Fishing in ‘hot’ waters

Jim Niemiec

It’s time to go fishing for local anglers.

Outer waters are holding schools of big albacore, float kelp patties are

loaded with quality yellowtail, the bite at Catalina Island has been

steady for barracuda, yellows, calico bass and a few big white sea bass;

while along the coast, passengers on board half-day and twilight boats

are filling sacks with sand bass and assorted shallower water rock fish.

Leaving Davey’s Locker at 5 a.m., Captain Richard Ruffini of Costa Mesa

headed the fast sportfisher, o7 Bongos II f7 over calm seas to a spot

about 15 miles south-southwest of Pyramid Cove.

The first stop was on a kelp that produced 15 yellowtail all weighing

about eight to 14 pounds. The action was hot off the stern and we left

the yellows still boiling after releasing the bulk of the fish hooked.

Ruffini hadn’t run five minutes before we had a double jig strike and the

albies came boiling up to the chum line, laid down by the first deckhand

Scott Larsen of Newport Beach.

First to hook up on a bait fish was Todd Garrett of Newport Beach, who

decked a 20-pounder, followed by Andy Kondo, also of Newport, who put a

21-pounder in the fish hole.

Ruffini had made the right move when he headed west rather than

continuing south toward 43 Fathom Spot where the seemed to have dropped

off.

The o7 Bongos IIf7 didn’t troll for more than five minutes (often less

than a minute) before albies jumped on the jigs. It was a wide-open bite

in an area that was less than one square mile. The bite continued for

five hours!

In all the years this Newport Beach angler has fished outer waters for

albacore and tuna, it was one of the most awesome fishing trips ever

enjoyed. Every angler on board landed lots of big albacore including a

Balboa Angling Club “button” fish for Garrett, who fought a 29-pound

longfin on 12-pound mono for nearly 45 minutes before Larsen set the gaff

in the fish.

The highlight of the trip for me was when I set the hook on a big

albacore that took me around the sportfisher three times. After 30

minutes, when the longfin came up under the transom, it looked like a

huge bluefin, except for its extended long fins.

The fish was expertly gaffed by Larsen and this huge albie scaled 34

pounds, 12 ounces, making it one of the biggest albacore I have caught in

more than 50 years of fishing out of Newport Bay.

The o7 Bongos IIf7 was indeed in the right area and called in other

sport boats to fish the hot spot. They also did very well.

Water conditions were ideal with flat, calm seas and a water temperature

just under 67 degrees. There was plenty of bait, breaking fishing,

floating kelp and lots of deep meter marks, which is hopefully an

indication that albacore, bluefin and yellowtail will stay with fishable

waters for the Newport sport fleet well into August.

The o7 Bongos IIf7 and o7 Bongos IIIf7 run open party charter

trips, limited to six anglers on Monday and Tuesday, so if there are any

local anglers looking for a good boat to fish nearby waters, it’s time to

make reservations now.

There are also bigger schools of albacore and bluefin tuna staging to

move north up from Baja California. The sportfishing yacht o7 Hana

Paaf7 , with Tom Tfhelger of Newport Beach at the helm, returned to

Newport on Monday and reported that the area around Guadalupe Island has

a big area of albies and bluefin tuna.

If typical migration routes are followed and the currents don’t change,

we could be looking for some more outstanding offshore fishing within

weeks.

For you marlin fisherman out there, the water east of Catalina Island

looks like it could produce a striped marlin any day. On our return trip

home, Ruffini ran through crystal blue water with a sea temperature of 70

degrees and lots of bait.

There is a good chance that if a westerly doesn’t blow through, there

could be a marlin flag flying at the Balboa Angling Club before July 4.

Fresh water lake fishing is very good locally. The bass bite at Oso Lake

is outstanding with lots of bass being caught and released weighing in

the 3-to-6-pound class. Dave Jordan of Dove Canyon caught 18 bass

weighing up to 4 1/2 pounds this week.

The catfish bite is also good at Oso with the average whiskerfish

weighing about 10 pounds with Berkley Power Chow being the hot bait.

Anaheim Lake opened up this week for what should be some good catfishing

all summer long and the heavily stocked pond. Also, over at Irvine, there

is some good bass action reported in the flats and a few decent catches

of stocked catfish in the 1-to-2-pound class.