  Santa Barbara Wavewalker Charters 8-26-01 There is something of a shark invasion occuring off the Carpinteria area -- just offshore from the sign which reads, "World's Safest Beach"!! These sharks wont threaten the distiction much though. Blue sharks are congregating around sportfishers who do a fair amount of chumming and have lots of hook baits in the water. I've enjoyed multiple hookups with thresher sharks in the same area. On the bottom, we're picking up a fair number of smoothound and pinback sharks. All of these sharks (except for the blues) offer good table fair. Barracudas are on the prowl. We are finding them most commonly in the gap between the rows of oil rigs off of Santa Barbara, and also between the row of three oil rigs and the rock island near La Conchita. The 4-Mile area is giving up some good keeper "Lingasaurs", but it is necessary to week through some sub-legals. Fortunately, they can be returned to the water in good shape. The same area is kicking out some good size rockfish, but again, some sub-legals come up as well. Bass fishing is up and down like a yo-yo. Pick a time when a moderate current is running, and water temps are stable or climbing, and the bass will boil on the surface and give your adrenaline glands a workout. 8-3-01 Ahoy there one and all! We were salmon fishing today aboard the RIPTIDE and it was a GRAND DAY! We trolled along Pacifica with great results - the salmon bit one at a time all day with an occasional double! The group we had on the boat were very cooperative - working together. Because of the cooperation we had a great success rate for the day with 24 salmon (customer limits plus 2 fish for the crew) for the day with an average size of 11 lbs - the biggest was 19 lbs. We even had another salmon following next to one that was on the hook! It was bigger than the one we had on the hook! But, it did not get close enough for me to try to net. The weather was good with a slight breeze (5 to 7 knots) and there was not much of a swell so there were no upset tummies! It is great to see the salmon coming into the beach!! This past week saw some really great tuna scores with one boat reporting 52 tuna. Today the reports were up to 20 fish per boat for the high score. Coastal rock fishing has been consistent with scratch fishing all day leading up to limits of nice rock fish and a few ling cod mixed in. The Riptide has an open tuna trip scheduled for this Thursday and several open load salmon trips this week also. Till next time! 7-25-01 These were BIG Channel Islands calico's and they were meaner than junkyard bass. We anchored up over shallow reef zones at the east end of Santa Rosa Island, and began a chumline of store-bought chum, cat food, and live anchovies. A splitshot or 1/4-oz sliding sinker kept the baits below the birds but above the kelp. the bass went into attack mode and the larger units were shouldering the smaller guys out of the way. Now THAT was calico bass fishing! Halibut fishing is a bit scratchy, but your barndoor is out there and can be found with some patience. Same with seabass. The shallow water rockfish are as hungry as ever and are being joined in the fish counts by big wiggly ocean whitefish. 6-22-01 Fishing along the coast the past couple of days has been fun and rewarding. We've been catching a suprising number of lings, at the mid-deoth spots in 120 to 180 feet. The fun part is that successive drops on these spots may yield a ling, then a fat calico, then a red, then a sandy, then a sheephead. Variety is fun! Calico have been doing very well, off and on throughout the day at the shallow structure spots such as the Horseshoe Reef near Padaro Lane, and Naples Reef. Twilight bites have been hot at times. There are halibut in the shallows and we've had a decent pick at them in 30 to 40 feet of water near Carpinteria. 6-19-01 Both sides of the Santa Barbara Channel are giving up some great fishing. Seems like I've had several trips in a row where the passengers just wanted some good activity, rather than gambling on glory fish. So we've been rambling around the Channel and catching a little bit of everything. There are enough white seabass around these days that they become fairly common incidental catches. We've hooked into them fishing live squid, live anchovies, and even swimbaits. There have been some thresher sharks up the coast, just past Gaviota. Most fish are running 70 to 80 pounds, but there are some much larger ones in the vicinity. There has been an area of mackerel, on the way up, evident by birds working. These make great bait for the threshers. Yesterday I set the WaveWalker on a drift near some boiler rocks at the west end of Santa Cruz Island while my deckhand, Tiffany, was filleting fish. My passengers had caught all the fish they wanted and were resting and enjoying the views. I grabbed a rod, tied on a 7-inch green swimbait, and caught five calicos on six casts (Ahem, there was a "professional overrun" on one cast... mea culpa!). It's safe to say there are some calicos in the boiler rocks!! I've never seen so many lingcod in all my life. We're catching them deep, shallow, and everywhere in-between. Rockfish limits are easy. We have been catching halibut in water from 30 feet to 70. Christy's Ranch on Santa Cruz island is one good place to try for the flatties. 