Stories of great catches are popping up like weeds in a summer garden, but these stories don’t send you trotting off to find the weed whacker; they send you after your favorite fish whacker rod.
 | | | Photo by: Capt. David Bacon | | One Hot Summer -- There’s plenty for sport anglers to be pleased about right now in the Santa Barbara Channel. | | |
White seabass, halibut, calico bass, sand bass, barracuda and thresher sharks are all popping up with regularity in select areas throughout the Santa Barbara Channel.
For example, white seabass are gorging themselves on both finfish and spawning squid around Santa Cruz Island -- try Chinese Harbor, Cueva Valdez, Christy’s, east of the Gull Island MPA, Willows and Smugglers -- and Santa Rosa Island -- try Eagles Nest, Bechers Bay and west of the Carrington Point MPA.
Happy anglers are reporting scores on dropper-loop rigs, baited with sardines, mackerel or squid, white jigs, with and without squid pinned on the hooks and sliding sinker rigs baited again with sardines, mackerel or squid.
White seabass are also being hooked by boats bounce-balling those same areas for halibut, and a halibut fisher who hooks up with a white seabass gets no sympathy from me (or anyone else).
Partly due to the popularity of these spots and therefore an elevated level of fishing effort, some of the same places mentioned have produced the best halibut catches; namely, Smugglers, Chinese Harbor and Bechers Bay -- where some of the best catches have come from the Skunk Point end of the big bay.
Bait drifters seem to be scoring on par with bounce-ballers, but that may be because there are more people drifting live baits than bounce-balling (because when done right, bounce-balling can resemble hard work).
Halibut are showing a preference for larger live baits, especially mackerel and large sardines. Successful anglers are letting the flatties chew on the larger baits longer before reacting with a mild hookset. Swing too soon and the bait comes back shredded and fishless because the halibut hasn’t yet taken the whole bait into its mouth.
July through August is when bass fishing rocks.
Calicos are everywhere and seemingly always hungry, chasing chum fish on the surface and inhaling hook baits, swimbaits and light lures just under the surface. Most folks have been scoring with tried and true calico lures, however a few adventurous souls are casting small Rapalas to the edge of kelp beds or boiler rocks and getting hammered soon after they begin the retrieve.
Coastal kelp beds are nearly all productive now. Boaters are anchoring up current, tossing chum and following it with hook baits or swimbaits to spend a few enjoyable hours catching calico bass.
At the islands, the kelp beds are likewise kicking out calicos, but the boiler rocks are also awesome for anglers who can cast swimbaits, Powerbaits or Gulp! baits to the rocks and swim them slowly back to the boat.
Sand bass are stacking up in the water column, chasing roving baitballs on the Ventura Flats and offshore from Santa Barbara. Much of the ongoing bite has been in waters from 60 to 100 feet deep, however shallow structure spots in waters less than 40 feet deep, and deep structure spots up to 200 feet are also giving up decent numbers of barred sand bass.
The fish haven’t been particular when it comes to groceries, as they are biting squid strips, live baits, swimbaits and artificial grubs.
Thresher sharks have shown an interesting preference for waters with a tinge of red tide. Maybe this is because they can hunt well (by smell and by sensing vibrations) in murky water, thereby gaining a distinct advantage over their quarry. They are seen jumping in the off-color water and chomping baits and lures. About half of shark anglers are drifting with mackeral and sardines, and half are trolling Rapalas and bait hoods. Both methods are highly effective here in mid-summer when T-sharks are plentiful.
Current hotspots have been Ventura, Rincon Point, Padero Lane, Goleta, Naples and Gaviota Beach.
Periods of calm water and light breezes have allowed boaters to reach the best areas for rockfish and lingcod, resulting in fabulous catches. For example, a few days ago on a charter aboard the WaveWalker, we caught two keeper lingcod in 25 feet of water on the front side of Santa Rosa Island.
San Miguel is a far run, but reports from there include big reds and chucklehead in waters from 80 to 200 feet deep.
Near shore, anglers who work small skiffs, kayaks and float tubes are finding plenty of action on chocolate bass, sculpin, sheephead, cabezon, calico and sandies on shallow reefs and wrecks within a half-mile of shore. Others are investing their on-the-water time by working live baits and lures inside the mouths of Santa Barbara, Ventura and Channel Islands harbors for a pick at halibut and the occasional white seabass.
This article first appeared in the July 2010 issue of FishRap. All or parts of the information contained in this article might be outdated. |
