Author: Erik Landesfeind

Tired of all of this wind and rain yet? I sure am. Not that I’m keeping track but this is my sixth column in a row that has been affected by the rain. To make matters worse, there were no real fishable days between the writing of last week’s column and this one so I have absolutely nothing to report. Wait, I take that back. I heard the half day boat out of Marina Del Rey caught 8 sand bass and 3 sculpin on Wednesday. Better get in line early tomorrow because I’m sure they’ll sell out. Pardon my sarcasm,…

Writing columns talking about how good the fishing was during the week, followed by talking about how bad the weather is going to be during the weekend, gets old really quick. And looking back over the headlines of my last five columns, all of them refer to either good pre-storm fishing or good post-storm fishing. Well, I hate to tell you but we can add this one to the list as well. Starting with the good news, we had surprisingly good coastal fishing over the weekend and earlier this week. While the Navionics Chart may seem unexciting, compared to what…

I was really hoping to open this week’s column with a story about how the full moon finally got those local bluefin to bite, but as you can tell by the headline, sculpin and sand bass it is. Before I get into this week’s action, I’d like to check in on the non-existent bluefin bite. The good news is that the fish are still around and divers shot a couple earlier this week. The bad news is that they’re still not biting and are harder to find than they were before the storms. Those fish were locked in on that…

This week’s weather has left me so little to report on that I briefly considered taking a rain check on this week’s column but I decided to use the opportunity to share some thoughts, insights and ideas on the bluefin tuna that have mostly not been biting in our local waters. Before I do though, I’d like to take a moment to cover this week’s report. It rained all week and almost no one went fishing. The guys that did got rained on and were likely miserable. The end. With that out of the way, its time to look forward.…

If nothing else, the last five crazy years of fishing in Southern California have led to many conversations I’d never thought I’d be having. The latest happened on Friday morning as Decker and I were idling through Newport harbor and discussing why I didn’t think running to the rigs was the best plan for finding the bluefin tuna since there were likely fish much closer to the harbor. When it comes to offshore fishing, “much closer to the harbor” is a unit of measure usually reserved for comparisons like the distance to the 277 versus the 289 or the 14…

Yellowtail Bass Sculpin Bite There’s not a whole lot to report this week due to the strong Santa Ana winds that rang in the New Year and kept most boats off the water. The good news is that those winds have stopped blowing, the water temps are holding strong, the boat pressure is light in most areas and the fish are biting. Let’s take a look at this week’s Navionics Chart and see what’s biting where. I’m going to throw my reporting routine completely out the window this week and start in the middle of the chart since it’s the…

Best Spectra Fishing Line Knots If you were to ask twenty different fishermen about their favorite spectra connections (spectra fishing line), you’d probably get twenty different answers. But if you were to ask those same fishermen how much testing they did before choosing their favorite, the answer would be little to none. Most simply trust whatever knot they first learned or rely on the recommendation of someone they believed to be an authority on the subject. I did the same thing and the first ten years I fished spectra I used a bulky uni-knot to connect my spectra to fluorocarbon…

Southern California SoCal Rockfish Bite There’s really not too much exciting to report this week other than the fact that the rockfish are biting well in most areas. While giant reds like this one caught aboard the Aloha Spirit are an exception, if you’re willing to make a drive or take a longer run, you should get the opportunity to fill your bag with quality fish. Let’s take a look at this week’s Navionics Chart and discuss your best rockfish options before the season ends on the 31st. Starting up north, trips out of Santa Barbara harbor offer you the…

DIY Rod Racks – Free-standing rack to store 21 rods. Here is a great, budget-friendly way to build your own rod racks for storage at home.  It doesn’t take long and feels great to get your gear organized and protected. What you’ll need: 4 – 10-foot long pieces of 1-1/2” PVC pipe 23 – 1 ½” T connectors 4 – 1 ½” 90-degree elbows Tape Measure Marker PVC Hand Saw Before you get started I feel the need to warn you that there is a lot of PVC that needs to be cut. I’m sure that there are easier ways…

Outboard Maintenance Lower Unit Service This is the second article in a series on servicing your outboard motor at home. If you missed the first one, you can read about performing a 100 hour service here. Servicing your motor is easy and contrary to the rumors floating around “authorized” service centers, doing so will not void your warranty. Here are the basic tools you’ll need to get started. Basic Socket Set Combination Wrench Set Screw Driver Oil Drain Pan Lower Unit Oil Pump Torque Wrench Propeller Nut Socket Marine Grease Anti-Seize Gloves Rags You’re going to also need some lower…

Well, it looks like the fat lady has finally sung on the tuna grounds as the Cortes and surrounding areas had pretty good coverage over the weekend and few SoCal bluefin(rockfish) were seen and zero were hooked or landed. While the fish went MIA on several occasions earlier this year, this time its likely for good. Water temps are dropping on the outer banks and conditions are deteriorating along with them. Will these big bluefin return to our waters next year? My gut says yes but historical precedent proves that they could be gone for another hundred years. Whatever the…

Navionics Fishing Ranges – Navionics App It’s been about six months since Navionics added “Fishing Ranges” to their boating app and I’ve used it enough since originally writing this article about it that I thought a follow was in order. If you missed the first one, I recommend reading it as well as it explains how to use “Fishing Ranges” to add color to your chart. In this article I’m going to be focusing on how to use these colors to figure out the underwater lay of the land when fishing bays and harbors. This screenshot of the Navionics Boating…

