The San Diego

Big ones close to home. The San Diego has been scoring quality bluefin tuna to well over 100-pounds during their extended full day runs despite the on and off again bite so far this spring.

Dock Totals 5/14 – 5/27: 5081 anglers aboard 247 half-day to 3-day trips out of San Diego landings over the past two weeks caught 1 barracuda, 2849 bluefin tuna (up to 186 pounds), 30 bocaccio, 73 bonito, 366 calico bass, 3 halibut, 14 lingcod, 1 opah, 11,123 rockfish, 1 triggerfish, 175 sand bass, 162 sanddab, 140 sculpin, 51 sheephead, 25 Spanish jack, 232 whitefish, and 2363 yellowtail.

Saltwater: For a predicted El Niño year, it sure has been a cool start, considering water temps and breezy conditions. Still, folks are getting out there, with angler counts going over 5000 for the first time in a two-week period thus far in 2023. By July, that should be about the weekly haul for the ½-Day to 3-Day fleet. Though within full-day range, bluefin have been off and on, sometimes mauling everything from jigs to weighted live bait, other times metered but tight-jawed and reluctant to bite. Schools are ranging in size from a little under 30 pounds to fish pushing 200 pounds and are being found from the corner down to off Ensenada. Gear recommendations are thus ranging from light-medium 20-30-pound live-bait setups to heavier gear with 100-pound braid to 80-pound leaders or more for sinker rigs and heavy jigs.

When the bluefin aren’t cooperating, yellowtail have often been picking up the slack. And when both aren’t in the mood, excellent rockfish action can be found on the deeper edges of the banks where the tuna are. Many offshore trips targeting bluefin are returning to the dock with a mixed bag catch of pelagics and groundfish. That can be a nice alternative to the long rides of albacore fishing back when they were starting to show in May or June, before their migratory pattern shifted north where they are within 50 miles of the coast more toward the Oregon/Washington border. Then, reports of fish outside would spur boats to be the first to find them, and usually if you didn’t, there weren’t many opportunities for other species.

Inshore, calico and sand bass are biting well on the kelp and flats, respectively, while halibut in the bays are being caught rather steadily for those targeting the channel edges. Surf perch are still on the chew, and many of those caught are females in the spawn mode and loaded with fry. I touched on this as far as releasing them or making sure the fry is put back if mature enough. Some will birth in the bucket, and though it’s a gray area, newborn baby perch might count toward a limit if a DFW officer checks the catch. Realistically, I doubt any game officer would cite an angler for it but keep that in mind. Keeping a pregnant female counts as one fish, but once born, technically, the fry could be counted toward a limit. Sounds silly, but just another good reason to make sure the fry are evacuated back into the water — or the pregnant females are released.

South of the border, fishing is heating up around Ensenada as bluefin are within panga range, and the yellowtail fishing gets better as you go south. San Quintin has been very windy this spring, and though reports are few, there are some tuna and yellowtail outside off the banks if boats can get to them. That said, it has been a good early season for large surf perch, with some spawning halibut and an occasional corbina as they begin to show in the surf and up into the ghost shrimp flats in the littoral zones of San Quintin Bay. Once past the cool water trend and south of the Vizcaino peninsula, fishing has been excellent for grouper from La Bocana south, with more exotics like roosterfish showing well off Cabo and around to La Paz on the Sea of Cortez side, where yellowfin tuna, dorado, and even wahoo are biting well for pangeros, while the inshore fishing has produced quite a few yellowtail in the mix for the guys targeting sierra from the beach.

Moving on up the Sea of Cortez, Bahia de Los Angeles is just beginning to warm up for cabrilla and yellowtail, while a little ways north at Gonzaga, gulf grouper, cabrilla, and yellowtail fishing has been excellent since late April and throughout the month of May. So far, and though it has been mostly a cold, wet and windy start to the year, angling options in saltwater are many — and the season is just beginning.

Freshwater: Bass have been biting well at most lakes as trout season changed to catfish in those lakes that stock, with Cuyamaca being the one lake in the county that plants trout year-round. Though a few trout are still being caught at some lakes, the freshwater catch is now more channel catfish, perch, and bass. Of import, especially to the bass-angling community, is the news that as of May 31, Lake Hodges will reopen to recreational activities. The 105-year-old dam failed inspections last year, and the lake was closed in May 2022, citing safety concerns with the dilapidated dam.

Though the lake will be open, the dictated low level is too low for use of the boat ramp. But rental boats are available, the tackle shop is fully stocked, and float tubes and kayaks will be allowed. Slated originally as a five-month repair, further inspections last fall and this past March prompted the Department of Safety of Dams (DSOD) to call for keeping the water levels where they are until major repairs are completed, or the dam is completely replaced. Newer estimates for completion of either repairs or replacement are as far off as 2034, so, though the once-favorite largemouth bass fishery will again be fishable, don’t expect the ramp to be accessible for your trailered boat anytime soon.

They’re out there, so go get ‘em!