Sand And Calico Bass On Verge Of Collapse?

According to a study at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, the populations of barred sand bass and calico bass have plummeted by 90 percent since 1980.

The two main culprits identified were warmer ocean temperatures and overfishing.

“California may be the only place in the world that allows fishing on the spawning grounds,” said biologist Chris Lowe from California State University Long Beach.

“It’s a sure recipe for disaster as we have seen this type of behavior lead to the collapse of some fisheries in the past.”

“We haven’t had a good sand bass season for at least 5 years,” said Don Ashley from Pierpoint Landing in Long Beach. “I still think that the Humboldt Squid have had a major impact on our local fisheries too.”

It was common 10 years ago for sand bass to move on to the beaches to spawn in massive numbers, stretching from the Mexican border to beyond the Channel Islands.

Ensenada and Tijuana, San Clemente, Oceanside, Newport Beach, the Huntington Flats, the Santa Monica Bay and the Ventura Flats are just some of the areas where sand bass would arrive every spring to spawn. Thousands upon thousands of these fish could be taken daily by anglers when it was the best of times.

Now, the seasons are much shorter and sometimes, some of the aforementioned areas just get a trickle of the prized bass. Some anglers claim that the ebb and flow of fish stocks are a part of nature. They claim the drops are cyclical and can be explained by changing water temperatures and other factors.

“We need to be proactive in this matter,” said Tom Raftican, President of the Long Beach based Sportfishing Conservancy. Raftican is an advocate of reducing limits and tightening size limitations so that smaller and larger fish would have to be released.

“Recreational anglers should be leading the fight for conservation and not letting other groups drag us into it,” said Raftican. “This is biology 101: you don’t fish a spawning biomass unless you want disastrous consequences. Conservation is in our best interest as fishermen.”

Meanwhile, it looks as though anglers survived the first winter storm of the season, as we are already headed back towards summer-like conditions for the weekend.

San Diego based boats continue to fish 150 miles southwest of San Diego for thee-pound to eight-pound yellowtail on floating kelp paddies.

The bite for these small jacks has been excellent on most trips, with a few dorado and tuna to add spice to the trip. The yellowtail can be taken on sardines and lures. Blue and white jigs have been hot.

There has also been some yellowtail taken much closer to San Diego at the Coronado Islands. A mere 28 miles to an area called the Rockpile has produced off and on yellowtail in the eight pound to 20-pound class.

Humboldt squid continued to entertain anglers up and down the Southern California coast. Theses voracious mollusks have been here one day and gone the next only to reappear later. The squid have been mostly in the three-pound to five-pound class and are great eating if consumed when fresh.

Many anglers still worry about the detrimental effects the squid have on our local fisheries. They can grow to 6 feet and 100 pounds in a year’s time and consume everything in their paths.

Market squid is still available in the Santa Monica Bay just off Hermosa Beach. There has been some fair calico and sand bass fishing near Palos Verdes as well as a few white seabass too.

Rockfishing has been the rule for most other areas. As water temperatures cool, surface fish tend not to bite as well so many fishermen turn to rockfish. The bite has been good just about everywhere and of course nothing makes a better fish taco than fresh rockfish.