The wind blew as strong as forecast last weekend but a few boats made it out to the tuna grounds once the weather came down. The good news is that they found bluefin and some boats, including the Fortune out of 22nd Street Landing, were lucky enough to catch limits. The bad news is that the tuna grounds took quite a beating during the wind and the main bite zone was left in tatters. Things will likely have changed again by the time you read this, but earlier this week the bluefin were mostly small with a few fish in…

It’s raining as I’m writing this on Thursday morning and by the time you read it on Friday, the rain will likely be gone but the wind will just be getting started. Make no mistake, if the forecast doesn’t change dramatically, you’re probably not going fishing this weekend. I only included “probably” because I know several gluttons for punishment, one of which told me he’s going to trailer down and fish San Diego Bay. This shot of the wind forecast for Saturday afternoon tells you everything you need to know. Sure, you might find a small weather window early but…

Cortes Bank Bluefin Tuna There have been some pretty impressive group bluefin shots posted over the last few months but this one shot at Fisherman’s Landing last Friday morning is the best one I’ve seen yet. While the big fish bite seems to have died off a bit this week, they’re still around and there are plenty of 20 to 60-pound fish around to take up the slack. The New Lo-an checked in on Thursday morning with a count from their 2 1/2-day trip. “Steady fishing on 40 to 60-pound bluefin with a few fish in the 20-pound range mixed…

It’s been another unprecedented week of fall bluefin fishing in Southern California as the tuna have taken up residence at Cortes Bank and according to a report by Captain Jeff Markland of the Thunderbird are eating everything in sight. In an Instagram post he shared a photo of a bait net full of short belly rockfish with the description, “Rolled up to a spot of puddlers and birds. Saw 50 to 200-pounders rolling around on a huge spot of small rockfish. What a great time to be alive.” While not as interesting, other captains had exciting fishing to report. On…

Big Scores Big Bluefin It’s gotten hard to keep accurate track over the last few crazy years, so I may be wrong but this weekend’s trips aboard the New Lo-An and Pacific Dawn may have been the best 1 1/2-day scores ever. On a trip that returned on October 29th, the Pacific Dawn docked with 17 bluefin over 200-pounds in the hold, the biggest weighing in at 265-pounds. The most remarkable thing about the trip? Every single passenger landed a fish over 200-pounds! You can read a full report of that amazing trip here. Not to be outdone, the New Lo-An…

Despite rough conditions, the big bluefin bit right on cue during October’s full moon on Tuesday. Several boats got on them and had good scores but the high-liners were the Pacific Queen and the New Lo-An. The Pacific Queen reported 19 fish over 100 with 2 over 200 and the New Lo-An tallied 18 over 100 and 2 over 250 with the biggest weighing in at 296-pounds. The fish bit best in the dark and as you can imagine with this grade the casualties were high. Due to boat schedules, there weren’t many reports out of the zone on Wednesday…

The good news is that, aside from the heavy Santa Ana winds that blew on Monday, it’s been another week of excellent fall fishing in Southern California. The better news is that we’ve got light offshore breezes forecast for the weekend, followed by stable weather during the week and resumed Santa Ana winds by next weekend. The reason I’m mentioning this is that it’s getting to be that time of year when a few days of weather might be enough to end our offshore season. So while there are never any guarantees, I can’t see any reason we couldn’t be…

The big news this week is that the yellowtail are biting on the Horseshoe Kelp. On Wednesday, the 1/2 and 3/4-day boats out of Pierpoint Landing combined for 89 yellows for 35 anglers. The fish are averaging 10 to 15-pounds with the occasional 20-pound stand out and are being caught on live bait and surface iron. The bad news is that the bite’s proximity to the harbor, coupled with good weather in the forecast, will likely become a gang bang of epic proportions by this weekend. If you’re absolutely dying to join in on what’s likely to be a big…

Southern California Saltwater Fishing Report There’s not a whole lot new to report this week other than that the big bluefin came back from wherever it was that they went and are again in a biting mood. There haven’t been any big scores yet but private boaters and charter boats have been getting some shots in recent days. The bad news is that where they’re biting falls within the San Clemente Island safety zone and the Navy has parts of the backside closed through the weekend. If you’re heading out there check the schedule and keep your radio on 16.…

Hoop netting is something that I’ve been meaning to write about for a couple of years now. But being the lazy bass fisherman that I am, every time lobster season rolled around I’d find other things to cover; usually those that didn’t require me staying up all night pulling hoops. Well it looks like my procrastination has finally paid off as my friend John Curry decided to take up hoop netting this season and offered to share what he’s learned along the way. I understand that some of you hoop netters might be dubious that I’d choose to interview someone…

Socal Offshore Beat The September full moon came and went earlier this week, and is almost always the case, the fishing changed along with it. The big bluefin that had been biting before the wind blew last week have gone somewhat MIA but have been replaced by biting 20 to 100-pound fish. Along with the smaller grade bluefin, the bigger yellowfin are biting better than before. Throw in close to a hundred miles of biting bonito along the coast and that pretty much sums up our latest lunar cycle for SoCal offshore. Let’s go to the Navionics Chart for a…

Well, this is the first time in a long time that I didn’t lead off my column with a bluefin tuna report. If you’ve been following the counts this week, strong winds outside San Clemente Island meant that bluefin scores have been low to non-existent. The forecast is for improved weather and the winds will likely have already come down by the time you read this, but we’re going to have to wait and see what effect all that wind had on conditions on the bluefin grounds. My guess is that they’ll probably still be around and biting since they…