Time to launch the beach boats and hit the half-day/twilight runs
SANTA BARBARA/SAN DIEGO – It’s magic when it happens. Coastal waters warm past the 65-degree mark for the first time and hold. No westerlies blow in to roll it over for at least a week or two. The bass bite goes crazy in local waters. As long as the winds hold off the bite holds up and gets better by the day. That’s what’s happening right now. Some years it does, more often it heats than rolls repeatedly and the bass bite never hits that springtime high. Right now the stars have been aligned for the past week and a half, and are forecast to stay so for the next couple of weeks, thanks to waters off Cabo warm enough to spin up cyclonic lows which send SoCal westerly winds packing to the north.
It’s not until June 14th or so that one of the models shows returning west winds, while the other keeps coastal waters calm all the way to the end of the 2-week forecast. Even at that the windier forecast has those breezes staying pretty well out to sea.
Already the word is “bass are biting!” The Stardust out of Santa Barbara ran one local ½-day trip sandwiched between ¾-day runs. The result was limits of bass with many more released, with a 50/50 mix calico and sand.
Out of CISCO’s the Speed Twin finished rockfish limits and added 45 bass. The Spitfire out of Marina Del Rey posted 80 calico with 31 kept. Out of the San Pedro/Long Beach area barracuda have arrived although mixed sizes some legal some not and the bass have begun to chew. The Native Sun released 31 skins and had over 120 bass with about 45 kept.
Out of Newport the Western Pride hat 62 keeper calico and who knows how many more released.
At Dana Wharf Sportfishing the local bass bite is the primary ½-day target. Sunday the Sum Fun had 193 bass on a ¾-day, most were released, with 44 kept. In Oceanside the Southern Cal had 137 bass for 26 anglers, almost all calico with most released.
At Seaforth Landing in Mission Bay they posted a total of 394 calicos for June 1. The Premier out of H&M had 172 calico on their morning run with 47 kept.
Summer bass fishing is great on live bait and light line. But it’s epic on the plastic – swim baits, slugs fished weedless over and through the kelp canopy. When these fish show on the surface pushing meatballs of bait around in casting range the surface iron is the most fun of all. It’s all target casting. Watching for birds to gather and dip, tossing in so the jig passes in front of the fast moving target. Plus there’s some blind strikes to be had too, toss, sink counting down, then grind back.
Fishing the plastic is similar to that. But on the swim baits they’re often picked off as they sink, so be ready to swing, and wind!
