opaleyecalico bassMike Dufish's The Breakwall Angler, starring opaleye and calico bass
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Catch Reports 2014

Palos Verdes 2/10

    Past two months I caught up with chores, now I’m taking a timeout to check if any opaleye are around.  Haven’t seen any of the blue-eyed babes listed in the local sportfish landing totals, but that’s not unusual.

    On the way to Palos Verdes I stopped by Colorado Lagoon in Long Beach, the green bait was available but was not of such great quality.  However,  it was usable.

    Along the shore below Via Segovia I fished from a rock shaped perfectly to deflect any of the three foot swells rolling in.  The color of the water, current, swell and everything else seemed to be just right but two hours of chumming and casting produced not one bite.

    As the tide rolled out, I regressed toward the parking area, passing more nice looking casting rocks but I didn’t make an effort because they were too close to and looked just like the other rock surrounded by good conditions without fish.

    Since the usual nice looking opaleye habitat housed nothing, I went crazy and tried an atypical area.  While the tide was still up I chummed and cast from rocks at the back of the cove, in clear, calm water next to the breakline plume of mud washing away from the latest dirt slide that started two years ago.  Another two hours tossing the bobber green bait rig here and over there again produced no bites.

    This area is the same as the now closed-to-fishing Opaleye Point, Marineland Terranea zone that has produced so profusely the last 30 years.  Only thing I can come up with is we’re in a down cycle.  For instance, Breakwall Darryl and I fished all around here in the 1980s and into the 90s with live red rock shrimp, of which everything eats.  Some days we would have ten specie days.  All of a sudden around 1995 we caught nothing for two years fishing just about every other weekend spring, summer, fall and winter.  Then in 1998 El Nino rolled in and just like that we caught opaleye bass halibut white seabass sargo croakers surfperch all the way until 2013.  Now, nothing.

    Not sure if I will come back here any time soon.  I will check the water temps and local fish counts in August and if it all comes together I will try for calico bass.

    Otherwise, since we haven’t had any kind of winter this season and today’s February weather feels like springtime in April, I will be dusting off my largemouth gear to ready myself for the pre-spawn at Diamond Valley Lake.

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Toured L. A. 12/25, photos.

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Chuck P. report from Pleasant Valley Reservoir 12/14:

Chuck P. loaded up a basket of rainbows caught from Pleasant Vally Reservoir 12/14/2013Fish I caught Sat morn on the way home from June.  Your pole holder in photo to show length -- big guy was 14 in about pound and a half -  fighter = fun


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