5-27-01 LOTS of possibilities! Locally, there is a decent thresher bite off of Pdaro Lane and Carpinteria in 30 to 120 feet of water. Mackerel is the best bait, but they will eat anchovies, sardines, smelt, and even perch. Halibut are doing well, with a number of decent fish coming from the Naples Reef area. Anchovies, on the drift in 45 to 75 feet of water is the hot ticket. Rockfish just can't wait to climb aboard. Just pin a strip of squid on a hook and get it anywhere near a structure spot in deeper water. You'll soon have dinner. I've been finding squid, in jiggable amounts on the front side of Santa Rosa Island. We've been using that, plus plastics, to nail some incredible calico bass inshore from the squid areas. Most of the seabass action is near East Point and Eagles Nest, in 85 to 110 feet of water. The best halibut action is coming from Bechers Bay and Skunk Point. Whole squid makes good bait. It doesn't have to be alive, if you impart a little action to it. Live squid is everyone's favorite however. 5-21-01 We are enjoying plenty of feed and plenty of glory fish at Santa Rosa Island. Bechers Bay has been productive for halibut and a few seabass. Much of the bait (both squid and fin fish) looks to be moving back and forth around Carrington Point, so on any given day the best activity may be either in Bechers Bay or between Carrington Point and Rodes Reef. There are usually a bazilion birds in the vicinity of the bait, so it isn't difficult to tell where the main body of bait is. It is helpful to work that area for the seabass, but the halibut are often in the quieter looking areas. For both fish, squid is the best bait. If no live squid is available, use whole frozen squid and pump the bait by lifting the rod tip a couple of feet a few times per minute. This makes the dead squid imitate a spawned out squid which is dying but still moving. Along the mainland, halibut fishing is pretty good up around Naples Reef. Thresher shark are showing off and on, near Carpinteria. There are a few salmon being caught, but not enough people are fishing for them to really understand how well they are on the chew or what the best areas are. The calico bite goes up and down, and get's good enough to be worth a try on any day. The sand bass bit is improving, and are biting on anchovies fished near any kind of structure, in depths from 30 to 80 feet. Rockfish limits are pretty easy to come by. We are nailing an occasional big ling cod in with the rockfish. The weather and sea state has been comfortable, and we've enjoyed some splendid shows along with our fishing - such as humpback whales feeding, playing, skyhopping, and wildly breaching off the west end of Santa Cruz Island. This makes for a great combo trip... fishing and whalewatching. 5-11-01 Halibut are moving in shallow. We'be been toughing it out with some decent size halibut in water from 30 to 50 feet deep, along the mainland coast. Some of the spots I'ev worked this week have been, East beach, Summerland and Carpinteria. I know some folks who have been hooking into them up around Naples Reef as well. This happy situation should continue for some weeks. Medium sardines and large anchovies on rat traps or reverse dropper loops are attracting the most fish, however bounce-balling with hoochies should also put some fish on your boat. There are halibut biting out at the Channel Islands also. Some spots which have kicked out fish this week include Chinese Harbor and Christy's at Santa Cruz, and Becher's Bay and the northeast sector off of Santa Rosa Island. Calico bass are biting better now that they are preparing for their spawn. They are biting live baitfish, and live squid when available. They also like swimbaits in brown, blue, green, and red colors. They are biting perhaps better along the mainland, than out at the islands where they are feeding on squid at night and resting during the day. that situation may change at any moment, as soon as the squid any given spot. Rockfish limits are easy, and it's interesting to note that we've been catching limits of bocaccio (Remember - those nearly extinct fish - HA!) among our overall limit of rockfish. During one trip a couple of days ago, we had our limits of rockfish by 10:00AM, and so we went to pester some other species - like halibut! Let's go fishing! Capt. David Bacon 4-6-01 What a casual and fun day! My group today had young kids and wanted to stay close to harbor. I doubt that we were more than a mile from Santa Barbara harbor all day. We caught calico bass to five pounds, sand bass to four pounds, and several halibut up to 11 pounds. Nothing was huge, but we caught plenty of fish, we stayed in calm water, and we had plenty of time to just enjoy the day. Most fish bit on large anchovies, but a couple of the bass bit whole squid. The halibut came from 40 to 50 feet of water. I just HAVE to tell you a cute story. A three-year-old girl met an uncle of hers for the first time today, aboard my charter boat. His name was Sam. Well, after hearing all the April stories (from relatives and neighbors and family friends) of how rotten "Uncle Sam" is to all of us at tax time... when the poor guy was introduced to her as Uncle Sam, her bright little eyes lit up and she demanded to know if he steals from everyone!! Tooo funny! 