Author: Erik Landesfeind

The San Diego out of Seaforth Landing reported in on Wednesday afternoon with, “225 yellowfin tuna 50 skipjack tuna for 45 anglers today. The entire fleet had blood running out the scuppers. The best fishing of the season is happening right now. Don’t miss out.” Meanwhile, the captain of the Grande had this to say, “40 anglers on a full day offshore had 164 yellowfin tuna and 30 skipjack. The yellowfin are mostly 15 to 25-pounds with plenty of 30-pounders. The skipjack are beasts too. We’d recommend a 20-25# rig for finesse fishing with a small size 2 j hook…

It’s been over a decade since I first met Bill Batson, and while we’ve been friends for years, that first meeting was an odd one. I went to a custom rod building convention to visit my boat partner Matt, who was working a booth there and upon my arrival, Matt said I needed to walk over and check out the rod blanks they had at the Batson Booth. My first reaction was, “Who the heck is Batson?” Matt reassured me that they had some cool stuff, so we headed over and were met by Bill at the booth’s threshold. “Come…

I know that I keep saying the same thing over and over but it’s been yet another good week of fishing in Southern California. We had a little bit of weather earlier this week that kept the private boats away from the big bluefin grounds off the backside of Clemente but the sportboats that weathered the storm did catch fish. If enforced, the island’s naval closures this weekend are basically going to close the entire bite zone down but we’ll have to wait and see what happens. Overall the bite out there has been down since the wind blew but…

It’s been another busy week of post Labor Day fishing in Southern California. With swordfish and marlin up north, to yellows at the islands, big bluefin showing close to the beach and yellowfin biting down south, there’s a lot to cover this week. But before I get into the details I want to take a moment to note that when I logged on to post this column I noticed that this is the 501st article I’ve written for BD Outdoors. Back when they first asked me to start writing for the site in December of 2011. I had no following,…

Well, it’s been another amazing week of offshore fishing across much of Southern California but before I get into the details I’d like to talk about something I mentioned in last week’s column. In recent weeks there had been enough deep drop swordfish caught that I thought the fishing method might come into play at last week’s Balboa Angling Club Master Angler Billfish Tournament. That assumption turned out to be an understatement as swordfish ran away with the event. With 40 boats fishing the event, there were 7 marlin and 6 swordfish caught. While half a dozen swordfish may not…

With bass biting along the coast, yellowtail at the islands and both bluefin and yellowfin biting offshore, it’s been another great week of fishing in Southern California. The highlight of this week’s action was the brief appearance the yellowfin and bluefin made off the Orange County Coast on Tuesday. While the fish were mostly MIA by Wednesday, there is a ton of bait along the beach right now, so I don’t think they went far. My guess is that these fish have been around for a while but a lack of angling pressure in the area meant that no one…

As ridiculous at it sounds, especially given this week’s weather, the official summer fishing season came to a close on Monday and as my buddy, Jimmy Decker said as we headed out marlin fishing that morning, “the fishing season starts today”. As became immediately apparent on Tuesday morning, at least for the boats not fishing tuna out of San Diego, weekday angler participation has dropped off dramatically with social media posts promoting “light loads” and asking anglers to come down and help get the boat off the dock. If you’re a sport boat angler with the ability to go fishing…

While some days have been better than others, overall it’s been another good week of offshore fishing along the Mexican border. There is currently a mix of 10 to 30-pound yellowfin, 20 to 50-pound bluefin and a few dorado all biting well within private boat fishing range of San Diego. As I’ve spoken about the last few weeks, the proximity of the bite coupled with most of the fish being caught within a somewhat small area has created the worst gang bang in recent years, maybe even rivaling the monumental gang bang that was the yellowtail grounds at the 150…

After a bit of a stumble earlier this week, the tuna bite off San Diego kicked back into high gear on Wednesday with almost 2,000 yellowfin showing up in the counts. The bite has been good enough that boats from San Pedro to San Diego are making the run south and most overnight trips are either catching five-fish limits or reporting “limit style fishing” when the bite is wide open but their passengers are incapable of catching them. The full-day boats are getting in on the action as well with the San Diego out of Seaforth Landing and the Liberty out…

Today’s technology has made it easier than ever to get up to the minute fishing information. Between social media, our forums and AIS, it’s pretty easy to keep tabs on what boats are catching and where they are fishing. If you’re a Fishdope member you have the added advantage of having a one-stop-shop for water temperatures, chlorophyll charts, locations of recent bites and the details of what the fishing was like that day. While you’d think that knowing; where, when, how and what the fish bit the day before would make it very easy to go out there and find…

After several false starts and much lamenting about this year’s tough offshore fishing, the San Diego based fleet finally got a reprieve in the form of school sized yellowfin, bluefin, yellowtail and dorado that are biting on the local banks. While the fish have only been biting a few days, there are a lot of fish in the area and they are very willing to bite. An example of this was Wednesday’s trip aboard the San Diego out of Seaforth Landing, where 45 anglers tallied 208 yellowfin, 12 yellowtail, 2 bluefin, and 2 skipjack.  There’s enough biting fish in the…

This is Part 2 in a series of articles on building your own custom rods. You can view Part 1 here. Once you’ve decided on the rod you want to build and ordered your components, it’s time to find the rod’s spine and install the tip. As is shown in the video, every rod blank has a natural spot of least resistance known as the “spine”. When building your rod it’s very important to align your guides along that spine as when fully bent the rod will want to roll to that position. If your guides are not aligned with…

