Author: Erik Landesfeind

Erik Landesfeind has all the latest fishing reports and summaries in his SoCal Scene. It’s a mixed bag despite the weather that came through so here is the latest to help plan your weekend fishing.

If you read last year’s review on Seaguar ThreadLock spectra and Pink Label Fluorocarbon you may remember that I had some trouble with the Chinese finger trap leader connection I’d seen in a YouTube video about the line. I’ve continued using both the line and leader since then and couldn’t be happier with them but have had to use the same Tony Pena knot I used with solid braid. After spending quite a bit of time looking at different knots and ways of serving the leader connection, I finally found one that was simple and has so far proved to…

Erik Landesfeind has the latest fishing reports for SoCal anglers and its steady winter action for saltwater bass and yellowtail when the boats get off the docks.

“I don’t know if I’m the right guy for this one Scott, I’m pretty picky about line” was the response I gave my editor when he’d asked if I’d be willing to review some Seaguar Pink Label Fluorocarbon and ThreadLock braid. His response, “No pressure. Just try it out and give me your honest opinion.” A few days later there was a box waiting for me on my porch when I got home and inside were spools of 50# and 60# ThreadLock braid and 40# and 50# Seaguar Pink Label Fluorocarbon. Scott told me to be honest so I will be;…

Erik Landesfeind gathers the local SoCal fishing reports and offers some fishing advice for the best upcoming fishing opportunities in the local area.

Winter SoCal fishing is kicking out some great mixed bags of rockfish, lingcod and more as the 2020 season cranks up in Erik Landesfeind’s latest SoCal Fishing Scene.

Erik Landesfeind offers his advice on how to approach fishing when the conditions are less than ideal or downright nasty.

It’s been another week of mediocre fishing for Southern California anglers. I’m not sure if it was due to weather on the outside, or the fact that there were some yellows biting down at Colonet, but it doesn’t seem like anyone went looking for those tuna that were off Ensenada last week. Are they still around? Probably, but if no one runs goes out there looking for them, they’ll simply exist in a state of quantum superposition similar to that of the late Schrodinger’s cat. I’m sure that at some point someone will go out there and open the box,…

Well, the holidays are finally over and it’s time for you all to get back to fishing so I’ll have something to write about each week. Fishing coverage over the holidays was sporadic at best, so this week’s report might not accurately reflect the current angling opportunities but here’s what we do know. The sand bass and sculpin are biting for the 1/2 and 3/4-day boats from the Santa Monica Bay to San Diego. These fish are being targeted with either live or frozen squid and as always the boats that do have live squid will get the best results.…

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been eight years and a few days since I wrote my first installment of the SoCal Scene. I went back and reread the article this morning and while the reds are biting on the 150 again as I write this, our overall fishing landscape has changed enough in the intervening years as to be unrecognizable to the angler I was when I wrote it. While I understand that this crazy angling ride we’ve been on the last half-decade will eventually come to an end, I’m thankful for each and every moment on it. I’m…

It’s been a fairly lackluster week of fishing in Southern California. Last weekend’s weather kept a lot of boats tied to the dock and the ones that did fish this week mostly targeted rockfish. The only real bright spot was the yellowtail bite off San Diego. The bite, which started earlier this week but got everyone’s attention when the New Seaforth out of Seaforth Landing caught 25 yellows on Wednesday morning’s half-day trip. The fish are actually showing in a few different areas from below the border up to La Jolla and are biting again at the time of this…

Regardless of whether I’m fishing inshore or offshore, my first question when finding biting fish is, “Why are these fish here?” Erik Landesfeind discusses tracking fish offshore.