4-19-01 I've been running some combo trips, such as yesterday's dive/fish trip. Combo trips are one major advantage to private charters because the passengers have a say in what we do. We dove Santa Cruz Island, even though the Channel was kicking up a fuss. After a good long dive, we beat our way back across the Channel and fished in 250 feet outside the gap between the oil rigs off of Carpinteria. Besides some great rockfish, we scored a salmon! It bit a sardine fished right near the bottom in 250 feet. Looks like they're deep! There are some active sand bass throughout our local reefs, and as soon as the water clears up from the recent wind and high seas, the calicos will go off... any day now! Meanwhile, calico action awaits at the islands and great rockfishing everywhere. 4-17-01 Salmon fishing is generally slow, but the places to try are Pitas Point, the Rock Island, Summerland to Padaro Lane, and the Lighthouse to henry's Beach. white spoons account for many of the fish, and also rotary Salmon Killers and Apex lures. We don't have enough private boaters out there working the salmon to really stay on top of hotspots. Calico bass and sand bass are biting, when the current is running a medium speed. Plastic swimbaits in brown, blue, green, and red work. Live bait is always a safe bet. Rockfish and lingcod are biting VERY well, with some good catches including some larger fish coming from even local spots such as the 4-Mile and the 12-Mile. We are hooking some halibut in 40 to 60 feet of water. Drifting off of rocky structure and over the adjacent sand is the best trick. Large and lively sardines are the best bait. With the larger sardines, it is helpful to rig a "rat trap" because if you are using only one hook through the nose, you'll have to wait forever for the fish to take the whole bait in its mouth. There are too many bites that turn into nothing with only one hook in the bait's nose. I'm ready to get out to the Channel Islands and catch some white seabass. How about you? I will be putting on seminars at the Fred Hall Show in Ventura this Thursday through Sunday. I'll bring a chart and use it to point out some of my hotspots. I'll talk about specific tackle and a lot about technique. I hope to see you there! 4-3-01 The first week of the salmon season remains very slow. There are a few fish being caught, and over a widely scattered area, but no consistent bite has developed. best bet is to plan to spend lots of hours trolling with blue and green Rotary Salmon Killers, "Crowbars" (One-piece baiters), white flutter spoons, watermelon flutter spoons, Apex Hotspot, or Krocodile spoon. There are sporadic hookups with thresher shark between Henry's Beach and Goleta, and also between Summerland and Carpinteria. Most threshers are running 60 to 80 pounds, but there are some larger units tipping the scale at over 100 pounds. Halibut are showing at the Channel Islands, and are in shallow water. Some good ones (to over 30 pounds) came up from just 20 feet of water at Cuylers Harbor at San Miguel. there are also big flatties on the front side of Santa Rosa Island, west of Carrington Point. Rockfish are easy. We're catching easy limits of them whenever conditions allow us to get to the good spots. We're catching plenty of lingcod with them, but most lings are short. Not many lingasaurs on the tops of the reefs right now. It is wise to go deep, off the side of the reef zones to target those lingasaurs. Happy fishing! Capt. David Bacon 3-30-01 All the rockfish you want and some good lingcod too, when you can get to the areas. We've had high winds and tall seas all week. Things look to be lying down for the weekend. That should be right in time for some white seabass action. There are other possibilities, as well. We've got bait everywhere (especially from the One-Mile on down to Summerland), green water, and cool water temps. We all have great hopes for the salmon opner this Saturday. Once it's time to switch from salmon (hopefully after limits), there are thresher sharks at both Goleta and Carpinteria Reef. Most of them aren't big -- about 60 to 80 pounds, but there are some bigger ones around as well. Remember to set your clocks forward Saturday night before setting alarm clocks and going to bed -- or you'll be late for fishing!!! Let's fish HARD! Capt. David Bacon 3-18-01 We're catching halibut in close.... real