Variety Pack of Bass Huntington Beach Pier 9/20/22

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evanluck

Well-Known Member
#1
#1
Started fishing around 7:00AM. I fish the left side of the restaurant at the end of the pier on the side that faces the shoreline. I was actually looking to catch mackerel but from the looks of the buckets of everyone at the end, they were not around. I noticed a young man pulled in a white sea bass on a live smelt on a carolina rig. So I started catching smelt and would fish one on a split shot rig and the other on a carolina rig.

I ended up catching 2 White Sea bass, 2 sand bass, 1 kelp bass, and 1 spotted bay bass and of course a bunch of smelt. This is the first time I've caught bass of any kind at this pier so it was exciting to catch multiple bass with four different species. I also lost a big spotted bay bass just at the surface of the water. It was a big one and I took the risk to try to get it over the rail without a net. One good headshake and it broke me off. All fish were caught on fairly small live smelt with the splitshot rig out performing the carolina rig about 3 to 1. I stopped fishing at 12:30PM.
whiteseabassx2.jpg
sandkelpspot.jpg

The young man who initially clued me in to the presence of the white sea bass ended up landed 4 white sea bass and a halibut. All fish were short of the legal limit so both of us safely released our fish.

I did see a couple anglers keep a short white sea bass and a short calico. We told them that the fish were not legal but they kept them anyways.

I saw another two short halibut pulled up about 20 yards inshore from where I was fishing and I saw someone else land a good size butterfly ray. Saw a couple isolated bait boils but other than that there was no evidence of the presence of bonito. i also saw a small mackerel and a sardine caught by different anglers using sabikis as I was packing up to leave.

I've really been enjoying smoking mackerel. It tastes delicious apple wood smoked on my little weber smokey joe. I'm gonna try to target them again this week hopefully with more success. I think I need to start earlier.
 
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E

evanluck

Well-Known Member
#6
#6
Bendopolo said:
If you lifted those Seabass out if the water, you killed them. They can’t handle it. Better to not fish for the Babies.
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I’ve heard things about them being delicate. The three that I’ve caught all seemed to release fine and swim away vigorously.

Have you had experience catching some, taking them out of the water and having them die?
 
Fishman Fishman

Fishman Fishman

Well-Known Member
#7
#7
evanluck said:
Started fishing around 7:00AM. I fish the left side of the restaurant at the end of the pier on the side that faces the shoreline. I was actually looking to catch mackerel but from the looks of the buckets of everyone at the end, they were not around. I noticed a young man pulled in a white sea bass on a live smelt on a carolina rig. So I started catching smelt and would fish one on a split shot rig and the other on a carolina rig.

I ended up catching 2 White Sea bass, 2 sand bass, 1 kelp bass, and 1 spotted bay bass and of course a bunch of smelt. This is the first time I've caught bass of any kind at this pier so it was exciting to catch multiple bass with four different species. I also lost a big spotted bay bass just at the surface of the water. It was a big one and I took the risk to try to get it over the rail without a net. One good headshake and it broke me off. All fish were caught on fairly small live smelt with the splitshot rig out performing the carolina rig about 3 to 1. I stopped fishing at 12:30PM.
View attachment 3383
View attachment 3384

The young man who initially clued me in to the presence of the white sea bass ended up landed 4 white sea bass and a halibut. All fish were short of the legal limit so both of us safely released our fish.

I did see a couple anglers keep a short white sea bass and a short calico. We told them that the fish were not legal but they kept them anyways.

I saw another two short halibut pulled up about 20 yards inshore from where I was fishing and I saw someone else land a good size butterfly ray. Saw a couple isolated bait boils but other than that there was no evidence of the presence of bonito. i also saw a small mackerel and a sardine caught by different anglers using sabikis as I was packing up to leave.

I've really been enjoying smoking mackerel. It tastes delicious apple wood smoked on my little weber smokey joe. I'm gonna try to target them again this week hopefully with more success. I think I need to start earlier.
Click to expand...
Always fun to pier fish. But great fun when you catch something, especially those days when it's a variety of species. Thanks for the report.
 
M

Makairaa

Well-Known Member
#9
#9
evanluck said:
I’ve heard things about them being delicate. The three that I’ve caught all seemed to release fine and swim away vigorously.

Have you had experience catching some, taking them out of the water and having them die?
Click to expand...
Its not the taking them out of the water that is the problem. Its the handling. White sea bass have a thin slime layer and are extremely susceptible to bacterial infections. You can release them and they will swim away strong. But, a week later they will die from an infection. During the early 90’s when they first set up the hatchery they had a couple of events to catch broodstock. The general public was invited to fish. When they caught a legal white seabass they were to call the transfer boats and leave the fish in the water. The transfer boats would come in and net the fish. They would the remove the hook and put the fish in a holding tank. They would then deliver it to a boat with a large holding pen tied to the side and put the fish in the pen. I worked on one of the transfer boats. At the end of the weekend I believe about a dozen fish were caught. After about a week almost all of the fish developed bacterial infections. Several had infections in the shape of hand prints from where people held them. I saw a photo of several once. Wish I still had a copy. I believe all but 1 or 2 of those fish died. After that they only collected the fish privately where they could minimize the handling and wear gloves when they had to. Did those fish you released die? Who knows. But best practice is to minimize any and all handling of them and to release them as quickly as possible. They also should not be targeted at that size for these reasons. Incidental catch happens and no one should be bashed for mishandling them, at least not until they learn better and still don’t take better care.
 
E

evanluck

Well-Known Member
#10
#10
Makairaa said:
Its not the taking them out of the water that is the problem. Its the handling. White sea bass have a thin slime layer and are extremely susceptible to bacterial infections. You can release them and they will swim away strong. But, a week later they will die from an infection. During the early 90’s when they first set up the hatchery they had a couple of events to catch broodstock. The general public was invited to fish. When they caught a legal white seabass they were to call the transfer boats and leave the fish in the water. The transfer boats would come in and net the fish. They would the remove the hook and put the fish in a holding tank. They would then deliver it to a boat with a large holding pen tied to the side and put the fish in the pen. I worked on one of the transfer boats. At the end of the weekend I believe about a dozen fish were caught. After about a week almost all of the fish developed bacterial infections. Several had infections in the shape of hand prints from where people held them. I saw a photo of several once. Wish I still had a copy. I believe all but 1 or 2 of those fish died. After that they only collected the fish privately where they could minimize the handling and wear gloves when they had to. Did those fish you released die? Who knows. But best practice is to minimize any and all handling of them and to release them as quickly as possible. They also should not be targeted at that size for these reasons. Incidental catch happens and no one should be bashed for mishandling them, at least not until they learn better and still don’t take better care.
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Good to know. Thanks for sharing your experience.
 
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