Saturday Mayo the 4 2024- broken cloud cover- sun trying to come out— wind light from the S/W seas good- lots of folks out and about .

Only radio checks so far on the VHF

Weather turned westerly and more clouds getting ugly out here— —- BAC weaighted in the First White Sea Bass of the Year for them 50+lb fish— secret spot-

U.S. Border patrol in and out the harbor today— back and forth—- back and forth—-

Friday Mayo 3 2024- Gray again- but warmer— wind light to fair from the Southeast 4-6 kts— light wind chop with it— couple of boats came in early?

 Generally weak onshore flow and a coastal eddy will continue into Saturday. Gusty west to
northwest winds late Saturday through Sunday evening are likely to generate hazardous boating conditions, especially in the outer waters. Weaker onshore flow follows Monday and Tuesday.
.TODAY...Wind variable less than 10 knots...becoming southwest 10 knots this afternoon. Wind waves around 2 feet or less. Mixed swell west 2 to 3 feet at 9 seconds and southwest 1 to 2 feet at
15 seconds. .SATURDAY...Wind southwest 10 to 15 knots. Wind waves around
2 feet or less. Mixed swell west 2 to 3 feet at 8 seconds and southwest 1 to 2 feet at 16 seconds...SUNDAY...Wind west 15 to 20 knots with gusts to 25 knots. Wind
waves around 4 feet. Mixed swell west 5 to 7 feet at 7 seconds and southwest 2 feet at 15 seconds.

Approaching northern front due to get windy and a bit choppy-

Local kids in the shop today— casting and catching inside the harbor barracudas, almost legals lengths- casting shallow running plugs- Lucky Crafts flash minnows- -

tomorrow’s mornings, southwest 5-8 kts wind- Sunday’s AM up to 12-15 kts West , tides building as the New moon nears—

Sea Bass—- report of a 50-60 lb fish caught locally today—-

Thursdays report— the 2nd- Gray sky for the day— overcast and a bit cooler— light southwest wind today 3- 5 kts- seas calm , seems some of that whaling activity has quited down a bit— more dolphins around today- a Minki and a few Fins so far— off Main beach Laguna—

Sky brightened as the afternoon hours took on the sun-

And this weekend Saturday 8:30- 2 pm The BAC will be hosting their Tackle Swap Meet- at the — Schock Boats Huntington Harbour located 16214 Pacific Coast Hwy Huntington Beach, 92649 United States

Weather this weekend look ok for the inner waters ( blowing west outside) on Sat morning mid day- it turns west, Sat night into Sunday all day strong west winds and seas-

Cinco de Mayo on Sunday— tacos and beers!

Today’s work included finishing up on a pair of older reels, Torium 30 and a Avet- clean and lube all bearing - replace/ re-lube drag washers , new line ready for the trip to Cedros Island.

Help out a customer today with his tackle, his baitcaster casting techniques improved and knots explained. such simple things that help alot.

Wed’s report the 1st of May— should be lots of May flowers around— inland its warming under the sun — coastlines and seaward still some of that marine haze - Seas are good and calm— light south eddy wind 3-4 kts- Still lots of that green algae lot’s of it now-

Blue Whale at 28/48 heading north 301 degrees a 2 kts- 10:36am— takes a short blow and a short 2 min dive then 4 or 5 big blows then down 10 minutes

Those elsuive Bluefin Tunas—- latest reports say comerical rock cod fishermen working the 100 fathom ledge above Morro bay report seeing Bluefin Tuna— and probally so- it’s May they should be on the move by now—

White Sea Bass fishing— still on the slow catching side, Channel Islands has a few being caught there— meter marks show many more, just a right time issue they say- closer to our local waters, a few bites on the smaller greenback mackerels, art reefs and structure spots.

Earthquakes and fish— studies show there’s a pause in the feeding schedule during the quaking event—

Tuesday’s Report- April 30 last day of this month- Mostly clear sky - marine haze seaward- wind is light from the South- as a eddy from stronger outside West winds—and it looks like that for another week or better— coastal south for the next few weeks—

Generally weak onshore flow and an occasional coastal eddy will occur this week.

Today’s excitement—— not much except a couple, three (5) Fin backed whales off Aliso 28/48 heading offshore 4-5 kts, not shy- waters very green out there, bands of off-colored water offshore and a Blue Whale at 28. 5/ 34 and Humpback inside off Salt Creek! - coastal fishing— might be a sea bass or two around???

Closed on Monday— Picked weeds!

Sunday-the 28 of April— Blue sky again, nice— again light marine haze seaward— wind light from the south- 2 4 kts seas are good—

radio reports of anglers catching a few calcos and a sculpin, he kept them, coastal bay and harbor waters still with that green algae but it seems to be short lived and much of it can be seen drifting in mats and broken loose from the bottom , starting to fall apart.

