Author: Erik Landesfeind

Rockfish Tackle Rigs The combination of depth and tackle restrictions and the availability of braided lines have completely changed the way people fish rockfish. Long gone are the days of using 9/0-sized reel and heavy rods to drop five-pound sinkers trailing multi hook gangions in 600-feet of water. With the 300-foot depth limit in California waters and a two hook maximum, you can comfortably get by fishing with light tackle. These three rods will cover any rockfishing situation you’ll encounter in Southern California. The bottom combo is an Abu/Garcia Revo Toro 50 NaCl filled with 65-pound Stren Sonic Braid and…

Fred Hall Time The Fred Hall Show starts this Wednesday March 5th and runs through Sunday March 9th at the Long Beach Convention Center. After the horrible weather we had this weekend, attending the show is a good way to pass the time while waiting for condtions to return to normal. So, let’s take a look at some of the things worth taking a look at while you’re at the show. Many companies will be offering deals at the show and some are giving away products as well. Let’s start with the booth I’ll be working throughout the week,…

Despite everyone’s high hopes, and a week’s worth of good weather, the yellowtail bite at the Coronado Islands never rebounded after the fish went MIA on last Monday. And with the big storm that’s forecast this weekend, the chances of that bite resuming any time soon are pretty slim. At best, it’s going to take a week of good weather to get conditions straightened out after the rain and wind. The good news is that the Coronado Islands are no longer the only game in town; as San Clemente Island kicked out some yellowtail over the weekend. I spoke with…

The big news over the weekend was the Coronado Islands yellowtail bite that started on Thursday, peaked on Sunday and had all but disappeared by Monday. There are lots of people making guesses as to why the fish stopped biting. Water temps dropped, conditions changed, maybe it was the cool and cloudy weather I don’t really know what happened to cause the fish bite like crazy one day and disappear the next; but I bet it had something to do with the full moon we had over the weekend. The full moon means different things to different people and depending…

Good Weather Promises Better Fishing Except for the little shot of yellows the Malihini caught at the Coronado Islands, last weekend can honestly be called the worst weekend of fishing we’ve had in quite some time. Unsettled weather kept most of the sport boats at the dock. While private boats fishing the waters around Los Angeles and Orange Counties struggled to scratch a few sand bass and sculpin. Things weren’t much better in the bays. The SWBA tournament in Long Beach saw only 6 of the 55 competing teams weigh a three fish limit of spotted bay bass, while 26…

With light rain and not so light winds forecast for today, it’s a safe bet that the local fishing isn’t going to improve by the weekend. With that, you can expect a repeat of last week’s action; slow bass fishing, a few halibut and plenty of lobster for the hoopnetters. The one bright note is that several San Diego boats will be running 1 1/2 to 3 day trips this weekend targeting rockfish and yellowtail in Mexican waters. Starting to the north, I would still avoid anything above Marina Del Rey as they continue to be in full sand dab…

The weather we’ve had this week makes it feel more like June than it does January, but the fish don’t seem to know that as they’re firmly entrenched in their winter patterns. Contrary to popular belief, winter patterns aren’t necessarily a bad thing and if you know when and where to fish you’ve got a shot at getting into some wide-open fishing. So let’s take a look at what’s biting along the coast and you’re best chances at catching some fish. Unless you’re looking to load up on sand dabs, you’re probably going to want to avoid fishing on a…

The weather may feel like summer but the fishing is definitely smack dab in the middle of a winter pattern here in Southern California. With rockfish closed, the sport boats north of San Diego have been relying upon, sand dabs, perch, sculpin and the occasional bass to satisfy their passengers desire to catch fish. If you want to catch sand dabs, you can jump on one of the boats running sand dab trips out of 22nd Street Landing in San Pedro. If you’re interested in catching bass you can take your pick of 1/2 or 3/4 day boats at any…

There is a lot of information that anglers simply accept as fact; without ever questioning its validity. One of these accepted facts is that the calico bass along the coast always feed in the lower part of the water column during the cold weather months. While this fact has been proven time and again by anglers catching calicos by fishing jigs along the base of kelp stalks, one has to question if they are catching the bass because they are deep or if they are catching the deep bass because that’s where they’re fishing. The reason I ask this question is…

Well, that hot rockfish bite that we’d been experiencing for the last month ended at midnight on Tuesday when the seasonal rockfish closure went into effect for Southern California. While this gives our local rockfish stocks time to go about making more baby rockfish without any angling pressure, it leaves anglers without much to fish for in the meantime. The good news is that the rockfish bite in Mexican waters is just heating up and there are multiple options for anglers wishing to fill their freezers. The most popular trips out of the San Diego landings are the 3/4-day and…

The rockfish bite is about as good as it gets right now and with the seasonal closure going into effect on January 1st, now is definitely the time to go. The Channel Islands, along with the coast above Santa Barbara, have been kicking out easy limits of good sized rockfish and some big ling cod. Party boat fishermen should check out trips out of Ventura and SEA Landing. If I were going I’d go on a full day trip as it gives you the range to get out to where the bigger fish are biting. Private boaters should check out…

Last week’s interview with John Curry got me fired up to catch some rockfish and the weekend’s weather forecast looked great, so John and I decided to fish Santa Rosa Island on his 20-foot Robalo. Our plan was to launch out of Santa Barbara on Sunday and run up to the west end of Rosa to fish reds and lings. I spoke with Captain Larry Heron of Calico Hunter Charters late in the week and he said that the west end of Santa Cruz had been kicking out steady rockfish and lings on swimbaits fished in shallow water and he…

