7:43 PM Breaking News / Reports: An exploritory trip for Giant Squid out of Newport last night struck out!! 3/17
5:47 PM Breaking News / Reports: The sportboat Freedom got a yellow at Clemente today and said they saw more.....3/17
4:50 PM Breaking News / Reports: Slow bass fishing along the coast today.....some are blaming the earthquake....3/16
February 5
Tuesday night, I took Dan from the office and my buddy Kip out to catch giant squid. We all have done it before, but it's worth doing when they come in.
March 12
The PFMC met in Sacramento this week and established the salmon season options for this year. The PFMC April meeting will decide the final season structure from these options. However, because the PFMC did not take emergency action at this meeting it looks as if the April salmon season will happen no matter what. This is because the scheduling of the PFMC meetings is off by a bit with the salmon season dates so they approve the April fishery a year ahead of time and then confirm the rest of the season starting May 1 in April of the same year.
So the options look good and are as follows:
February 11
Flattie fishing has been decent when the weather breaks. My friend Herbert took some folks visiting from Illinois out recently. They bounce-balled for a bit out of Dana Point in rough conditions for one good biter. She was full of it, taking them deep into the kelp twice. The spectra mainline got her out after many tense moments. When all was said and done, a fine 27-lb flattie hit the deck.

January 8
Calico bass action is the fun option – especially when large swells stir up surging whitewater around boiler rocks at the SoCal islands. Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Anacapa, San Nicholas, San Clemente are the hottest options for braggin'-size sportcoats. When the swells are up, we're casting larger swimbaits (5 to 7 inches), slugs or Gulp! grubs (6 to 9 inches) rigged weedless to target the biggest bruiser bass around.
March 1
The annual Fred Hall tackle show will be held again this week in Long Beach, CA, and it's one of the largest in the nation. Without a doubt, it is the most popular show on the west coast. I'll be flying down from northern California, just for the day, to attend. I've got my camera, two camera batteries, a note pad and a whole bunch of questions all ready. In particular, I will be asking about quality and service issues with fishing reels. These are issues that I deal with every day, and they have been mounting.
February 24
Electric reels have been around forever, and are mostly used for deep drop/bottom fish.
The past ten years has seen "Temochi-Concept" electric reels that are designed to be much smaller, and held (Temochi) rather than mounted on rods set in rod holders.
These reels are used for super high speed jigging in Japan for buri and hiramasa (Japanese yellowtail) amberjack, wahoo, and their smaller cousins, the sawara (like a Sierra, or Cero Mackerel).
The first time I saw these type of reels in use was about ten years ago, in the Sea of Japan. We were fishing for sawara and yellowtail, and one guy with a small electric reel was getting bit way more than anyone on the boat. I watched him do his thing-he put the reel on about 1\2 max speed, and as the 150 gram jig screamed up from the bottom, he would use either a regular "fast pitch" jerking action, or an irregular action. The water was very clear, and I could see how fast the jig was moving--I estimated about three times faster than what I could do with my 6:1 gear ratio reels.
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February 17:
With increased public aware- ness of the need for sustain- able fisheries, more anglers are turning to catch-and-release fishing as a means to satisfying their desire for fishing as well as doing their part to conserve local stocks. Typically, an angler opts to re-lease a fish to fight another day. That the retention of a particular species violates a fishery management regulation could be another motivating factor. Such regulations include seasonal catch restrictions, size limits, and bag limits imposed by state and federal fishery management agencies. Catch regulations that require the release of certain individuals are based on the assumption that fish survive capture and subsequent handling; however, the effectiveness of these regulations depends on post-release survival rates.
January 8:
A happy-go-lucky boatload of people may instantly have their smiles turned upside down when they pull up to a bait receiver in the morning and see the dreaded “Closed” sign hung out. Live bait may not be absolutely necessary – Gulp bait and Powerbait out-produce it sometimes – but most of us feel that live bait sure does add to our fish-hunting arsenal. When it happens to me, I know that today just got tougher because my options are limited. Sure, it is possible to jig up a barely sufficient supply of ’dines or small mackies near most harbor mouths, but we sure feel properly prepared heading out with a full tank of well-cured bait from the bait receiver.
















