Local fleet awaits arrival of albacore

As predicted by veteran skippers and deep sea anglers it appears that

the traditional albacore season will begin on or just after the

Fourth of July holiday. Big schools of longfin tuna are moving up

along the Baja coast and are now within in one-day range of the San

Diego based fleet. Newport Landing Sportfishing, headquartered in

Balboa, scheduled the fast sportfisher Ultra out to the tuna grounds

and most likely it will be joined by the Cat Special operating out of

Davey’s Locker. The speedy six pack yachts of Bongos Sportfishing

Charters will be ready when the albies move into channel waters,

hopefully by the middle of next week.

Coastal fishing remains very good for a mixed bag of sand and

calico bass, while Catalina Island is producing good fishing for

barracuda and calico bass. The bite has been exceptional all along

the beach with limits caught daily by anglers fishing on board 1/2,

3/4 and twilight trips. Newport Landing Sportfishing, 675-0550,

spokesman Kyle Brown, reports that calicos and sand bass are biting

best on anchovies and plastics with good catches being made all the

way from “The Barn” up to the Huntington Beach flats. One hot spot

noted by Brown was the reef known locally by skippers as “Newport

Pipe” where easy limits of sandies weighing up into the double digits

has been the rule for passengers this past week.

Over at Catalina Island there are still some good catches of white

seabass being caught by six pack charters and private yachts when

live squid is available and there have also been some pretty

respectable croaker counts posted by the Cat Special and Aggressor

running all day trips out of Balboa’s two landings.

Fishing in Newport Bay has been very steady for spotted bay bass

weighing in the 2- to 4-pound class. All the boating activity in the

bay over this holiday weekend could make fishing a lot tougher for

anglers. Work the incoming and outgoing tides between docks to tap

the bay for the spotted bay bass bite. The lures of choice are soft

3-inch plastics, rigged on a 1/4-ounce jig head and the hottest

color pattern is anchovy.

Local Orange County angler Phil Arciero, Sr. spent 22 years

fishing off his sportfishers docked in Huntington Harbor and his

years of experience on the water might pay off big time for the avid

angler. Arciero, along with a group of friends, just returned from

Waterfall Resort, (800) 544-5125, where they enjoyed excellent

fishing for king salmon, big halibut and bottom fish. Arciero entered

the 15th Annual King Of Kings Salmon Tournament and, a week ago

Tuesday just an hour before he had to fly home, he hooked into a 64.4

pound king salmon that has him on top of the leader board for the

tournament.

This outdoor writer was joined by my wife Toni for a visit to

Waterfall Resort and passed Arciero in float planes as he headed home

and we were arriving at one of Alaska’s premier fishing lodges. Even

though no other angler has been able to top Arciero’s catch, to date,

the fishing was exceptional with the major runs of King, pink,

sockeye and chum salmon still not at their peak.

Fly in lodges in Alaska are becoming very popular for families

looking to maximize their time on the water while enjoying the

comforts of a well staffed lodge. Our stay at Waterfall was

exceptional for quality fishing from comfortable sportfishers. Toni

and I topped off our all too short of stay in Alaska with a couple of

floats on the legendary Kenai River rated as one of the finest King

salmon fisheries in the world. Headquarters for floats on the Kenai

River was at Great Alaska Adventure Lodge, (800) 544-2261, and this

operation provided super on river guiding. There are strict limits on

this King salmon river that have resulted in giving anglers an

excellent opportunity to catch the fish of a lifetime. While drifting

with outfitter Kent John, Toni topped off an awesome morning of

salmon fishing by releasing a 45-pound “chromer” while this writer

sent a huge 49-pound hen back into the river to continue with her

spawning run up the Kenai River.