We’ve had over a month of incorrect weekend weather forecasts (take this with a grain of salt), but the wind is supposed to absolutely howl in the offshore waters on Saturday. Yeah, I’m a bit dubious myself. Earlier they were calling for 25 knots of wind on the beach Saturday and as of now (Wednesday) they’ve downgraded it to less than 10 knots all day. So while rockfish trips to the islands may be off the table for this weekend, I wouldn’t cancel any local fishing trips based on the wind forecast. So, with my weekly weather disclaimer out of…

Last weekend’s weather ended up being a lot better than forecast and the calm conditions resulted in some great rockfish counts up and down the coast. Starting way up north, Scott Summersgill and Nick Tharp launched out of Santa Barbara Harbor and made a long run up the line. Fishing Big Hammer Sledgehammer swimbaits in 150 feet of water. They caught and released over twenty lingcod before keeping their limit of fish in the ten to fifteen pound class. After they were done with the lings, they found some breaking schools of bonito that were moving fast, but they managed…

I’m beginning to think that I jinxed myself when I wrote about fall and winter weather patterns in my article a few weeks ago. Since then every weekend has had some degree of screwed up weather. The wind blew last Saturday and this weekend isn’t looking much better as it’s raining today (Thursday) and there will most likely be enough wind on the tail end of this system to foul things up once again. On weekends like these, it’s easy enough to just leave the boat in the driveway and spend the day puttering around the house. But staying home…

The weather forecast was pretty close to perfect for last weekend and aside from a little wind on Sunday afternoon, the weatherman got it right for a change. Sadly, there is some wind forecast for this weekend but it doesn’t look like enough to shut things down for more than a couple days. I guess we’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed and take a look at what was biting before the wind blew. The rockfish bite at the Channel Islands is still going strong and should continue to do so until the season closes on December 31st. It…

It might have been the shot of rain we got on Monday or maybe it’s the fact that I’ve been having to turn on the heater in my truck each morning, but this week’s weather has made me realize that I neglected to mention something in last week’s column on fall fishing options www.bdoutdoors.com/article/fall-fishing. You need to plan your trips around the weather. Unlike during the warmer months, when you can just pick a day to go out and target a particular species with good chances of success, you’re going to need to be a little more strategic if you…

Before I get into the details of what’s biting in Southern California this week, I want to take a moment to ask for your help in helping a fellow angler. Mitch Russo, who is sixteen years old, is an avid fisherman and has been helping out behind the scenes of the SWBA tournament season this year. Every time I’d seen him during the season he was nothing but smiles and enthusiasm, so I was very surprised to learn that he suffered from Cystic Fibrosis. As a result of his condition, Mitch will need sinus/brain surgery in the near future and…

At the time of this writing, it’s been 19 days since I’ve fished and my time off the water has driven me slightly crazy. Crazy, because this is the longest I’ve gone without fishing in the last five years. Crazy, because I tried to get out last week, but didn’t even get out of the harbor before my boat’s phantom motor problems returned to send me back to the dock. And crazy, because I’ve got the SWBA two-day season finale tournament coming up this weekend and it’s been well over a month since I’ve visited either of the zones that…

It never ceases to amaze me just how much information can be gained by asking an open ended question to just the right person. In this case, the right person was Captain Duane Mellor, of Seasons Sportfishing, and the open ended question was, “Hey, I’m going to be writing about the offshore bite in my column this week, got any tips for private boaters?” In his usual clear and well thought out manner, Mellor shared three tips that may sound simple but will make a huge difference in what you catch the next time you’re on the water. “Find good…

As frequently as I was forced to remind myself of it over the course of this tournament season, I might as well have mounted a sign on my dashboard reading, “Don’t panic and just keep fishing”. Sounds easy enough, doesn’t it? Well, for as simple as it sounds, it’s extremely difficult to do. Especially when the wheels fall off on tournament day. For those of you who regularly read my column, you already know that my partner Matt Kotch and I were preparing for the final event of the 2013 SWBA season and a shot at the Angler of the…

With Labor Day in the rearview mirror and all but the hardiest of weekend warriors having hung up their fishing gear for yet another season, there are still plenty of excellent fishing opportunities available along the length of our coast. Morro Bay The Black Pearl out of Morro Bay Landing scored some albacore on an exploratory 1 ½ day trip that they ran earlier this week and at the time of this writing the boat is out looking for more fish. If you’ve wanted to catch an albacore, this may be your best option even though it’s a bit of…

Erik Socal Scene Realistic Expectations My biggest problem with our message boards (and social media in general) is that every time I look at them, I’m barraged with photos of people holding up big fish; most of them accompanied only by vague stories about the catch. While I love looking at fishing pictures, there are a couple of things that bother me about them. The obvious thing is that I’m sitting behind a desk looking at pictures on the internet instead of being on the water taking pictures. But more importantly, viewing these images out of context can often bias…

Erik Socal Scene Midseason Burnout Regardless of which species you target, or how good the fishing has been, at some point during the year we all get burned out. My yearly “I’d rather just stay home this weekend” moment came last Thursday after reading Saturday’s weather forecast for the Channel Islands. On paper the forecast didn’t look all that bad, with predictions of 15 knot nighttime winds followed by light winds and a small but short interval swell, but what bothered me was its resemblance the previous weekend’s mild forecast –that resulted in us getting our asses kicked for two…