After what is now approximately a half-decade of unprecedented fishing in Southern California, this week has delivered the best fishing for 300-pound plus bluefin tuna in history. An example of this came aboard the Success on Tuesday who on their first day of a 2 1/2-day trip landed eight tuna over with three of them topping the 300-pound mark. They were not alone as multiple trips manage several 300-plus pound fish, like this giant caught aboard the Chief. The bite continued on Wednesday as Billy Kelleman streamed the action on Facebook Live from San Clemente Island as his two passengers…

I’m not sure what exactly caused it but this has been a slower week of fishing overall. Over the last few years, the new moon (which we had last night) has brought improved fishing along with it so I’m hoping that this will again be the case. In the meantime, while the fishing has been slower there are still plenty of fish around to be caught, so let’s get into this week’s action. The big bluefin bite picked up this week for boats fishing from the east end of San Clemente Island down the 43. I spoke with my friend…

It’s been another good, if mostly unremarkable, week of fishing in Southern California. The yellows are still biting at the islands, the tuna are mostly cooperating down south, the bass are biting somewhat along the coast and the Navy has the San Clemente Island schedule so overloaded with closures that I’m beginning to wonder if we’re getting ready to go to war somewhere. The good news is that we’ve got good weather in the weekend forecasts so most areas (except maybe Rosa) should be private boat friendly. I zoomed out this week’s Navionics Chart to give you an idea of…

It’s been another good week of fishing in Southern California, but Tuesday night’s full moon seems to have had an impact on several areas. Starting up north, I just saw a report that the Mirage had limits of seabass on Thursday morning. I don’t know where they’re fishing but if I were to guess, I’d say that the squid ground bite at Rosa kicked back into gear. The tuna bite was also impacted by this full moon as cold water has moved into the local banks off San Diego and up through the 43. I ran a loop from Newport,…

I get a lot of questions from readers regarding the custom fishing rods I fish. Usually the conversation goes something like this. “Hey, what is that jig stick you used on those yellows?” “That’s an RCLB 80M, it’s a really good fit for that grade of fish and won’t kick your butt if you hook a bigger one.” “Nice! Where can I buy one?” “The rod blanks are available at (insert tackle store near the person asking the question)” “I don’t fish custom fishing rods. Can you recommend a similar factory fishing rod?” While I’ll usually try and point the…

It’s been another great week of fishing for SoCal anglers. With yellowtail biting at most of the islands, tuna biting out of San Diego in US waters and great weather forecast across the bight this weekend, this weekend’s angling opportunities are endless. Let’s take a look at the Navionics Chart to check out your options with the Channel Islands to San Diego fishing report. Starting up north, they yellowtail are biting at Santa Rosa Island. The Aloha Spirit made the run to the island on Tuesday’s full day trip and landed 42 yellowtail for their 22 anglers. There are still…

Check out the video to learn the tackle and techniques you’ll need to use for the Hydro Pencil and a variety of other downsized offerings.

It’s been another good, but not great, week of fishing in Southern California. The seabass bite at the Channel Islands slowed considerably going into the new moon and has yet to recover. In worse news for 805 anglers, the wind is forecast to blow up there this weekend and while the forecasts I’m seeing vary in intensity, it doesn’t look private boat-friendly at Rosa in any of them. Santa Cruz Island looks fishable, but the crossing might be ugly, so take a close look at the latest forecast before heading out. This week’s Navionics Chart tells the tale of what’s…

Some product reviews are a lot easier to do than others. Take for example a new lure design. Does it get more bites than the other lures I’ve fished? If so it’s easy enough to write a positive review. If not, it’s even easier to let the company know they may want to go back to the drawing board. Other products, like fishing hooks, are harder to review. I’d liken the process to walking up to the tool section at Home Depot, pulling a random hammer off the wall and asking a carpenter to review it. What can you say…

It’s been another week of great So Cal fishing across the Bight. From full speed seabass up north to steady island yellowtail fishing, bass biting along the coast, and a mix of tuna being caught below the border, it’s summer fishing at its finest. But before I get into the details of this week’s action, I’d like to take a moment to share some thoughts on fishing around the summer crowds. I made the run to Catalina Island on Saturday to fish bass and hopefully run into some yellows. While my trip was successful in catching plenty of bass and…

When it comes to calico bass fishing, I’ve been on a real hard bait kick lately, so I was more than happy to answer “yes” when my editor asked if he could send me some Yo-Zuri lures to review. Once the package arrived, I opened it to find a bunch of lures I’d already been using for the last couple years. After telling my editor that I could have saved the company some postage if I knew what he was sending me, I packed up the new lures, along with the ones I already had, and headed up to Palos…

It’s been another week of good fishing in Southern California. While there’s not much new to report, the fishing is good enough that steady fishing and cooperative weather is really all we can ask for. The good news for private boaters is that we’ve got calm winds forecast throughout the entire SoCal Bight all weekend and into next week, so you can pretty much fish wherever you’d like without worrying about the weather. Speaking of fishing anywhere you’d like, let’s take a look at this week’s Navionics Chart to check our options. Starting up north, the seabass and yellows are…