 but we have gone with 14-16 folks this year. Mostly regulars but always room for new blood. If you're interested, send me your contact info and I'll add you to our list. Scheduling usually happens in Dec/Jan. First come (with $) first serve!
Keith