close. Yesterday, for example, we fished a spot about 3/4-mile from Santa Barbara Harbor and hooked several halibut. The trick was to begin a drift, using live bait on reverse dropper loops, over a rocky structure spot, and then drift off of it onto the surrounding sandy area. The halibut were lying on the sand VERY close to the structure. By fishing this way, we had bonus catches of calico and sand bass, plus a few incidentals such as sculpin. Moving down coast, we had good bites on shallow water rockfish in the vicinity of the "Armpit", off of Padaro Lane. By the way... commercial guys continue to bring up incidental catches of salmon in their nets. That gives me cause to hope for a good early salmon season (opens March 31st). It's time to go fishing! 3-13-01 Great white seabass news! There are fish on the front side of Santa Rosa Island, between Rodes Reef and Carrington Point. Most fish are running twenty-something pounds, with some bigger brutes mixed in. There is some squid showing in the area, and at times as sufficient volume to jig some up. The front side of Santa Cruz is seeing some fish as well, in some of the coves. Rockfish are climbing up lines like they've really missed us during the closure. They are feeding competitively, and eating squid strips, shrimp, and scented plastic tails. Truth is, you can peel some skin off of that piece of chicken in your cooler and you'll get bit on that, too! Let's go fishing! 3-2-01 I took a group out today for a whirlwind fishing trip. They had limited time but wanted maximum fishing. We ran out to mid-Channel, from Santa Barbara, and fished for 2 hours and 50 minutes, during which time they caught 6 fish short of rockfish limits for everyone. We caught two lingcod and had another big-time takedown which rocked the angler before he could horse that "lingasaur" away from the reef. The rockfish were biting squid strips and shrimp. the lingcod were going for live sardines. Looks like this is going to be a great rockfish season! 2-4-01 Calicos on the wall.... the steep rock walls along the front side of Santa Cruz Island is where the calicos are massing. Some divers tipped me off, and sure enough, there are plenty of big hungry calicos suspended, and holding in lockets and caves in the rocks. The trick has been to flutter a swimbait right down the face of the cliffs. Take care not to pull it out away from the cliffs because these structure-oriented fish may not follow it out far from the rocks. Bouncing and fluttering it down the rocks is a good way to keep it close to the fish. Live bait will also work, and I recommend a 1/2oz sliding sinker to take the baits straight down after you have cast to the wall. Thresher sharks are still cruising with some regularity off of Carpinteria in 40 to 120 feet of water. Find the concentrations of baitfish, and soak a large lively bait about 10 to 20 feet below the surface. Set the clicker on and get ready for an adrenaline rush!! Go fish!! 01-03-00 Plenty of options... we caught a nice thresher shark today, off of Carpinteria, while drifting with a perch for bait. Was this the first thresher of the new year? Has anyone heard of one caught earlier? Besides the one we caught, we had a serious takedown, plus we saw two more. The threshers are here! We've been getting some danged big ocean whitefish at Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa islands. We're finding them from about sixty feet on out to 120 feet, and suspended up above the shallow water rockfish which we can't keep until March 1st. There are some sheephead and sculpin and cabezon also mixed in, so there are a number of fish to target. We continue to have good luck on the sheephead with shrimp. We use about a two inch chunk of shrimp and they really love them. March 1st is too long to wait for more options... we've got enough right now! 12-30-00 Ever have one of those days when you were puling in more fish than you could keep track of? Today was that kind of day, out at the west end of Santa Cruz Island. Fortunately, my deckhand kept very good track of the fish caught, si that n one would go over limit. I was happy to see a good number of really big ocean whitefish, since they may be one of our mainstays during the rockfish/lingcod closure in January & February. I'm talking about ocean whitefish from 5 to 7 pounds -- that's danged big for an ocean whitefish! Besides those, we caught sheephead, cabazon, and a bazillion shallow water rockfish. We were primarily using squid strips for bait, but I also brought along some shrimp, which were being gobbled up like the delicacy they are, Nice day... calm wind and flat water! Capt. David Bacon WaveWalker Charters, Santa Barbara 12-24-00 That big swell over the weekend messed things up inshore, and made it impossible to fish tight to the many island boiler rocks (and you KNOW how I LOVE to do that!). So we've fished outside in deeper water to load up on rockfish before the closure begins January 1st. We've been finding