Author: Erik Landesfeind

It’s funny just how skeptical we as fishermen are of things that fall outside the accepted norm. Whenever something different comes along, our knee jerk reaction is to doubt that it’s going to work. I felt the same way last year when I saw the Rapala X-rap Long Cast hard bait that had VMC Inline single hooks instead of the normal trebles. Sure, I was looking forward to trying them, but I was still leery that I’d miss bites because there weren’t enough hooks involved. Well, as you can tell from the article I wrote about the bait last year,…

Rockfish Headline Editor’s Note: Everyone is getting tired of wind in the fishing forecast, including Erik Landesfeind, but he manages to round up your SoCal fishing options starring rockfish. Looking back over my last few columns, I noticed that this is the fifth week in a row that I’m leading my report off with a gripe about the weather. I do however appreciate Mother Nature keeping us on our toes by replacing our regularly scheduled wind with freezing cold weather, rain and, oh yeah, wind. Since there isn’t much fishing to report this week I thought I’d take a few minutes…

Well, we finally had a fairly non-windy week and it resulted in surprisingly good fishing up and down the coast for SoCal anglers. From yellows and rockfish at the Channel Islands to bluefin and yellows south of the border, everyone caught fish. Good fishing aside, it seems we’re back to a normal springtime weather pattern and that means there’s going to be some wind. Sadly, this week’s wind is scheduled to blow all weekend long resulting in some areas being small boat unfriendly and taking others out of play for everyone. As this week’s Navionics Chart clearly illustrates, wind is…

According to a warning by Yamaha Motor Corporation, ethanol gas is the largest cause of trouble with marine engines these days. If you’re unfamiliar with ethanol, it’s being added to the majority of today’s fuel supply as an oxygenate to help reduce emissions. The problem with ethanol gas, which is basically 200 poof grain alcohol, is that it’s also a powerful solvent that can loosen debris in your fuel tank and all the tanks and lines it was in before it got to you. Once in your outboard, this dirt can cause everything from running issues to a no-start, no-run…

Editor’s Note: Is the seabass bite going to be back in the fish reports after the wind? Erik Landesfeind lays out the facts for this and more in his latest SoCal Scene. It’s been another windy week in Southern California and as was the case last week, the week before and I’m pretty sure the week before that too, not too many boats made it off the dock after the weekend. This has certainly been the windiest April I can remember, but then again, it’s been so long since we’ve had normal weather that I might have just forgotten what…

Editor’s Note: The Coronado Islands yellowtail bite may be the shining star in Erik Landesfeind’s SoCal Scene this week, but they are not the only option if the wind slacks up for the weekend. Coronado Islands Yellowtail Bite The good news, based on Wednesday’s early report of quick limits for 9 anglers aboard the San Diego out of Seaforth Landing, is that the yellowtail decided to bite again at the Coronado Islands. According to Captain Ryan Bostian, the fish were biting yo-yo jigs, surface iron and fly-lined sardines. At 6 to 12-pounds, the fish aren’t giant but I’d gladly choose fun-sized…

The good news is that last weekend’s weather forecast proved to be spot on and the fish bite was good in calm conditions throughout the Southern California Bight. The bad news is that if this weekend’s weather forecast proves to be just as accurate, widespread winds across the outer waters will limit angling opportunities. The weather man already walked back the rain forecast for Southern California, so I’m going to hope that the wind will be the next to go. Regardless of which way the forecast goes, I strongly recommend checking the marine forecast before venturing out this weekend. If…

After what felt like months, though it probably wasn’t, good weekend weather is finally back in the Southern California forecast. I don’t know about you but I can’t wait to get back to fishing. Speaking of which, I was jonesing so hard last week that I went against my own advice and tried to squeeze a quick trip in Sunday morning before the wind blew. Jimmy Decker and I launched out of Newport with plans to run up and fish the pipe but it was rough enough to convince us to bend it down the coast instead. It was pretty…

Its Thursday morning and looking out my office window, it seems that the Pineapple Express is delivering its promised precipitation. My weather app is saying that the rain should stop by the time this article publishes on Friday morning and that calm, if unsettled, weather should continue through midday Saturday. The forecasts aren’t too clear on the timing, but sometime Saturday afternoon the wind is going to freshen and blow 15 to 20 MPH along most of the coast through Sunday.  How will this apply to the SoCal fishing report? The weather is forecast to come down along the coast…

As someone who already owns more tackle than I know what to do with, I rarely do any actual shopping while cruising the aisles at the Fred Hall Show. This year ended up being an exception as I picked up several items that caught my eye. The first of those were some reel handle sleeves made by Winn Grips. The handle sleeves are as simple as it sounds; its a slide on sleeve with an all weather polymer surface that slides over the reel’s paddle handle to bulk it up and offer a better grip. Having large hands, I’ve always struggled…

Its been another rainy week in Southern California and that means fishing coverage has been spotty at best. It isn’t raining at the time of this writing on Thursday morning but there’s another bout of showers forecast to roll across the south land Friday night into Saturday morning. The good news is that there aren’t any clearing winds following it in the forecast, so most areas along the coast should be fishable for everyone and the islands should be sportboat accessible at the very least. As you can see on the Navionics chart, rockfish continue to be the main draw.…

Rockfish season is rolling along nicely. The fish are biting and the wind hasn’t been a factor for boats making long runs to the islands. Other than some rain, this weekend shouldn’t be much different. Being that weather forecasters haven’t been batting anywhere near a thousand the last few years, I’d recommend you to keep a close eye on the actual weather before heading out rather than relying on an authorities claim of, “calm winds and light rain”. Since there’s not a whole lot of exciting stuff to cover in this week’s column, I’d like to take a minute to…