I took last week off due to the holiday and the fact that I had no idea what the Thanksgiving storm would have on our fishing conditions. The initial information I got from the surf reports sounded like the water temps had dropped big time. With no current fishing info to go on, I talked Decker into doing a deep drop swordfish trip on Sunday because I figured the rain and wind wouldn’t have any effect at all on the water 1,000-feet down. With air temps forecast in the 40’s on Sunday morning, we decided on a gentleman’s start and…

I need to preface this week’s report with the disclaimer that, at the time of this writing, I have no idea what impact Wednesday’s storm had on the offshore water conditions. That being said, given the lack of sustained northwest winds coupled with the fact that the fish weren’t biting in particularly warm water anyway, I’m going to guess that the fish will still be biting somewhere once the boats get off the dock already. We’ve got more weather on the way next week, so if you’ve been holding off on getting in a last tuna trip of the year,…

I recently received a message from a reader telling me he had upgraded his marine electronics to a fish finder with side vision capabilities, installed the Navionics chip, taken the boat out to target rockfish and came to the realization that “I had no idea what I was looking at”. While today’s technology makes it easier than ever to find good fishing spots, the advancements are significant enough that it’s not a simple learning step to go from the old way of doing things to the new. Hopefully, this tutorial will help bridge that gap and cut down the time…

Having been mostly off the grid last week it was nice to return and find that the November full moon was good to Southern California offshore anglers. Both yellowfin and bluefin bit well going into and through Tuesday night’s “Beaver Moon” and if this current offshore cycle continues for a few more years, we may have to petition to change it to the “Tuna Moon”. While the bulk of the tuna are scattered from out west to way out west, there are still plenty of them around closer to home. This week’s Navionics Chart explains what I’m talking about. The…

I’ve got a confession to make. As someone who has spent his entire adult life cleaning fish, I’ve never been worth a darn at using a sharpening stone to maintain a consistent edge on my filet knife. I’m actually so inconsistent that I can go from surgical sharpness on one attempt to dull butter knife on the next. The good news is that I’ve found the right tools to take my own shortcomings out of the sharpening equation and keep a consistently sharp edge on all of my knives. The video explains the details but the tools I use are…

Matt and I spent a couple days targeting rockfish over the weekend and while we didn’t set the world on fire, we did a lot of exploring and still managed to get a few nice fish. Friday morning we launched out of Long Beach and picked up some live squid from the receiver on the way out. Our plan was to fish the Santa Monica Bay on Saturday, so we picked up enough squid so that we would have plenty of fresh dead for day two. Conditions looked good in the morning, but the fish just weren’t biting. So after…

Erik Landesfeind talks about the wear and tear on casting reels and ways to properly take care of them for the upcoming season.

The big bluefin are back in the news this week as they pushed up against San Clemente Island during the new moon. Not being a big bluefin fisherman, I don’t personally care where these fish go when they leave the backside of Clemente, but judging by the fact that they seem to be regularly coming back en masse and in sync with the lunar cycle, I’d guess that they aren’t going all that far. All of that being said, I’m surprised that the guys who do regularly fish them haven’t gotten together to do an organized search to find out…

In this video, Captain Jimmy Decker shares how he sets the marlin trolling spread on his 24-foot Everglades center console. While you don’t need outriggers or specialized rods and reels to troll for marlin, having the right gear goes a long way. Here is a breakdown of what Decker runs. If you want to troll with four rods on a small boat, you’re going to need outriggers. Decker uses Precision Econoline outriggers that can be laid flat against the rail of the boat while not being used. When stowed, these outriggers are completely out of the way so you don’t…

It’s been another steady week of offshore fishing from Catalina Island to below the Mexican border. This swordfish, caught by Lawrance Quigley, while fishing with Jay Krist was one of a dozen or so that were caught this week. There were fish caught all over the place but this week’s hot zone was down in San Diego. I dedicated a few hours to deep-dropping after trolling marlin on Saturday morning but didn’t connect. The good news is that my buddy Curtis Owens waited a respectable amount of time after I left to catch one in the same zone later that…

If you read last week’s column, you may remember me taking a pass on the Monday morning call I got from Decker with an invite to go catch some local bluefin. Well, that call came again this week and I had to take another pass because I couldn’t get down to Newport in time for his 1:00 p.m. departure. As was the case last week, within an hour of his launching, I got the text “got one” and this one was even closer to home than last Monday’s fish. Decker decided to call it with one in the box at…

How many times have you had someone show you a photo of a trophy fish and then say, “This picture really doesn’t do the fish any justice…” It’s all too common. If you take a 5-pound fish and put it in the hand of a 200-pound man and snap a photo of it, the fish is going to look like exactly what it is — something that’s less than one-fortieth the size of the guy holding it. But there are some tricks that you can use to make that fish look bigger, and create a photograph that does, in fact,…