Bass Biting off Redondo, Catalina

The bass—white, sand and calico—are biting with a vengeance.

White sea bass fishing continued to be excellent at Catalina Island although at an inopportune time. While a few white sea bass are caught during the day, the best bite has been from 4 p.m. until sunset just off Salta Verde Point on the western side of the island.

Boats that are able to stay late have been catching their one-fish limits of white sea bass on a regular basis. Skipper Allyn Watson from the Dreamer out of Pierpoint Landing in Long Beach returned to port Wednesday with limits of 20- to 35-pound white sea bass. Watson also noted that he saw very good calico bass fishing.

At the , Patrick Friedman caught and released a 3-pound calico bass Wednesday.

Several private boaters also reported good fishing for these great-eating members of the croaker family. Captain Jeff Jones was in the middle of some great white sea bass fishing at 6 p.m. Wednesday. He reported big schools of white sea bass forcing bait to the surface.

"The birds were all over big bunches of sea bass this afternoon," said Jones. "This is really, really good."

On Sunday evening, the Southern Cal caught limits of sand bass of their twilight trip, which departs at 6 p.m. and returns at about midnight.

Nevertheless, off Palos Verdes and Redondo, most private boaters have been catching rockfish. There is no doubt that the kelp line around Rocky Point is loaded with white sea bass as free divers continue to spear some real monsters; however, fishermen have only been able to catch a few of the croakers—and because the barracuda have also disappeared, rockfish have been the rule.

Quick Bites

• The Redondo Sportfishing Pier, located at 233 N. Harbor Drive, is now selling live bait for pier anglers.

• On Wednesday, an unidentified angler fishing on the Redondo Sportfishing Pier caught a 16-pound halibut fishing with a frozen anchovy.

• Barred perch continue to bite from Huntington Beach to Redondo Beach. Sand crabs have been the best bait combined with six-pound test and a No. 6 hook.

• After a week of slow local fishing on the Huntington Flats and off Seal Beach, big schools of barracuda moved in and started to bite again Wednesday. "There are some mega-schools here," said Captain Andy Siratt, skipper of the Enterprise out of Long Beach Marina Sportfishing.

• Southland anglers are awaiting the arrival of albacore tuna, but so far, the closest the longfins have come is 239 miles from San Diego. The Apollo caught eight albacore last week, raising hopes that the tuna season may not be far away.

• Water temperatures continue to be on the cool side, but according to Shawn Morgon at Big Fish Tackle in Seal Beach, more corbina are on the way. "As the water warms, we will see more and more sand crabs and more corbina," said Morgon.