Deep sea fishing in california?

You can rent a skiff (at the Balboa Pavillion "Davey's Locker") and fish inside Newport harbor using 6 pound green trilene and plastics under all the moored boats and docks through out the bay. You will have a blast and catch a hundred spotted bay bass. On lite leadheads, the best colors have green in them. Green orange belly (hot belly dorado) is my favorite. Mike Gardner (author) who guides in the back bay prefers the green belly gold back, both are AA's (double A) Lures. They will give you a half scoop of anchovies with the skiff rental and drifting with the current on both sides of the bridge (PCH) could land a halibut or two (though I would think them in spawning mode right now) Use a carolina rig with sliding sinker no more than 3/4 ounce for drifting live. You can also drift from the mouth of the jetty's back into the bay for them too. They sit on the sand between the eel grass clusters. More so on the balboa side than the Corona del mar side. The U S Coast Guard docks has a nice eel grass area worth checking out if you do go out toward the mouth as well. and right in front of that dock is moored baots holding a mix, croakers, sandies, spotties and butts. Otherwise I would spend the day on docks along the south side in the morning and the north side in the evening just jigging plastics around pilings......

Good luck

Pierpoint Landing Fish Counts

You are wasting your money. This is the wrong time of the year, water temperature is just too cold right now. Sure, you can catch some rock cod but if you will notice on 976-tuna as Peter suggested the counts are pretty low if you consider that as an average take. The boats staying out longer catch more fish bringing the half day boat counts down.

I would suggest you spend an extra day at Disneyland or some of the other spectacular places we have around here.

Come back in the middle or late summer for better deep sea fishing.

Anyway, enjoy yourself at the "Happiest place on Earth".

P.S. Long Beach has a very nice aquarium now. Check that out.

Cost: I would set aside a minimum of $100. Party boat rides cost bewteen $35 to $60 per person. 1 Day none resident fishing license will cost you $13.40?. Equipment rental, tackles, tips, parking, plus foods and drinks will all add up.

Redondo Sportfishing is pretty nice. Their 3/4 day boat is my favorite. They sold the Spitfire recently and the replacement "The Traditions" should be up and running this weekend. (Original scheduled launch date was May 1st but the captain and the crew refused to take the boat out until everything's perfect.) Their 1/2 day boats are pretty good as well.

http://www.redondosportfishing.com/

Pierpoint Landing is pretty good too. I like their 3/4 day boat "Victory". "Enterprise" is pretty nice as well.

http://www.pierpoint.net/

"Icon" of Long Beach Sportfishing is very good.

http://www.longbeachsportfishing.com/

"Pursuit" of Sportfishing at 22nd Street Marina is also a good boat. But they could be pretty crowded during weekends.

http://www.22ndstreet.com/

Thanks to swine flu, party boats are less crowded now. But if there aren't enough riders, trips could also get cancelled without prior notice. You don't have to worry about cancelled trips on weekends; you just have to share your spaces with more people. Since most boats are bottom fishing at the moment, I would recommend that you use heavier sinker than captain's recommendation. Heavier sinkers will work when you only need lighter ones but not the other way around. Heavier sinkers will also prevent tangles.

There are a number of landings up and down the coast. From Anaheim, the closest would probably be in Newport Beach. Trips range from 5-hour half-day runs to all-day and overnight trips, the half-day trips are $40, the all-day are $69. Other landings will have similar schedules and prices.

On top of the fare, you'll need a fishing license, rod rental (if you don't have your own gear), and money for snacks/meals/tips/fish cleaning -- $30-$50 or so more per person.

Try Long Beach Sports Fishing www.longbeachsportsfishing.com

Also, check out www.fishingnetwork.net and check out the Southern California messageboard for good places to fish.

the nine mile point from the San Diego harbor