plenty of willing rockfish at most depths from 150 to 400 feet. The 12-Mile has really been producing well, and we also scored well out near the 4-Mile near Santa Barbara. There are a decent number of ocean whitefish among the big baitballs out in the same area. At Santa Cruz Island, we're still hooking some really big ocean whitefish (5 to 8 pounds) on squid strips pinned to smaller hooks and fished about five feet up off the bottom in rocky areas. Some pretty good sheephead have also showed. On the front side of Santa Rosa Island, the hot spots to fish 200 to 250 feet for big rockfish is off of Carrington Point and near Talcott Shoals. We've been having good luck with Jax Jigs and also with the new Braid jigs (They are beautiful!). After the swell subsides, I hope to get back into those shallow areas to try the calicos. Meanwhile, there are some sand bass around - both in shallow - like at horseshoe reef near Padero Lane - and also ouside of Santa Barbara at the outside edge of the 1-Mile. Happy fishing, Capt. David Bacon WaveWalker Charters, Santa Barbara 12-8-00 I've been rockfishing a lot lately, since many folks want some in their freezers before the closure goes into effect in a few weeks. Man, have we been finding willing biters! The 12-mile has been producing easy limits, the west end of Santa Cruz and the front side of Santa Rosa are all producing quantities of rockfish. The fish meter shows healthy stacks of fish on most pinnacles and ridges. Cut squid strips is by far the easiest bait to use and stays on the hook through considerable abuse down there. Live baits are also working, and maybe the average fish taken on live baits is a little bit bigger. Dropping hardware such as Braid or Jax Jigs, or Luhr Jensen jigs is the bets way to specifically target the largest specimens. 12-1-00 Mother Nature was feeling benevolent today, and allowed us to embrace her in a slow dance on her dancefloor we call the sea. We ran comfortably out to the west end of Santa Cruz Island and fished about a dozen different spots. First we went inshore near Frazer Point and banged some calicos on sardines and blue/clear plastic swimbaits. Then we went outside a little ways and fished shallow reefs. We nailed a good number of sheephead using shrimp and squid for bait. Then we moved a little deeper and fished a number of spots to catch a whole bunch of sizable ocean whitefish. How sizable? Many were over five pounds, and a few were over seven pounds with nice big meaty fillets. We also caught a whole mess of shallow water rockfish while we were at it, including chucklehead, sugar bass, and chocolate bass. If you wish to try your hand at glory, there are some threshers out in front of Summerland and Carpinteria. The commercial fishermen have been hitting them VERY hard, but there are still quite a few out there. 11-1-00 Had a nice couple charter me today. the woman had fished a number of times and enjoys it. Her husband had never fished the saltwater before. they really liked the idea of catching some rockfish, so we headed to the 12-Mile where we caught easy limits in short order. then we spent about an hour pulling hard on a blue shark that went about 150 pounds. Those folks had a BLAST!! On recent trips, we've been concentrating mostly on rockfish, although we have had some forays with the calicos, and also some nice halibut. Capt. David Bacon WaveWalker Charters, Santa Barbara 10-24-00 Conditions at the west end of Santa Cruz Island were gorgeous today -- except for the huge swell coming up. That big swell made it unsafe to fish in tight to the structure for calicos and white seabass, so we fished offshore just a little. We caught a whole mess of fish, and actually stopped fishing because my group felt that they had as much fish as they could, in all good concience, take home. I admired them for that conservation oriented spirit. We caught some BIG sheephead, ocean whitefish to 7 pounds, chucklehead, brown-skinned rockfish, and sculpin. It was a fun day with lots of fish to fillet. Capt. David Bacon WaveWalker charters, Santa Barbara 9-25-00 Both white seabass and halibut are beginning to show up at the Channel Islands. We've been using fresh-frozen (and live on one occasion) squid at the west end of Santa Cruz Island to tempt a few of each. Some of the seabass have been just over legal size, but there are some much bigger units around also. Sliding sinker rigs and reverse dropper loops have been the most productive rig types. The halibut are holding in 60 to 100 foot depths. Fishing shallower water will get you hooked up with a lot of big bat rays (which are a LOT of fun). Calico bass have been a little bit quiet over the past few days, but the strong tidal flows this week should wake them up and put them in an eating mode. Shallow water (and deep water) rockfish are plentiful. Catching limits has been the rule at many areas, including the west end of Santa Cruz, the front side of Santa Rosa, the Twelve Mile, and the ledge off of