Early Spring Season Has Anglers Looking For Warm Water!

The first day of spring was March 20, 2023 and anglers have had to continue to dodge winter like weather systems that have been bringing rain, wind and high seas. Even some of the sunny days between weather systems have been days of high seas and breezy conditions out on the fishing grounds. There are more weather systems within the current 10 day weather forecast for Southern California so the pattern of unsettled weather looks to continue for a while longer.

The unsettled weather conditions have resulted in cool water temperatures that have been in the 56.5 to 59.5 degree range and anglers are hoping for a stretch of nice weather to allow the water conditions to stabilize and warm. Some warming of the water would be expected to help in sparking better springtime surface fishing activity for species such as bluefin tuna, yellowtail, calico bass and barracuda.

Anglers fishing in Southern California waters are looking forward to the end of the annual seasonal rockfish/groundfish closure which will come to an end at the end of March. There will be a lot of anglers wanting to go out fishing for rockfish on the opening day of April 1 to be among the first to drop baits down to rockfish that have been off limits to fishing since January 1.

Some San Diego County areas that should provide some rockfish when the season opens on April 1 as listed from south to the north are the International Reef, the Imperial Beach Pipeline, the hard bottom around the Whistler Buoy at Point Loma, the Point Loma Pipeline, the Green Tank at Point Loma, Point Loma College, The 270 to the west of Mission Bay, the upper end of La Jolla, Del Mar, Leucadia, Carlsbad and Box Canyon.

The fishing along the San Diego County coast has been good for a mix of sand bass, calico bass, whitefish and sculpin along with a chance at a bonus yellowtail or halibut. Productive hard bottom and structure areas for sand bass, calico bass, sculpin and whitefish as listed from the south to the north include the Imperial Beach Pipeline, the hard bottom to the southeast of the Whistler Buoy at Point Loma, the hard bottom to the north and northwest of Buoy #3 at Point Loma, the Green Tank, Point Loma College, the Jetty Kelp outside of Mission Bay, the Variety Kelp below the lower end of La Jolla, the upper end of La Jolla, Leucadia, Carlsbad, the Anderson Pipeline, the Buccaneer Pipeline, the artificial reefs off Oceanside and Box Canyon.

Recent days have seen a bit of improvement in the halibut fishing off Imperial Beach. No big numbers to report but a few boats that have been focusing on halibut fishing have been catching an occasional legal sized halibut. Drifting with sardines has produced an occasional halibut and bounce ball trolling recently produced a 40 inch halibut. Additional areas that might be likely to produce a halibut along the San Diego County Coast listed from south to north include the Hotel Del Coronado, San Diego Bay, Mission Bay, the sandy bottom next to the structure of the sunken NEL Tower off Mission Beach, the sandy bottom next to the structure of the Yukon shipwreck outside of Mission Beach, South Ponto Beach, the sandy bottom next to the Buccaneer Pipeline and the sandy bottom next to the artificial reefs off Oceanside

The yellowtail fishing at La Jolla has been slow but there has been occasional yellowtail activity found at La Jolla in recent weeks. The yellowtail activity tends to be found in the region ranging from the outskirts of the MLPA closure zone at the lower end of La Jolla on up to the lower edges of the La Jolla Canyon in 18 to 35 fathoms.

Most of the yellowtail are located around schools of bait and the occasional bites tend to be had on surface iron, yo-yo iron and sardines or mackerel that are fished deep on a dropper loop rig. Good choices for surface iron include Tady 45’s and Salas 7X lights in blue and white and sardine colors. Good choices for yo-yo iron include Salas 6X, Salas 7X and Salas 6X Jr. jigs in blue and white, scrambled egg as well as blue and chrome.

The fishing at Los Coronado Islands has been producing a few yellowtail and has also been good for a mix of reds, rockfish, whitefish and a few lingcod. Seaforth Sportfishing reports that the yellowtail they have been catching at Los Coronado Islands aboard San Diego have been in the 15 to 25 pound range. The best day of yellowtail fishing was back in the middle of March and saw San Diego out of Seaforth Sportfishing fish a full day trip with 27 anglers who posted a catch that included 33 yellowtail. More recently, San Diego had a full day trip with 16 anglers catch 5 yellowtail, 25 rockfish, 5 sheephead and 80 whitefish.

Yo-yo iron has been working best for the yellowtail with dropper loop fished sardines also producing some hookups. Good choices for yo-yo iron include Salas 6X, Salas 7X and Salas 6X Jr. jigs in blue and white scrambled egg as well as blue and chrome colors. Most of the yellowtail activity has been found while working sonar marks found on the warm water side of a temperature break off the weather side of North Island. The cooler water has been down around 57.5 degrees and the warmer water has been up around 59 degrees.

The bottom fishing around Los Coronado Islands has also been good for a mix of reds, salmon grouper, an assortment of rockfish and an occasional lingcod. Best areas for the mixed bag bottom fishing have been to the northwest and north of North Island in 30 to 60 fathoms.

When the weather allows, sportboats out of San Diego Bay and Mission Bay have been running what are mostly 1.5 day trips down the Mexican coast to fish the Punta Colnett and Punta Camalu areas. There were no trips that I know of last weekend but on the prior weekend there was good yellowtail fishing on 15 to 25 pound class fish down below Punta Colnett in the Punta Camalu region. Aside from a chance at finding yellowtail, recent trips to the Punta Colnett and Punta Camalu areas have also been finding very good fishing for a mix of reds, salmon grouper, lingcod and an assortment of rockfish.

I have no recent reports about there being any boats out searching for bluefin tuna in the unsettled weather conditions. During the past month or so there have been unconfirmed rumors about bluefin activity at some of the local offshore banks below and outside of the Coronado Islands as well as around some of the offshore banks below and outside of Ensenada. About a week ago, some long range boats did catch some bluefin while fishing areas below and outside of San Martin Island. A stretch of nice weather would likely help the bluefin situation by allowing water conditions to stabilize and allowing more boats to get offshore and do some exploring.

Northern and western weather systems are still coming through Southern California and continue to bring rain, wind and high seas. These weather systems should start easing as we get further into the spring. Anglers need to spend some time studying the marine weather forecast so they can select one of the good weather days to go out fishing. The spring season can offer some great angling opportunities before the busy summer season arrives. Keep on fishing and I hope to see you out on the water!

Bob Vanian is the voice, writer and researcher of the San Diego-based internet fish report service called 976-Bite which can be found at www.976bite.com. Vanian also provides anglers with a personal fish report service over the telephone at (619) 226-8218. He always welcomes your fish reports at that same phone number or at bob976bite@aol.com.