By this time next week, the annual rockfishing closure in Southern California will lift, marking the unofficial beginning of the fishing season. My freezer is stocked, so it isn’t a pent-up desire to rockfish that has me excited about the opener. What does excite me is that a majority of the fleet has been sidelined doing their annual boat maintenance during the closure. With the closure coming to an end, that means these boats and crews will be back on the water soon meaning a larger area of our waters will be getting explored. While rockfishing trips serve up rockfish for sport and table fare it also serves as eyes on the water to assist in locating other gamefish. I predict that within two weeks of opening day, we’ll be talking about a hot bite somewhere that will have nothing to do with rockfish.
The above makes a great transition into the next topic. Many choose to hang up their gear for the winter come November and December and don’t touch it again until Spring. Personally, I fish through winter for whatever species is available, I never stopped fishing, so I’m ready for whatever might happen. If you are only just now starting to warm up to the idea of getting back out fishing, here are some things you can do to be prepared for our upcoming season.
Do An Inventory Of Your Tackle Bag
How are you set on hooks? Line? Sinkers? I have a personal rule, I don’t (or at least I try not to) go to a tackle shop without first checking my Tackle Cave. Usually, I find that I already have what I was about to buy. Hopefully, you don’t have the same issue, but it’s a good idea to go through this exercise so you know what you need for the upcoming season. I mentioned hooks, line and sinkers. The “consumable” items are typically what need replenishing the most. Don’t wait for that first hot bite to go get what you need. All the shops are impacted with getting in product, so if you wait until you are about to go out, you just might be “SOL” in getting what you need. Heavy yo-yo irons and knife jigs (for bluefin) are some items you’ll want to be on the lookout for. Given the last several years of bluefin fishing, small, stout circle hooks are always a high demand/low supply item. Fluorocarbon is a good thing to stock up on. As I was going through my inventory exercise, I found I had way more 20# Fluorocarbon than I need for the year but was out of 30# and short on 40#, time to stock up. Don’t forget sabikis bait catchers and squid snaggers, I always keep some in my bag. We get spoiled having easy access to bait, but it’s always a good insurance policy to have these items in your bag.
Go Shopping!
Last week was the Pacific Coast Sportfishing Festival, I pitched in and worked the Fishing Syndicate booth. While there I did a fair bit of shopping, I stocked up on yo-yo iron and hooks mostly. I also picked up some more trolling lures as I’ve been traveling to Baja more often and trolling is a mainstay technique down there. There won’t be a Fred Hall Show this year, but a lot of the stores and vendors are having sales to fill that void. For example, Fisherman’s Landing is having a large sale and even fishing seminars this weekend.
Maintenance And Other To-Do’s
For many, it may be too late to send in your reels for service in order to get them back in time for the first sighting of Bluefin tuna in the Southern California Bight. You should at least check them out though to make sure they are in working order. Short of a full service, you can at least lube the bearings and put on some fresh line. If you haven’t in a while, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to at least get your tuna reels serviced now. You may not get them back for a month or so, but that will still leave you plenty of time to be ready even with a long wait time. Speaking of tuna reels, if you’ve been meaning to mark your line so you aren’t just making a wild guess on how deep you are fishing, there’s no time like now to check that item off your list. While you’re at it, check the guides on your rods too. I always rinse and wipe down my rods after every trip. As I go through that process, I also check the guides. As you may remember, I lost what would’ve been a new personal best bluefin last year due to a guide being cracked and cutting the braid as I was coming to color (not my gear). While I can take comfort that it wasn’t my fault, it was still a heartbreaker. Don’t let that happen to you! Finally, don’t forget to get with your buddies, check your respective calendars, and book a trip or two. I know a lot of you want to wait until you see a big count before booking a trip, but it’s not a bad idea to hedge your bets, look ahead, and have some trips booked now so you don’t miss the boat. And before I forget, renew your license! (link: https://wildlife.ca.gov/Licensing/Online-Sales)
As I used to hear a lot when I was in the Army, “Be ready, so you don’t have to get ready!” The wait is almost over. Good luck when you get out there.
Cleaned, lubed, and ready to fish!
