Pacific Coast Sportfishing Magazine
The saltwater fishing magazine for America's West Coast and beyond!
On Tuesday (10-22-19) an angler was called in from a buddy on a hot bite.. he set up a drift and hooked up on a nice cow with a 40 minute fight.. after the battle, they brought it into the IGFA scale in Avalon for an official weight of 221#. Impressive.. I’m sure there’s more than just one cow in these local waters!
Good luck and keep sending us those reports!
PCS Tackle, Boat and Travel Show, February 15, 16, 17
It’s that time again! Yes, it is time for the 10th annual Pacific Coast Sportfishing Tackle, Boat and Travel Show. The show will be held at the OC Fair and Event Center for the 10th year straight. Mark down Feb. 15, 16 and 17 with show hours, Friday, 1-7 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Once again top tackle dealers from our area showcase the latest and greatest. They will have some of the best deals of the year, and our show is the first opportunity you have to take advantage of them. Also, some of the top fishing boat brands—such as Grady White and Parker Boats and many more—unveil their new models. If you are looking to travel, we have you covered with prime destinations from Tropic Star Lodge in Panama to Mexico, Alaska and British Columbia. Bring the family as there will again be a free, kids-only trout pond in the building!
Our seminars continue to be the most in–depth on the West Coast. A sampling of what will be on tap follows. “Top Four Orange County Coastal Hot Spots,” with longtime local experts dishing out the goods and covering the whole gamut of opportunities. Learn from top captains Dave Hansen and Jamie Thinnes where to consistently catch coastal fish. From the tackle to the specific numbers, they will dial you in. Be ready to take your shot at some of our largest homeguard yellowtail as well as some huge white seabass from these spots.
Another great topic, and one you won’t want to miss, will be the “Running and Gunning Yellowtail.” This is a tried and true technique, but not many have mastered it. Captain Todd Mansur, Jimmy Decker and Erik Landesfeind will walk you through the process that will change the way you score these jacks. These last few years have turned out some epic surface action on yellowtail from the coast to the islands. Up your game!
One of the show favorites is always the Catalina Island seminar focused on catching exotics, from yellowtail to white seabass. Captains Joe Barian and Mark Wisch will teach you what times of the year to head out, what spots to focus on and how to increase your odds of going home with a bag of exotics. They will be walking you through the step-by-step process of turning a trip to Catalina from a bass day to an exotics day. Use specific spots, techniques and tackle tips to change your outlook on fishing the nearby island and coming home with the goods.
Captain Billy Keleman will be giving up some of the hottest tips that helped him to bag a grip of big bluefin this year. There is so much intel here, Saturday with a Part 1 and Sunday with a Part 2. Keleman will be covering tips and tactics on using the frozen flying fish via the kite and helium balloons. Captain Billy put his customers on over 30 cow bluefin in the 2018 season and helped countless others accomplish this goal on their private boats. There were small but critical details that made his year extremely successful getting on the fish when most could not figure out where they were.
Traeger is once again sponsoring us with Pellet Grills to give away each evening, Friday at 6:15 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 4:30 p.m. You must be present to win. We will also be giving away a free beer to the first 50 through the door each day (21 years of age and over only). The first five will receive a pair of polarized Bomber Glasses, and there will be many more giveaways each opening.
Get ready to enjoy a sportfishing show that is for you, the Southern California angler! For more information, visit us online at www.sportfishingfestival.com.
Here we are in December and the bluefin are still biting for the guys who want to make the trek out to the 60 mile bank, and anchor up on the high spot. The morning bite has been producing the best results, but pay attention to the slack tides too! These fish are anywhere between 10-40lbs, with the occasional giants coming through. The hot bite has been on 15-30lb fluoro with 2/0 circle hook using live squid or fin bait. The flat fall jig has also been doing well in the early morning.
Lots of reports have been coming in from guys scoring giant bluefin being caught behind Catalina.. even some over 300lbs.. this is world class sportfishing in our own backyard at its best! The go to bait has been skipping yummy flyers from a kite around 7 knots, or using a 280 gm Flat Fall jig.. BUT now guys are seeing a lot of success using a rigged “frozen flyer” attached to a helium filled balloon and drifting. Good luck out there, and keep sending us those reports!
They got on them pretty good today with the three biggest going 190lbs, 204lbs, 207 lbs. They were roughly 180 miles below San Diego!
Happy New Year..starting today, January 1st, rockfish season is closed until March 1st… that includes: sheaphead, whitefish and lincod. However sculpin season opens today!
Reports have been coming in that the big bluefin bite has moved behind Clemente since last week.. guys are still catching them using the flat fall jig and on the kite skipping the yummee flyer.
The PCS team went out Monday morning to take a look at the 43. We arrived an hour before the slack tide, and as soon as we reached the area we saw life everywhere, birds crashing, tuna foaming and marks on the meter.. we knew we were in the zone. We put out the kite and stared dragging the yummy flyer. The water temp was cooler in this area, we found a temp break around 68, and above it went up to 73. The water was off color/green, but had lots of bait. We got our first jig strike in 45 minutes, that came off. Our second jig strike was 30 minutes later and it was game on! We had our first bluefin to the boat 2 hours later. Plenty of tuna in the area.. good luck!
Starting June 16, 2017 the recreational white seabass daily limit increases to three per person. The minimum CA size limit for seabass is 28 inches. The average seabass at that length is about 5 years of age. Seabass typically forage on squid, sardine, anchovy, red crab, and mackerel. The best time to target them is during their spawning period between March and June. During this period they expend a lot of energy producing eggs and seeking out spawning locations. All of this effort produces a relentless appetite driving them to become voracious feeders. Predicting when seabass will turn on to feed can be difficult. Ideal conditions to target them are often before and after a full or new moon phase with big swinging tides, accompanied with strong currents, are often a good indicator to get them started in a feeding frenzy.