Water’s flat, clean and green, good amount of smaller bait around, 59 degrees

Sat April the 27th , clear sky this am— some marine haze seaward with the south eddy 6-10 kt wind this morning, light wind chop on it. Vela-Vela’s lots of them appearing in the waters— Stand by for the Mola-Mola’s to be here too-

A look at this year ( Left) and last years ( below) water temps from 50 to 75 degrees for the Month of April

April the 25th Thursdays report— Broken cloud cover wind still light from the west— stronger west offshore— light eddy from the south is expected during morning hours this weekend,

If your up to it— 10:30 this evening and about an hour later each night thereafter for a couple nights— Grunion Hunting— find a secluded sandy shore beach, ( many city’s close the beaches after 10 pm) - Salt Creek is open as is some other beaches , no nets or traps only hand catching

Note to pay attention to- starting May the 24 for a month much of San Clemente Island will be restricted—Check with their web site https://www.scisland.org/

1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS WILL TAKE PLACE ON THE FOLLOWING DATES AND
TIMES: 010800Z MAY 24 TO 010800Z JUN 24

2. HAZARDOUS OPS (FLETA HOT) AREA

3. HAZARDOUS OPS (SOAR) AREA

4. HAZARDOUS OPS (SHOBA WITH BOTH EXTENSIONS) AREA

5. HAZARDOUS OPS (MOORED BUOYS IN PYRAMID COVE) AREA

6. MARINERS ARE STRONGLY ADVISED TO AVOID THESE AREAS DURING THE SPECIFIED DATES AND TIMES.

April the 24th still trying to figure out this new web site— not in favor of it but it works so far— to continue- Mornings coastal clouds left early light west wind cleared it out- hazy seawards— light wind chop- 10- 15 2025 Small Craft outside waters

Tides are strong full moon tonight- waters still on the cool side-

This weekend, small fishing tournament between the yacht clubs here in Newport— with all that green algae growing on the bottom, makes trolling those deep diving lures become fouled quickly, try to keep them closer to the boat and only 7-8 ft deep- it might help- there’s a few halibuts in the bay- bass fishing okay , baits also will do better if suspended off the bottom a few feet— good luck JD

Facebook shows that Turtle bay fueling is back in business- that helps those who are planning to head south this coming fall for the Mag bay fishing.

Today’s work brings a pair of Pflueger 1419 3/4 Templar reels for restoration, one of them held 300 yard length of 50 lb nylon fishing line, stretchy line like a rubber band the other reel filled with Linen six-thread. Both reels still in good shape- manufactured in 1935!!

April the 23 2024 - Tuesdays and overcast, slowly clearing- wind fresh from the west— light to mild wind chop -not much of a swell - hazy marine layer forecasted- not much said so far on the radio —

April the 22 Sunday - light westerly this morning as that cloudcover starts to evaporate, seas ok with a west small wind chop against that swell coming in from the S/W , a little cross swell to it, not bad— bait was a little ought to make this morning— Newport’s bait receiver still yet to come—

Cloud cover came back in early— cooler—-

couple of boats went out to the rock cod grounds, AKA 14 mile bank— did well— noted why they taste so good—, coming up from the depths as the did, just like their air bladder all the body’s tissues expand, the fish physically gets larger- everything get’s tenderized and the flesh flakes easier—

Closed on Mondays—-

Sat April the 20th— Still overcast- but more and more boaters and folks out today— it’s Saturday— Newport’s Boat Show is on- lots of $$$ Boats and yachts, Whale watchers are out - gray 60 ft of water off Laguna heading south?- Barge workers still on the VHF as is the regatta sailors.

Fishing??- stand by—

VHF radio brings many things— 12:35 the squelch breaks— calling Newport harbor patrol— as we were just heading out the harbor whale watching boat spots a 36/36 ft vessel with very bow heavy coming into the harbor— went towards it to check it out— it makes a U turn and pulls into M Street dock- offloads about 30 people-and abandons the boat ! Yikes—

Friday again—— April the 19th , high overcast ,light south wind- seas good with a S/W swell far apart

— Fin Whale off laguna and Humpback not far behind it—both going south— a few spots of dolphins too-

tides mellow will increase next week as that moon fills—

It’s a slow process figuring this new system out— more tomorrow JD

Thursday, April 18th 2024

Well we’re back online. Thanks for your patience. New website - fresh start to the fish report.

Back in January we lost website, old programs and new servers - it’s taken a while to get it all sorted out, and not all together there yet— slowly one step at a time.

April the 18 and we’re still waiting for the fish to start biting well- a few sand or calicos, halibuts at the islands and hopefully as that moon fills we’ll see a seabass bite, — The lack of squid off the west coast all the way down from Monterey southwards is holding off much of the bite of the seabass and yellows for this time of year.

Anchovies, one of the other staples of bait, also has been retarded, a few spots of 2-inch stuff seen by spotter planes also has been scattered and not often.

The past weeks and months I’ve been working on the bamboo rods, mainly fitting the hardware, reel-seats and gimbles to the wooden handles they’ve been reinforced with a sleeve of a fiberglass rod, wooden foregrips were hollowed out to fit the stronger tip sections of med and heavy blanks and then epoxied , they look nice.

And todays work included refurbishing and older 14/0 Ocean City reel, cool old reel!

More to come— welcome back

JD