Ellwood. Let's go fishing! Capt. David Bacon WaveWalker Charters, Santa Barbara 9-19-00 Conditions are improving throughout the Santa Barbara Channel, and with the improving conditions comes improved fishing. Calico bass are just beginning to tie on their Autumn feedbag, so there will be some enjoyable boiler rock bassing trips over the next two months. This past several days has seen an improvement in the calico bit both at the Channel Islands and also along the mainland. There has been a big body of mixed mackerel and barracuda about two miles off of the Santa Barbara Harbor. There are some smaller mackerel in the batch, which make for good bait for thresher sharks off of Carpinteria. There are also some larger mackerel and plenty of legal barracuda roaming about he area as well. I've been finishing off my charters the past couple of days by letting folks catch & release a multitude of these fun fish using real light tackle. It's fun to hear the folks hootin and hollerin like kids! We're into some serious rockfish action, which has been good for the past couple of weeks. It should continue to improve right up until the annual closure. We're finding plenty of willing biters in both deep water and shallow. The west end of Santa Cruz Island and the front side of Santa Rosa Island are currently my two favorite areas. I'm finding a pick on halibut at Santa Cruz Island, from Forney's on down to Christy's Ranch. I'm also finding a few in Becher's Bay at Santa Rosa Island. Happy fishing! Capt. David Bacon WaveWalker Charters, Santa Barbara 8-27-00 It is calico season. This begins one of my favorite times of year for the kelp bed sportcoats. We're in for a couple of great months ahead. I've been yanking them out of the kelp by the droves over the past week. First I anchor upstream and begin a steady chum stream of live baits, chunked fish, and storebought chum mixed with catfood (Yum!). We begin by tossing live baits right into the kelp. then as the bass move up the chumline and into open water, we can switch over to plastic swimbaits. Where is the action, you ask? Well, I've been heading up the coast and stopping at each kelp spot in shallow water along the way. Some produce and some don't. Just keep trying each spot you come across. It's a fun way to spend a day. An even wilder way to spend a day of calico fishing is to go boiler rock bassin' at the islands. I believe it is time... While we're working our way up the coast, we've been stopping to drift for halibut, and finding some decent fish at More Mesa, Goleta, and near Naples Reef. Drifting with rat trap rigs is effective. Bounce-balling is another great method, if you don't mind working hard for your fish. Late August is when we start getting into some big tasty rockfish. I've been doing very well on them on the front side of the Channel Islands. We haven't been tying into many seabass or yellowtail at the Channel Islands recently, just incidental catches. The bite will turn back on soon, however. Capt. David Bacon WaveWalker Charters, Santa Barbara 8-9-00 Red tide has been messing up the coastal fishing conditions of late. We are finding clearer water up the coast from Goleta Beach on up to Tajiguas, so have been concentrating most of our coastal fishing in that stretch. Calicos are running pretty decent size with some 5-pounders coming in among the more normal size 2 to 4 pound units. We've been catching half to full limits, depending upon the length of the trip and the skill level of the anglers. We're getting plenty of biters, but not all of them make it to the boat - it's an old story. Best bets have been 4 and 5 inch swimbaits on 3/4 oz. leadheads, and live baits. Best colors on the swimbaits are anchovy, brown, and green. Our bait, in Santa Barbara has been perfect size anchovies and the bass are pouncing on them with a vengeance at our kelp beds and shallow reef zones such as Goleta pipeline, Coal Oil Point, Naples, and Tajiguas.. Besides the bass, we are picking up an occasional barracuda, and we are finding easy limit fishing on the rockfish. Plus, I know where there are a bazillion sand dabs for my charter passengers who know how delicious they are. If their bigger cousins are more your style, we are catching a few halibut near Naples Reef and off of Goleta and nearby More Mesa. Soon the weather will cooperate and we'll get out to the Channel Islands for seabass, yellowtail, and some of that fun, fun boiler rock bassing! Capt. David BaconWaveWalker Charters, Santa Barbara 8-3-00 There is a LOT of red tide along the coast from Santa Barbara on down to Oxnard. While it depletes the oxygen, ruins visibility, and generally messes up fishing in the short term, I am convinced that it is a very good sign in terms of longer cycles of conditions. When you can catch a local structure spot with clear water over it, the calico and sand bass have been responding to live baits and swimbaits. I fished around the west end of Anacapa Island yesterday. I metered TONS of great fish, but