Author: Erik Landesfeind

Offshore Advice As expected, last week’s full moon shook things up for a few days on the offshore scene. Saturday saw excellent tuna fishing for almost everyone but that was followed up by very tough fishing for most on Sunday. The fishing has remained somewhat hit and miss since then, but it seems like on the days when the offshore weather is decent the fishing has been good. The weather forecast is looking better for this weekend, so let’s keep our fingers crossed that the fish cooperate as well. Assuming that the weather will be fishable everywhere, anglers have a…

The biggest issue I ran into when I started fishing offshore in my own boat was figuring out how many rods and reels to bring. Early on, I erred on the side of caution because I was afraid to get out there and not have something that I needed. After a few trips spent stumbling over all of the excess gear, I paired my arsenal down to a much more manageable size. These four rods will cover just about anything you’ll encounter while fishing offshore on your own boat. Starting at the top is my trolling rod / heavy bait…

After a week of mostly slow tuna fishing, I think that most of us are ready for a change. Well that change is coming in the form of Friday night’s full moon. While it’s impossible to predict what that change will look like, I’d advise everyone to look at the water with a new set of eyes this weekend as yesterday’s pattern probably won’t hold up. While we wait to see how things shake out, let’s take a look at what’s been biting this week. The big news continues to be the jumbo bluefin tuna that are biting on…

If there’s one thing I’ve learned during this remarkable year of fishing, it’s that we as anglers have the tendency to quickly take even the most spectacular things for granted. For example, we’ve all seen the posts where someone will report that they spent all morning looking for tuna 8 miles out of Dana Point and that fishing sucked because most of the breaking fish they saw wouldn’t bite and they only caught one 40-pound bluefin. If you’ve had a similar experience this week you might be nodding your head and thinking “yeah, that does suck”. If you are one…

I remember, back before the Internet, when the only marine weather forecast available was from a grainy automated voice that would broadcast repeatedly over the VHF with very basic forecasts that covered large expanses of water. “Forecast for the outer waters from San Mateo Point to the Mexican Border Extending 30 to 60 nautical miles out including San Clemente Island. Tonight. West to northwest winds 5 to 10 knots. Seas 3 to 5-feet.” If you’ve ever sat by the radio, trying to decide whether to chance the run in your center console I bet you can still hear that voice…

Make no mistake about it; this is probably to be the busiest weekend we’ve seen on the water this year. While this sucks for obvious reasons, the good news is that there are enough fish biting in enough places that you’ve got a good chance of finding fish away from the crowds. Rather than break this week’s report down by location, I’m going to break it down by species. So, let’s take a look at what’s biting in Southern California. There are both bluefin and yellowfin tuna scattered along the coast from Mexican waters to Catalina Island and probably beyond.…

In an attempt to expand our fishing coverage, BD Outdoors has added Joe Sarmiento to the editorial team. Joe will be writing two columns per week covering sport boat fishing in Southern California. His Tuesday column will wrap up what happened the previous weekend and share the best mid-week fishing options. On Friday’s he will cover what happened during the week and what to expect over the weekend. Make sure and look for Joe’s column today. Like most of you, I’ve been a little frustrated that these tuna that are all over our local waters just haven’t been biting. Every…

Before I get into this week’s report, I’d like to take a moment to talk about fishing in crowded areas. If the fishing stays on track this year, the community fishing holes are going to get more crowded than they already are. To make matters worse, the people that will be joining the crowd from this point forward are likely to be less courteous and even more clueless than those boaters that are currently making everyone’s lives miserable. So, do yourself a favor and institute a no community fishing hole rule on your boat this year. It will cut…

Long Beach Yellowtail Bite Last week I wrote about the new batch of yellows that we stumbled onto last Tuesday afternoon in deep water outside the 150. Well, it looks like they’ve decided to stay and had reinforcements join them. The result is the best local yellowtail fishing that anyone has ever seen. So how good is the fishing? Well, I spoke with my friend Brian Greene who was on the Enterprise out of Marina Sportfishing on Tuesday when they landed 164 fish. He reported as many as 20 fish going at a time for the 36 anglers and every…

Unprecedented Fishing – Global Fishing Reports I’ve already written tens of thousands of words about the epic fishing we’ve had over the last couple years and I’m sure that I’ll write plenty more before things return to some semblance of normal. Within these words are the stories of so many incredible catches that they all just blur together until the remarkable becomes indistinguishable from the norm. While this is a good problem to have, it’s not going to last forever, so I want you to pay particular attention to the following few words. This is the best fishing any of…

I’ve gotten used to crazy things happening on the fishing scene over the last year, but I was still surprised by the call I received on my way home from Catalina on Monday. It was my friend Jimmy Decker calling to tell me that a yacht was on its way to the Balboa Angling Club to weigh a couple of 100-pound bluefin they’d gotten on a double jig strike in U.S. waters. Decker went on to say that they’d gotten the fish close to home and that he was thinking about running out there the next day to take a…

Pacific Coast Sportfishing Show With unprecedented spring fishing occurring on both the inshore and offshore scenes, this year is going to be one for the books. What better way to get ready for the fishing than by visiting the PCS fishing show this weekend to stock up on the latest gear and learn from some of top fishermen. This is a show that you’re not going to want to miss. “We have a terrific lineup of in-depth seminars that we guarantee will change the way you fish, hosted by some of the best and most knowledgeable anglers and captains on…

