Spirit of Adventure

A happy angler with a massive 71.2-pound yellowtail caught at Alijos Rocks while aboard the Spirit of Adventure 7-day trip.

Dock Totals 7/9– 7/15: 4803 anglers aboard 192 half-day to 3-day trips out of San Diego landings over the past week caught 85 barracuda, 3200 bluefin tuna (up to 270 pounds), 72 bonito, 923 calico bass, 4 dorado, 9 halibut, 4 lingcod, 1 mako shark (released), 1 perch, 3971 rockfish, 210 sand bass, 20 sanddab, 56 sculpin, 163 sheephead, 1 thresher shark,1 treefish, 2 triggerfish, 208 whitefish, 2 white seabass, 1048 yellowfin tuna, and 93 yellowtail.

Saltwater: As the season seems to jump forward haltingly for the boats working offshore for pelagic species, warming water changes are happening basically in pace with past standout years. 2023 might be another year folks talk about in the future as “incredible,” or maybe we are just seeing new norms arise, as with the departure of albacore in the early part of this century for more favorable conditions far north of SoCal waters.

A scratch of dorado is beginning to show within 1.5-day range and yellowfin numbers are on a steady rise, while the better quality bluefin fishing has shifted more toward the west than south. Yellowtail have been hit and miss, but as in past weeks, the average size has been fairly large, with not a bit of the early-season schools of “firecrackers” in the 8- to 15-pound range we tend to see when the number of yellowtail in the counts seem to explode.

Long-range season for trips of 8 days or more is wrapping up, and many of those boats will shift their focus to 5-day or less trips, which may bring the yellowtail counts up a bit with the added focus closer to home, though it has been a very good winter-early summer for yellowtail down south. As the jacks are just beginning to bite in the cool-water zones off San Quintin and Bahia Asuncion, signs are good for the local fleet moving forward.

Rockfish is still allowable to 100-fathoms (600 feet) and will be until September 15. At that point, nearshore rockfish out to 300 feet or 50 fathoms will be off limits for the first time while rockfish season is open. Rockfish is closed from January 1 to April 1, when it will again be open to 100 fathoms until September 15. Though so far successful, the new depth changes will create a challenge for anglers fishing inside of the 50-fathom line this September, so folks should bone up on fish identification and depth charts, while the CDFW may have their hands full in trying to enforce the new regulations, especially among the private boating community.

A protected cowcod with extreme barotrauma and a transmitter. With proper methods, this fish can be returned safely to its habitat.

CDFW

Nearshore sportboats in the fleet, typically the half-day and twilight runs, will probably need to have a few more descender rigs aboard to safely release any rockfish caught between September 16 and December 31 in water less than 300 feet. Barotrauma occurs due to the rapid pressure change as the fish is reeled up from the depths, and can be fatal. With a bloated swim bladder protruding, rockfish often cannot return to the depths where they live, and unless remedied, will flounder on the surface. One “old school” method is to puncture the expanded swim bladder, but a descender rig can allow a more natural return to normal. Either method can work, but a descender rig is the only way to assuredly get the fish back to its normal habitat in the water column.

Private boaters should carry at least one descender as well. The new depth regulation may result in more pressure on near-kelp endemic species such as calico bass, sheephead, and sculpin, as well as halibut and sand bass on the local flats. It will be interesting to watch the counts on those species from September until the first of the year.

In looking at the water temps along the southern California and Baja coasts, it looks as though water is warming fast in all but the cool-water trends off Ensenada and San Quintin. Those areas, shaded blue on Tempbreak.com, tend to remain cool until the warm water push aided by storms moving north from the tropics fills in, which shouldn’t be long now. We may be looking at another record year of dorado in U.S. waters and a late summer/early fall bonanza for pelagic species within range of extended half-day trips, which will ease any added pressure on the near-kelp and sand flat species that might occur with the rockfish depth changes.

Hopefully, the on-again-off-again yellowtail bite along the coast near San Diego and the Coronado Islands will pick up, along with the expected added influx of exotics like yellowfin and dorado. But as it is, near and offshore fishing has been and, by all signs moving forward, will be excellent through the 2023 season. They’re out there, so go get ‘em!