they just wouldn't bite. The fish are there though, so catch them at the right time with the right bait and you'll have a blast! Other good spots for glory fish such as white seabass are Eagles Nest and the front side of Santa Rosa Island between Carrington Point and Rodes Reef. East of Gull Island, off of Santa Cruz Island, is another fairly consistent area. Rockfish are doing well. Seems like August is when I start getting into the bigger units... both reds and lings. I know that to some it seems strange talking about rockfish when there are tuna and tails offshore, but I can guarantee you that there is a large number of people who just LOVE rockfish and lingcod. I don't mind one little bit spending a day, or part of a day, fishing for them. Capt. David Bacon WaveWalker Charters, Santa Barbara 7-17-00 Water temps are down a little bit along the coast and some of our favorite fish are requiring some effort to catch any quantities of. Calico bass are hiding in the kelp beds and over reefs and ledges at depths from right off the beach on out to 100 feet. It helps to take a little more time than usual and really string out a chumline of cut baits to draw the fish towards the boat and put them into an eating mode. Halibut are there, but they are biting well for fairly short periods of time. Fish near the high tide, if possible and early in the morning. Try depths from 40 feet to 80 feet. Summertime rockfishing action has been great off of Ellwood, the 12-Mile, and at both Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz islands. When conditions allow an island trip, I have a few current spots to recommend. Off the front side of Santa Rosa Island between Carrington Point and Rodes Reef. Off the front side of Santa Cruz island between Prisoners and Chinese. Off the backside of Santa Cruz near the pink ribbon and just south of Sandstone Point. It is a patience fishery for daytime white seabass, but they are there. Capt. David Bacon WaveWalker Charters, Santa Barbara 7-1-00 "Here Sharkey Sharkey"... that's how we've been calling them in (Well, it never hurts to talk to the fish!). We've been finding threshers and an occasional mako shark prowling among the massive baitballs which are milling about the general area of La Conchita, Carpinteria, and Summerland. Mackerel are a bit hard to come by, and we work tirelessly with bait gangions and small shiny jigs to come up with enough of them for bait. Anchovies and sardines will also work, but a mackerel is the best bait. We drift a tailhooked mackerel without any weight, about fifty pulls out. Calico action along the coast is generally good, but they go on and off the bite - so try the better spots a couple of times throughout the day. The kelp beds off of Leadbetter Beach, just above Santa Barbara Harbor are holding a good number of fish, as is the One-Mile just offshore from the same harbor. At the Channel Islands, calico are biting well at the west end of Santa Cruz Island. The Gull Island area can be a great spot if the current is running at a good speed. The white seabass and halibut bite continues at Santa Rosa Island at Eagles Nest. There are halibut to be caught in Bechers Bay. The spots to try at Santa Cruz Island are; Gull Island, Cuevo Valdez, Chinese Harbor, and Yellowbanks. We'vre been getting some halibut along the coast by drifting anchovies in forty feet of water off of Padero Lane. Capt. David Bacon WaveWalker Charters, Santa Barbara (805)964-2046 for reservations 6-16-00 Calm weather and high water temps are kicking the calicos into full-on feeding mode. Try smaller (4 inch) swimbaits along the coast at Ellwood, Goleta, Leadbetter Beach, the Horseshoe and Carpinteria Reef. At the islands, work the kelp spots first, then the boiler rocks with 5 inch swimbaits. It is interesting to note that calicos are gulping live squid at some of the places we're fishing white seabass and yellowtail. The best bite on the glory fish (seabass and yellowtail) seems to change locations by the hour, and many boats are spending most of their day roaming around instead of fishing. Some of the best spots continue to be Chinese Harbor, Smugglers, Yellowbanks, Pink Ribbon, east of Gull Island, Eagles Nest, Bechers Bay, and the front side of Santa Rosa. If an area looks "fishy", stick with it. Also check for current movement. White seabass prefer some current, so pick an area where the water is moving at a decent clip. There are some thresher along the coast. The way to find them is to look for concentrations of baitfish and then work the general area. Jig up some small mackerel and soak them near the surface on a slow drift or at anchor. Hint... if you fish threshers on the drift, you don't have to worry about wrapping the anchor line and losing the shark, plus you can more readily chase a big thresher before it spools a reel. Happy fishing, Capt. David Bacon WaveWalker Charters, Santa Barbara Return to The Outdoors Guide Home |
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