Seabass Join party Another week and another rainy day leading into the weekend. If you’re reading this on Friday, it’s probably raining outside, but the good news is that the weather should be back on track for the weekend. The sun is shining as I’m writing this around midday on Wednesday and reports of biting fish are rolling in from up and down the coast. Monday’s new moon seemed to have more of an effect on the fishing than the last full moon, especially on the seabass front. There are reports of seabass being caught from the Channel Islands to…

With limited storage space, private boaters are constantly tested on finding the right balance of bringing the things we’ll need without being so overloaded that we might have to leave one of our fishing buddies at the dock. As a result, many boaters neglect to bring a set of tools capable of getting them out of a jam or just making a minor repair that can salvage a day on the water. Here is a simple and inexpensive tool kit that you can assemble yourself for around $150. As I said, space is an issue, so I chose the smallest…

Well, it looks like our endless summer has finally morphed into a protracted miserable winter weather pattern that waited until late spring to show up. The good news is that for the second week in a row, this crappy weather will be rolling in ahead of the weekend, so at least we’ll be able to salvage some of our fishing options. Unless the forecast changes for the better, any private boaters planning trips to the Channel Islands, San Clemente or the offshore banks would be advised to wait until Sunday when the weather has come down a bit. Sport boats…

With the unprecedented yellowtail bite we’ve been experiencing, this winter is surely one that fishermen will be talking about for years to come. But what will you have to say about it? Those willing to go out and look might tell the story of the big yellows you had all to yourself in the middle of January. Meanwhile those that follow the fleet will only remember the hundred plus boat gangbangs around yesterday’s hot spots. The bottom line is that wintertime yellowtail fishing is about as easy as it gets in Southern California right now. Don’t get me wrong, it’s…

Well, if you read last week’s column you know that I had high hopes for Saturday’s full moon. If you kept tabs on the reports this week, you also know that it ended up being a bit of a non-event when it came to the yellowtail bite. I’m not sure if this cycle’s lack luster performance was a stand-alone event or the beginning of a change in the bite pattern, but I do know that we’ll find out in a couple weeks during the new moon phase. Despite the fact that the has been blowing off and on for the…

Yellowtail Bite Rebounds Windy Weekend The good news this week is that the yellows are biting and we’ve got some decent weather forecast for the weekend. The potentially better news is that we’ve also got a full moon this weekend and if the pattern holds true, the yellowtail bite should improve in the coming days. We’ll have to wait and see how things go, but if nothing else it gives us an excuse to go and look around for some fish. It’s impossible to predict where the fish might go on the chew, but there are a few areas that…

Big Yellowtail Highlight I’ve got good news and bad news for you. The good news is that the yellowtail bite is better than it’s probably ever been in April. The bad news is that it is April and that means the wind frequently going to blow. With one of the bigger blows scheduled to hit the coast this weekend, I’d take a close look at the weather forecast before deciding to make any long runs to chase fish. For a close look at this weekend’s forecast, check out Chris Dunn’s weather report Getting back to the fishing, the big yellows…

How To Clean a Yellowtail The first step in cleaning any fish is choosing the right tools for the job. For cleaning yellowtail, I use a 9-inch Bubba Blade Flex Knife and a Victorinox 40513 6-inch Flexible Boning Knife. I also use a ceramic knife sharpener and a sharpening steel. Always start off with a sharp knife. If the blade is really dull, you’re going to want to sharpen it before you get on the boat. If you’ve been maintaining your blade you can just tune it up with a ceramic sharpener. Everyone’s got their favorite sharpener and mine is…

This is going to be an interesting weekend. We’ve got a new moon on Saturday and the wind that’s been blowing for the last couple weeks is scheduled to calm down. With yellows biting at all of the islands and along the coast in recent days, I’d say that if you’ve been thinking about getting out fishing, this is absolutely the weekend to do it. With so many options  available to anglers right now, I’m going to break this week’s report down into two sections starting with sport boat fishing options. San Clemente Island is hands down the best game…

Best Time Of Day To Catch Mackerel The first step in catching mackerel is to get the right gear. There are lots of different bait snaggers on the market, ranging from the simple to the extravagant and priced accordingly. I like to keep things basic and use Izorline’s Lucky Lura 4 hook snagger rig, which offers a good balance of price and durability. Along with your snaggers you’ll need some torpedo sinkers; I recommend picking up weights from 1 to 3-ounces. Finally, you’ll need something to unhook the baits once you catch them. There are plenty of tools on the…

Fish Bite Despite Spring Winds For the first time in quite a while, the wind blew all week long here in Southern California. While it’s forecast to continue to blow across the offshore waters, the coastal areas should be plenty fishable this weekend. So let’s take a look at what was biting before the wind and what will hopefully still be biting once it stops. Starting to the south, there were some yellowfin tuna caught within one-day range of San Diego last week but there have been no recent reports. Those bluefin that were biting down along the border have…

Bluefin Tuna Bite This April Fools Day, like all of those before it, brought reports of big tuna showing up in our local waters. The difference this year was that it wasn’t a joke. This crazy and seemingly endless season continued to surprise with schools of big bluefin popping up within one-day range of San Diego. Before anyone gets too excited, there is some serious wind forecast for later this weekend and it’s probably going to change things up a bit. That being said, at the time of this writing on Thursday morning, the Pride out of Seaforth Landing has…