It’s all about that bass

Dock Totals 1/14 – 1/20: 478 anglers aboard 22 half-day to 3-day trips out of San Diego landings over the past week caught 40 calico bass, 21 lingcod, 20 lobster (24 released), 54 perch, 89 rock crab, 125 rockfish, 388 sand bass, 403 sculpin, 8 sheephead, and 240 whitefish.

Saltwater: With rockfish closed and iffy offshore conditions, most of the past week’s fishing has been closer to home, and much of that centered on sand bass, whitefish, and sculpin. It is not necessarily glamour season, and as fishing is basically catch as catch can, being able to go out on the water and stock up on taco and ceviche meat is a fair trade, considering much of the country is shoveling snow. Sand bass have been biting exceptionally well, as are sculpin. Whitefish are usually associated with rockfish, which is shut down for the first few months each year, though whitefish can be taken and are often found in the same areas as the congregating sand bass. 

For rockfish, we still need to hop on a boat or take a drive down south of the border and hire a local operator to target them, but whitefish, bass and sculpin will do just fine as a substitute. Sculpin has a texture not unlike vermilion rockfish, and whitefish is the perfect all-around species for table fare, frying up firm yet juicy, and absorbs well into ceviche. Mind those spines on the sculpin though; they aren’t called “scorpionfish” for nothing. Not that their poison is deadly, but getting stuck by one sure can wake up the senses. I always handle sculpin by firmly gripping the bottom lip, though it is even better to just use pliers. (It’s always a good idea to teach the youngsters how to deal with the pokier species we target, especially when poison is involved. I have been poked quite a few times by many species, and in my experience, sculpin are not stingy with pain. They’ll give you all you want.)

This youngster seems a bit shy, and rightly so, of his sculpin caught while fishing aboard the Premier.

With rockfish closed, it is good to stay on top of the regulations of what is available in our local waters. Ocean whitefish are open year-round at all depths, with a daily bag and possession limit of 10 fish within the general daily bag limit of 20 fish. Unlike sculpin and bass, here is no minimum length for whitefish. For sculpin, the daily bag and possession limit is 5 fish with a minimum size limit of 10 inches total length. Sand bass are open year-round, need be 14 inches minimum length, and the daily limit is five fish, which includes any combination of the three species of bass in our area; sand bass, spotted bay bass, and calico bass. For these fish, found in 60- to 120-feet in depth, my go-to lure that works across the board is a tube bait from ¾ ounce to 3 ounces, depending on current and wind. Just enough weight to get it down is best, because the less weight, the better the action. I also found that when whitefish “stack up” higher in the water column, a light 3 to 4-inch tube bait tends to get a lot of action on the larger units.

Boats that are fishing rockfish and lingcod in Mexican waters are doing very well, with anglers filling up the sacks with limits on most trips. Our rockfish, by the way, are not “cod,” nor are lingcod, though that c-word has been bandied about for as long as I can remember in the SoCal sportfishing scene. “Rock cod trips” were often advertised, and I remember a couple of captains being referred to as “the cod-father” for their prowess in putting anglers on the fish. But none of our rockfish in the “groundfish” category are a true cod. For Pacific cod, one needs to go much further north, as their range extends from the Bering Sea to about central California, with the better fishing being in the northern half of that stretch.

When I worked the deck of an overnight boat in 1979-1980, we were still using 15-hook ganion rigs, and you could catch the limit in a couple of drops. Now, with three hooks, at least you can spend a little more time fishing, plus you can better target a specific proximity to the benthic layer, where the prized lingcod tend to hang out. Lingcod are actually a greenling, and more closely related to kelp or rock greenlings than they are to cod. A long-lived fish, lingcod can live to about 36 years, grow to nearly five feet long, and weigh as much as 70-pounds. Interestingly, the age of a lingcod can be found by counting the rings in a cross-cut dorsal spine, not unlike counting rings in a tree trunk. 

In an article published in 1977 by Dr. Dick Blemish and Doris Ray of the Pacific Biological Station, it was shown that the normal aging methods of using scales or otoliths were found to drastically underestimate the age of lingcods. By cutting a dried fin from between the fourth to eight fin rays in the second dorsal, they could then count the rings, or annuli, under a microscope and get a near-precise estimate. Typically, lingcod will reach 18 inches or so in two years, and 30 inches by age five. Minimum size for lingcod is 22 inches, and there is a two-fish limit per angler per day. Favorite methods when targeting lingcod include a live mackerel on a reverse dropper-loop, large plastic tube baits, grubs, or swimbaits in the 6-inch to 10-inch lengths, or a knife jig worked within a few feet of the bottom along reef structure.

So, given the options, this is a great time of year to load up on table fare when the weather permits, and depending on amount of time you have to do so, it’s either going to be bass, whitefish, and sculpin, or a trip south for rockfish and lingcod. If you’re seeking a more glamorous species, an occasional yellowtail might be found locally, but water cooled rapidly along the coast south to past San Quintin, where just last week there was a wide-open bite on yoyo irons. This week was a much different fishery, with all species seemingly stunned by the drop in surface temps from the low 60s to around 56-58-degrees. I expect fishing should soon improve along that stretch of coast as the fish acclimate to cooler conditions. Yellowtail might be hit and miss, but good rockfish and lingcod are almost a given this time of year out of Ensenada or San Quintin. They’re out there, so go get ‘em!