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Sports

Anglers Aim For Catalina's Sea Bass

Private boaters from King Harbor set their sights on Catalina Island white sea bass as the bite erupts.

Most King Harbor private boaters can reach Catalina in a few hours or less. For seasoned anglers, crossing the Catalina Island Channel makes more sense now than ever.

The white sea bass bite broke wide open at Catalina Island on Wednesday as three boats from Pierpoint Landing limited out. The Toronado, Options and the Mardiosa took one-fish limits of the delectable croakers in wide-open fishing.

Toronado Skipper Ray Lagmay reported that he never saw another boat when catching his sea bass, suggesting a wide area of fish. "It was as good as it gets," said Lagmay. "We had everyone on the boat hooked up to 20- to 40-pound white seabass."

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Most of the seabass were taken in 70- to 80-feet of water on the western side of Catalina. The preferred right is a 25-pound test with a 3-O hook and a 4-ounce torpedo sinker. Also effective was a heavy white jig tipped with live or fresh dead squid.

Speaking of squid, it remains problematic at Catalina Island. The Long Beach Carnage and the Pacific Carnage scoured Catalina Island on Tuesday night and found no squid. The two bait boats didn't even leave port. The dearth could create a potential problem as squid is the preferred bait for white sea bass.

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There is also a white sea bass tournament this weekend for private boaters and kayakers. First place wins a $7,000 prize. You can check in at Dana Point or Catalina Island. For details, check wonews.com or call Pat McDonell, director of the event, at 949-366-0030 ext. 33 or email him at pat@wonews.com.

Quick Bites

There have been some corbina and barred perch caught next to the . Sand crabs and ghost shrimp have been good baits with 6 pound test and a number 6 hook best. An occasional leopard shark is still being caught on chunked mackerel off Rat Beach.  

There was great fishing on the Horseshoe Kelp, located 4 miles from Angels Gate on Friday when the Toronado caught 150 barracuda, 50 rockfish, one lingcod and 12 sand dabs. Some of the barracuda were in the 7- to 9-pound class while the lingcod took the jackpot.

There have been some sand bass caught on the Huntington Flats as well as some barracuda. Sunday’s gale-force winds induced a precipitous drop in water temperature and subsequent stop to the bite. Water temps are almost back to normal, which should really kick things in to gear.  

The rocks around Palos Verdes continue to provide good opaleye perch fishing along with more calico and sand bass. Anglers should pay close attention to the current high-surf warning as fishing from rocks and jetties can be very dangerous.

Kids 15 years and under can fish free at participating landings this Saturday and Sunday on half- and three-quarter-day boats with a paid adult. Pierpoint Landing in Long Beach, 22nd Street Landing in San Pedro, LA Harbor Sportfishing, and Marina del Rey Sportfishing are all offering this deal.

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