We got some good news for a change in that last week’s weather forecast was a little heavy handed and the rockfish opener went off without a hitch. At the time of this writing, midday on Thursday, there are several sport boats on the water along the coast and at least one at San Nicholas Island and they’re all catching fish. With the weekend’s weather forecast looking fishable for sport boats everywhere and private boats in most areas, let’s take a look at some fishing options. I changed up my weekly Navionics chart to focus exclusively on the rockfish bite.…

Rigging Tips For Swimbaits: I’ve long had a love/hate relationship with fishing big swimbaits for saltwater bass. I love that they’ll often draw that big bite I’m looking for on tournament day but I hate when that bite comes behind the hook and the fish manages to pull the bait’s pants down enough to realize it’s not something worth coming back for a second attack on. That missed opportunity is bad enough, but adding insult to injury is the fact that your $4 swimbait tail is now compromised enough that it’s likely to keep on slipping down your hook until…

I’m going to warn you in advance, this week’s report is going to be mostly cloud and very little silver lining. The wind has been blowing for a couple days and it’s probably still going to be blowing when you read this on Friday. The water temps are down throughout the bight and many areas are going to remain blown out through the weekend. The only real bright spot is that the coastal waters are forecast to be fishable on Saturday and Sunday but I’m not holding out hopes that the fishing is going to be great. This week’s Navionics…

I’m about to share a secret that will forever change the way you fish for sand bass from your boat. Sounds pretty major doesn’t it? And the secret is, drum roll please… Don’t bring bait! Yes, it’s that simple. You don’t need bait to catch sand bass. When fishing from your own boat, artificial lures will out-fish live bait all year. You’re probably asking yourself, but what about live squid? Yes, live squid can be a game changer on a sport boat, but if you’re targeting sand bass from a private boat, you just don’t need it. This may sound…

It happens every year… The yellowtail, white seabass or tuna start to bite somewhere during the week and come Saturday morning, a bunch of boats flock to the spot ready to catch fish. But the fish don’t bite on the weekend, or only bite for a couple of boats. But the bite comes roaring back on Monday (while most of us are stuck at work). The fish don’t know what day it is, so what exactly causes them to stop biting on Saturday morning? The simple answer — boat pressure. Too many boats in too small an area with too…

Do you remember the definition of “fun winter fishing”? I know, after many winters spent  catching tuna and yellowtail it’s kind of tough to remember what things were like before everything went haywire. Well, if nothing else, this week certainly gave us a refresher course on how winter fishing used to be. One look at the Navionics map is enough to tell you that bass fishing is the name of the game right now. I’m not saying there aren’t a few yellows around that might be willing to bite the jig at Santa Cruz or a stray seabass waiting for…

As expected, last weekend’s calm weather resulted in good winter fishing up and down the coast. The most interesting news was Saturday’s report from the captain of the Legend who reported finding a school of bluefin tuna on a 3/4-day offshore charter. The boat only landed a single 30-pound class fish but their success bodes well for another early offshore season. Another indicator of an early season is the water temperature and quality in our local waters. I fished San Clemente Island on Sunday and found water as warm as 64-degrees between the islands and as high as 66 between…

Last week’s lack of fishing coverage required me to make a few guesses as to what SoCal anglers might find over the weekend and for the first time in a long time, all of my guesses were right. The bluefin weren’t gone, there was just a lack of boat coverage in the area. With enough boats to cover water, it didn’t take long to find them again and they were still biting. The Channel Islands yellows were also still around and the island bass trip did catch them. Finally, I ran into Captain Vaugn Podmore at the dock on Sunday…

Big voltage drops aren’t good for marine electronics and manufacturers protect their product by installing an automatic shut off once the voltage going to the unit drops below a certain level. While this protection is good for your electronics, it sucks having them shut down on their own just because you cranked your motor. After doing some research, I learned that sporadic shut downs are a result of new electronics technology not interfacing well with old battery management systems. Isolating your house battery can fix this problem. Every boat has some sort of battery switch. This is the one that…

Though short lived, last weekend’s wind storm was strong enough to extinguish the bluefin bite south of the border. The Pacific Queen ran down to the area that had been holding fish on Wednesday and they were gone. Luckily the yellows were still around and they salvaged the trip by landing 100 of them for 26 passengers. If I had to guess, I’d say the bluefin are probably still around and if they are they’ll likely be relocated this weekend once there’s some more coverage in the area. With the full moon scheduled for Wednesday of next week and good…

Reviewing an ice chest sounded like a pretty easy gig, so I said, “sure” when my editor offered to send me one to check out. The next day I realized that I really had no idea of how to rate ice chest performance other than, “yes, I put ice in and it got cold” or “no, I put ice in and the whole thing exploded, severely injuring my rat terrier, Dieter, in the blast”. Unrealistic I know, but what else is there to say about an ice chest? After doing some research it turned out that there is more to…

The bluefin are still biting. So are the yellowtail at the Channel Islands. Oh, and the calicos at Clemente and the sand bass on the beach. Overall, the fish bite this week has been pretty damned good by January standards, but that’s about to change. This image shows the wind forecast for midday Saturday. The yellow stuff between the coast and Catalina shows 22-knots. The red stuff between Catalina and San Clemente is calling for 28-knots. That’s some serious wind and it’s blowing out of the direction that usually causes the water to roll over. Things look a lot better…