Barry Martinez

A fat Baja yellowfin tuna caught by angler Barry Martinez while fishing from his kayak near Los Frailes on the East Cape.

Dock Totals 1/23 – 1/29: 654 anglers aboard 38 half-day to 1.5-day trips out of San Diego landings this past week caught 37 barracuda, 56 bocaccio, 235 calico bass (124 released), 3 halibut, 117 lingcod, 97 lobster (75 released), 1 opaleye, 44 perch, 4 rock crab, 1,589 rockfish, 437 sand bass, 684 sculpin, 36 sheephead, 2 triggerfish, 220 whitefish, and 1 yellowtail.

Saltwater: January and February, typically, are not the best months for fishing in Southern California nearshore waters. This is the slow season, when cool waters force pelagic species south and endemic species mostly seem to lock their jaws. Rockfish, the usual winter target for table fare in northern Baja, is closed in Southern California waters until March, and our early spring targets — white seabass, barracuda, and bonito — have yet to show. Though yellowtail might be caught on occasion off the kelp beds for those fishing off La Jolla to Del Mar, they are what we call “homeguards,” or fish presumed to be among a rare few that do not migrate when the water drops below 62 degrees.

Surf fishing can be hit-and-miss as the normal bait in the swash, sand crabs and sand worms, dig deeper and are harder to find for the anglers who use them to catch the surf perch and corbina that feed on those critters when they are displaced by the roiling water on the beach-side of breaking waves. It might be sad, if it weren’t for the plethora of options afforded anglers living in the most populous state in the nation. Let’s explore those options.

First, we have to back up a bit and acknowledge that, though the bait is tougher to find, the surf can still be productive.

Surf perch and corbina are around all year, even if in fewer numbers than during their high season during summer and fall. Using scented artificial baits such as Berkley Gulp imitation sand crabs and sand worms can be productive, and mussels can be gathered on low tide that will also entice a bite. Guitar fish, or shovel-nosed sand sharks, are always around, though like other predators in the shallows, they will be fewer in number. Most caught here are released, but the long loins from behind the head and running the length of the tail are prized table fare in many cultures. Taste is subjective, and preparation ranges widely, but I happen to like the firm scallop-like texture of ‘guitaras’. Maybe you haven’t eaten it, maybe you have; many taco stands south of the border will use sand shark chunks fried in batter to fill fish tacos.

California halibut are also in our waters year-round. During the winter months, they tend to slide out deeper to the flats along channel edges and shelves in 30 to 100 feet of water, but can be caught from the beaches, piers, or jetties in the shallows behind the surf or in the bay. As batch spawners that usually become active around May, they can spawn any time of the year. Their spawns run for about two weeks at a time; when found in the shallows with egg roe, there will generally be more in the same area where one is caught.

When looking for halibut in deeper water, bounce-balling a large live bait, say, a 6” to 9” mackerel or fat sardine, is a popular method. A bounce-ball setup is basically a three-way swivel with a one-foot leader to a weight heavy enough to keep the bait on the bottom, and another 2’ to 3’ leader going to the hook. A slow drift is best, and the angler simply raises the tip every so often to ‘bounce’ the bait along the bottom. In the shallows, live bait becomes less productive than plastics and crank baits, as one can cover a lot more area casting and retrieving, whereas bait is usually moved slowly, if at all, when targeting halibut in less than fix feet of water or so.

There have been some good catches so far this winter, with the majority coming from the flats along the channels in San Diego Bay, and a few good ones from the surf as well. As bay fishing can be done from a small boat, kayak, or even float tubes, targeting halibut in deeper water is something most can try. If no boat, the Dolphin out of Fisherman’s Landing is running a halibut-specific half-day trip on Wednesdays through February.

Other than halibut and surf species, calico and sand bass generally bite well during winter months. Though tough from shore, our basses are a good option for anglers with access to any legal vessel that will safely get to kelp beds or sand flats in 40 to 80 feet of water. Again, a half-day run on a sportboat is a good option, as they will be targeting bass until rockfish opens on March 1st.

Of course, we are in the high season for long-range trips, but they can be pricey for the average angler. A Baja adventure to either side of the peninsula, from Ensenada or San Felipe to the tip, is also an option for San Diego anglers on a budget seeking warmer waters. Yellowtail are biting well from Ensenada south, but especially off the fishing towns mid-peninsula on the Pacific side. Medium grade yellowfin tuna are biting very well off the southern Baja inshore waters, and further out and south, the big cow yellowfin are testing the gear and backs of anglers targeting them. One report coming out of that area, especially, caught my eye this past week:

While fishing in the Sea of Cortez north of Cabo San Lucas from his kayak, angler Barry Martinez hooked and fought to the gaff an impressive yellowfin tuna. The fish was caught on 200-gram silver and green flat fall in 250 feet of water off Los Frailes. That may sound like a long paddle, but the 100-fathom curve runs well within a mile of the coast there. One can reach 250 feet depth in about the same distance as paddling from La Jolla Shores beach at the Marine Room to the Children’s Pool. But it wasn’t an ‘easy’ outing or catch by any means. From Martinez: the fish “broke my Trevala jigging rod with a Daiwa Saltist reel with 60-pound leader on 80-pound braid.”

Either way, a fish caught is a fish caught, and a yellowfin tuna in the 60-pound class from a kayak is quite a catch. Whether fishing bays, lakes, the beach, or offshore, San Diego “off-season” ocean fishing can be pretty darn good, and with our sportfishing fleet and the Baja Peninsula as our southern neighbor, our area is one of the top fishing destinations in the world for good reason.

Freshwater notes:

• In preparation for the Youth Fishing Derby on February 5th, Lake Poway will be closed for fishing from January 31st to February 5th at noon.
• Lake Hodges is reopened for fishing Wednesday February 2nd following their annual seasonal closure from October through February.

Fish Plants: February 3 - Lake Poway, trout (1,500) February 7 - Lake Jennings, trout (2,000), February 10 – Santee Lakes, trout (1,500)