All you wanted to know about fishing in L.A. Harbor part 2

[Splitshot]

Charter Reviews
L.A. Harbor (Part 4)
by George Van Zant
Many requests have come my way asking about the LA Harbor and Long Beach Harbor fishing. San Pedro Bay, Long Beach Harbor and Los Angeles Harbor.
San Pedro Bay
Oil Islands: Part 4
Before the oil islands are discussed the final segment of the harbor needs coverage. This is small area that will be named the far East Section of the LA and Long Beach Harbor. This section is the beach on the east side of the Seal Beach Pier to and including the Huntington Harbor jetty.

This Seal Beach strand takes continual direct hits from the ocean elements since it is not protected by the breakwater. The waves break in a normal situation and sometimes get large enough to wash out the beach strand and fill up all the homes along the beach with a large dose of saltwater. The county has bulldozed a large berm to hold back nature but in very heavy surf the ocean washes away the berm in one set of towering waves. This area has some unique fishing qualities though, that are not found anywhere else in the harbor. The berm creates a very steep beach and because of the angle the sand is constantly furrowed out and moved from area to area by the surf which makes it a super spot for barred surf perch. They love to get into the sandy roily trenches chasing food that¹s dislodged by the turbulence. It¹s the only place in the harbor that supports large 2 pounders. Anglers throw small 2 inch rubber tails to catch wall eye perch, barred surf perch, corbina and an occasional halibut. Of course they catch lots of yellowfin croaker, sargo and spotfin croaker.


The Huntington Harbor rock jetty with its¹ sandy bottom channel is maintained by the Navy Ammunition Dump. Large military ships use the back bay to load munitions, so the entire area is highly restricted. Halibut fishing along the rock edges of the jetty is very good for those anglers that possess the knowledge on how to fish for them. There is no fishing on the inside of the channel but fishing is allowed on the outside. Many perch live among these rocks and they really enjoy the open ocean pounding swells that constantly wash the rocks. But fishermen have to be extra careful anchoring their boats. Most all of the fishing is done at the edge of the rocks which puts anchored boats in a precarious position. Many times a large set of waves can suddenly appear and break over an anchored boat, so most anglers keep one eye on the incoming swells while they are fishing.

In deeper water between the Seal Beach pier and the jetty a large area of very hard slate like bottom exists. It is very unique because there is no place like it in the rest of the harbor. Once in awhile this particular spot has a history of housing some very large halibut. This last year two 35 pounders were taken by anglers on drifts across the area. For some reason the area is also a gathering spot for thresher sharks. On more than one occasion a hooked thresher shark has wiped out all the lines in the water on one side of the Seal Beach pier. Their presence in such abundance is probably because of the warm water influence of the Power Plants.

The Oil Islands

Aside from all the landfills and channeling going on in the LA and Long Beach harbors, the oil island structures are probably the most significant of all the fishing opportunities to anglers. The surrounding sand that was used to fill each islands¹ rock perimeter was pumped in from dredging operations and large buckets of sand were shifted around on the bottom, by giant cranes to aid in the dredging process. This has led to a massive demolition of the surrounding harbor bottom. Long channels are furrowed out of comparably shallow bottom, some of them to 70 feet deep and spontaneous hills of sand stick up like volcanoes as recorded on a depth finder. Needless to say the rugged bottom has the ocean currents flopping around in all directions, in some cases there is upwelling occurring during strong tidal changes creating great conditions for fishing. The upwelling supports large schools of baitfish that like to hang out in the strong surface swirling current that flow up the peaks and of course bring on many predator denizens eager for dinner.

Each island has individual particular fishing spots that may differ from the others. Island Grissom a # 5 sided square shape forms part of the north west boundary of the Long Beach Downtown Marina and is not fishable because of boat traffic. But on the east corner a spit of sand comes off for a short distance where some halibut can be caught. Also a small 20 yard wide channel is located on the north east side. The channel is formed by the east end of the short rock jetty that encloses the marina from the beach and the edge of the island. Small boats can move through the channel but large boats can¹t. Actually the channel was left there to augment proper water circulation throughout the Marina and definitely not for boat traffic. Some anglers have caught unusually large sized corbina from the channel as the fish move through during strong tidal changes.

Island White is situated slightly south west of Belmont Pier. This #7 sided island has long sand spits off every corner of the rocks. The longest of the spits extends 40 yards out from the rocks and ends up as a lip on one of the 70 foot deep channels. This projection of sand is probably one of the more prolific spots for halibut in the harbor. Strangely though, I have caught a number of juvenile black sea bass from the lip, one about 15 pounds. If you look at the charts this island has more area of dredged channels than any of the other islands. This is probably the reason why this island produces more unusual currents around its¹ perimeter than any of the other three. They fluctuate in all directions. Small barracuda are thick around the island although I have never caught a legal one in the hundreds of hook-ups I have had.

