Early Summer Fishing – Now is the time!
June marks the beginning of the serious fishing season in SoCal, both inshore and off. It may take until mid-July for the offshore season to get into full swing. While there are often yellowtail under paddies and the occasional early bluefin tuna, it’s not until later into the summer that tuna show in full swing. If albacore show, it’ll be around mid-July, and yellowfin will show by August. That’s about the time when dorado and yellowtail show under paddies in earnest as well. If marlin show this year (they haven’t the last few years), it should be in August and September.
Inshore, the kelp beds come alive this time of year. Barracuda and bonito make their way up from southern waters and start to invade our local kelp beds. Calico bass head up from the bottom and become much more aggressive at all levels of the water column as well. And you can never rule out the possibility of yellowtail and white seabass showing. Just keep in mind that the new bass regulations raised the minimum size from 12 inches to 14 inches.
Summer also normally marks the peak for mako sharks. Early June saw a potential world record mako of over 1300 pounds taken, even though our average size fish here in San Diego is less than 100 pounds–you just never know!
One of the fun things to keep any eye out for are the blue whales that show in pretty large numbers locally—and they are hard to miss! Along with the blue whales come minke and Fin Back whales, and even the great possibility of seeing Orcas and humpbacks, not to mention five or six species of porpoise and dolphin.
Summer usually also brings our most stable weather conditions, with calm winds and smooth seas. That doesn’t mean you can’t get a rougher day, but in general conditions are calmer and smooth. It never gets hot out there either unlike many locations in the summer.
All in all, summer in SoCal is definitely the time to be on the water.
Capt. Scott Leon
Paradigm Shift Charters
www.paradigmshiftcharters.com