Bass, Halibut And Great Weather = Good Fishing

Some excellent recent twilight fishing for private boaters has anglers feeling optimistic about their scheduled outing on the Native Sun Friday and Saturday evening.  Ricky Perez and Todd Lee fished just outside of Long Beach Harbor on Tuesday evening and found excellent calico bass fishing. “We had 18 calico bass up to 6.5 pounds, along with some sculpin, cabezon and one big mystery fish that was lost.”

The Native Sun from Long Beach Sportfishing has scheduled twilight trips for this Friday and Saturday evenings, fishing from 6:30 p.m.-11:30 p.m. Captain Gabriel Ceballos confirmed that the boat will have live squid for bait.

“Live squid is a huge plus,” said Captain Larry Moore, who will be a passenger on board for this weekend's trips. “With squid, we’ll have a chance for sand and calico bass, sculpin, cabezon and maybe a big halibut or two.”

Some anglers may be scratching their heads thinking that twilight trips are usually reserved for the summer months. “That may be true, but there is no doubt that nighttime is the right time for winter time bass, sculpin and even some white seabass and sculpin,” said Moore. “People will be surprised about just how good it can be.”

Anglers wishing to fish the twilight trips should bring 20- to 25-pound test along with some 1-ounce leadheads. That setup has been effective for bass, sculpin and lots of big halibut this year. Reservations can be made by phone: (562) 432-8993.

Surf fishing has been good along Southern California beaches recently with a smattering of barred perch, corbina, a few halibut and some bat rays and guitarfish. There has been good fishing around Carlsbad with several corbina taken this week as well as good fishing around Corona del Mar, Seal Beach, and the Santa Monica Bay.

Bob Osborne caught a 23-inch corbina on a sand crab, fishing off Seal Beach this week, and reports good action on most days.

Halibut fishing out of Dana Wharf and Long Beach remained excellent this week as more big fish than ever continue to get weighed in. Dana Wharf has caught 68 halibut in 2012, with a giant 39-pound flatfish for Danny Stevenson leading the Dana Wharf Halibut Derby.

The Pot of Gold Halibut Derby has Dave Akamine from Torrance in first place with a monster 39.2-pound halibut.

Redondo Sportfishing has had its share of good winter fishing also. The Slammer was out this week with only 4 anglers catching 70 sand bass, 30 of which were released.

Marina del Rey Sportfishing has been catching a mix of sand and calico bass along with good sculpin fishing.