About one mile due south of White is Island Freeman. This island sports very shallow sand bars surrounding the east,west, and south sides of the #4 sided island. You can almost walk around this area at the base of the rocks at low tide. Anglers that throw the rubber at these shallow sand spots catch lots of halibut and sand bass. It¹s the best area in the harbor for this kind of technique. This island also takes a straight on hit from the currents through the Long Beach gap of the breakwater which creates a gathering spot for the white sea bass. Sometimes they are thicker than a school of mackerel along the south exposure but most are from #12 to #18 inches in length a far cry from the necessary #28 inches for bagging. There is one denizen we call the "Troll" that sometimes grabs a bait and disappears in a reel screaming journey to Catalina. I have hooked him about ten times and never yet slowed him down. He picks up the bait much like a sea bass but when he feels the hook he sprints down the island edge and heads for the Long Beach gap. We have hooked him on #30 pound and still never got him to hesitate. Since we have never landed him the story gets better all the time. Black sea bass? Leopard Shark? Giant white sea bass?

The last island in Long Beach harbor is seven sided Chaffee Island. This island sits about 3/4th of a mile off the beach about halfway between the Belmont Pier and the Alamitos Bay Jetty. The bottom depth is very shallow in the area and the island is open to a south exposure as the breakwater ends just southeast of its¹ location. Halibut fishermen like to escape the west wind by pulling their boats into the shallow island edge on the east side and drift off dragging live bait and rubber across the hard sand bottom.This is one of the few hard sand bottom spots in the harbor. Chaffee lacks the shallow sand bars that sport the other islands edges. It drops off quickly on all sides except for a slope of sand on the north side.

There are two more islands that really don¹t qualify as harbor islands but need mentioning since they are very close to the harbor. One is no longer with us as it was torn down last winter. It is still appears as Belmont Island in all the area Chart Plotters. My advice is don¹t lose its¹ GPS location. The island was located off the end of the breakwater on the edge of a solid rock plain and is now a better fishing spot than it was before, when it was with us. It produces "giant" sand bass at the crack of dawn and just before dark. You know it has to be a good fishing spot because its¹ loaded with lobster traps in season.

The last island is Esther, the one that blew away in the Perfect Storm of the 1980¹s. The 30 foot waves completely washed the island and the rock perimeter away to be scattered all over the bottom. It was reconstructed using metal pilings instead of rocks and it was moved about 50 yards east of its¹ original position. It is located off the entrance to Huntington Harbor. Yes, you guessed it, the rocks are still there and promote a super spot for sand bass. Suprisingly though the pilings also hold a population of calico bass, one of the very few places like it in the harbor.

End Part 4. Next. Basic tackle techniques for the harbor.
Charter Reviews
L.A. Harbor (Part 5)
by George Van Zant
Many requests have come my way asking about the LA Harbor and Long Beach Harbor fishing. San Pedro Bay, Long Beach Harbor and Los Angeles Harbor. San Pedro Bay, Long Beach Harbor and Los Angeles Harbor
Tackle Applications
Before I begin this tackle quest it's important that you realize the amount of juvenile fish there are swimming around in the harbor and how important tackle releases become. The harbor is nursery for barracuda, white sea bass and halibut. Thousands of them grow up in our harbor and then enter the open ocean to mature and reproduce. Many of the eggs that scatter over the Southern California waters end up floating into the harbor where they hatch and the babies live out the first year or two of their lives. I have seen giant schools of 6 inch barracuda swimming in the back bays of Alamitos Bay and caught 10 inch white sea bass on every single cast around the oil islands. Small halibut less than 12 inches long are like fly maggots on a cow pie along our beaches. It¹s a known fact that you have to wade through at least 20 small halibut before you can land a legal 22 inch fish. It becomes very necessary that you practice the following release tactics. First, don¹t touch the juvenile with your hands. If you can reach the hook with pliers twist the hook out and don¹t lift the fish by the hook. Secondly, if the fish has swallowed the hook, cut the line and leave the hook in the fish, it will rust out or pass through him without injury. If you touch the fish, especially sea bass or barracuda your hands impart a disease that is eventually fatal. Be quick about the release and above all be gentle. If you are unsure about the length of a potential keeper throw him back anyway, it¹s not worth handling. Bass are fairly sturdy and can be handled easier than sea bass or barracuda unless the hook disappears down his throat then it¹s the same deal, cut the line. I have caught virtually hundreds of sea bass and barracuda over the years but I have never caught a 28 inch barracuda in the harbor and I have caught only one legal sea bass. (Still, I have wondered about some of those screaming hook-ups that never came back).
Most of my fishing in the harbor has been for halibut but some times the trips to the halibut spots have produced other angling experiences. For instance, a very good bait for halibut, especially large halibut, is herring baits which I sometime catch under the bait receivers. I fish for them with a light trout outfit and a slice of fresh anchovy filet. Once, in the early days, I had my boat positioned about ten feet off the end of the receiver with 5 or 6 herring in the bait tank when an 6 foot thresher shark (counting the tail) jumped 5 feet into the air, lit up like the Staples Center. He did a mid-air flip between my boat and the receiver with my herring hook stuck in his tail. 6 pound line was no match for a #50 pound thresher, especially hooked in the whip, top lobe of his tail. But most importantly for my angling education, I didn¹t have the proper tackle to fish further for the thresher. Another time a fishing buddy called me over to fish a spot in the 80 foot channel through the Long Beach gap where he had landed two halibut in the #20 pound class. The heaviest monofilament I had was #8 pound test on one of my reels which was too light for that depth. Another time I saw a boater trolling plugs on the beach just behind the swimming buoys catching very large yellowfin croaker and I didn¹t have my plugs with me. The point of all this is to be prepared for anything when you fish the harbor. Over the years I have really been burnt for not being ready for any occurrence.

I have been fishing the harbor for my lifetime. In the early days I took my boat to halibut spots along the beach where I used very light tackle and live smelt to catch the flatties. In those days the oil islands weren¹t built as yet, I didn¹t know the importance of the deep water channels though the gaps and rubber tails weren¹t on the scene. The largest halibut were no more than #15 pounds at the most so I got away with the use of very light tackle. In fact I can¹t count the halibut I have caught with #4 pound test line. Then the oil islands came with all their physical attractions and much later they banned gill nets which really improved the number of large halibut caught. Today, it isn¹t unusual for float tube guys to catch #30 pound butts in 6 feet of water on the edge of the beach. The channels are now full of very large halibut, sand bass and such. I have learned that you have to be prepared for many nice surprises.

Basic Tackle With Live Bait

As previously mentioned I almost always head for the halibut holes in the harbor but end up catching lots of other kinds too. The following is my basic approach anywhere in the harbor using live bait. My first rule is to use the lightest mono running line that I can safely get away with and second, try to not tie more than two knots in my line. Actually only one knot is best, and that of course, would be the hook knot. Sometimes I use only a split shot above the hook and use a second knot when a dropper leader is needed above my sinker. Palomar knots are the best on the hooks and Dropper Loop knots for above the hook leaders. On plugs and lead heads I use a Loop Knot. On occasion I will tie into ten pound test running line a smaller leader above the sinker, like 8 pound test. If the line diameters are somewhat close, the Barrel Knot is best, if not, a Surgeons knot is deployed. When it becomes necessary to tie on another hook to the leader above the sinker the Double Grip Clinch knot, or as some call it the Trilene Knot, does the job especially when you don¹t want to use up the length of the leader as it comes off the main line.

Other than utilizing only a split shot for weight, my favorite live bait set-up for all the sandy or soft bottom areas is one knot tied to a hook after passing it through a Torpedo Sinker. Slide the sinker about two feet above the hook and block it from falling to the hook with a split shot. When the split shot is pinched to the line use only your thumb and first finger pressure. Keep away from plier crimps because they almost always nick the line. I like to use my teeth on the split shot when a long cast is necessary much to the delight of my dentist.
Since my early beginning I have always thought that chrome torpedoes from 1 to 3 ounces were the best for the butts. We used to cast only chrome sinkers with a treble hook attached and catch lots of them. My fishing buddies don¹t agree though, and use normal lead types and do just fine.

The proper hook is very necessary with the lighter line weights. It is imperative that 1X to 2X thin Octopus hooks are deployed. The larger diameter hooks do not penetrate as well with light lines. Fit the hook size to the size of the bait. If the bend of the hook is too large the point of the hook in a nose hooked bait almost always turns around and sticks into the baits eye which keeps the point from entering your trophies mouth. The point of the nose hooked bait should barely be exposed.

Running line weights should be very light. Especially when halibut are being sought. Still, you have to be concerned with the depth you are fishing. It¹s really difficult to set the hook into a halibut with #8 pound test line 50 to 80 feet down. Ten or twelve pound will work but fifteen pound test penetrates the best. Sometimes you can be fishing halibut and not catching anything then change to a smaller diameter line and begin to hook-up. The conditions dictate what you have to do but light line always produces more hook-ups.

Reels are very important. Spinning reels are necessary for line weights from #8 pound test and lower. Conventional reels are used with heavier weight lines. This is my personal preference and is not practiced by all anglers. The true reason for reel styles is not whether they are spinning or conventional but rather how smooth the drag is. Spinning reels are notoriously devoid of smooth drags and conventional reels for the most part have much better drags. On the other hand you can cast light lines with light sinkers much further than with conventional reels. Many times you need to cast as far as possible into the shallow beach area because the butts are up close to shore chasing grunion so spinning reels are best for the long cast.

What kind of rod to use depends on the depth of the bottom and the line test on your reel. The best rod description I use with spinning reels is that the rod is a steelhead kind #8 feet long and bends very slowly, like a buggy whip. My conventional rods are still buggy whips but larger than those for spinning with a little more backbone for the setting of the hook.

This is my artillery for a halibut adventure in the harbor. One Daiwa Team Daiwa 2500 spinning reel with #8 pound and an extra spool of #6 pound. This reel is attached to a #8 foot steelhead rod that I wrapped myself. I carry two rods for the conventional reels. One of the two reels are a Shimano Triton Speedmaster loaded with #10 pound test line attached to a self- tied blank of steelhead size. The other is a Penn Mag 525 with #12 pound line on another steelhead blank. In the tackle box is a spare back-up Dawia Millionaire 300 spooled with #15 pound test line.


The rods I use for other applications like trolling and throwing jigs are much different. (That¹s in the next part)