If the strong westerly winds would just back off for a few days,
fishing along the entire south coast could bust wide open. The stage
is set for an awesome late-summer fishing season that should continue
well into the early fall months. Albacore are slowly moving into
one-day range, but are hung up by massive schools of small anchovies
and sauries southeast of the 60-Mile Bank. A few of the overnight
boats operating out of Davey's Locker and Newport Sportfishing
Landing are making runs to the fishing grounds, but the counts have
not been anything to talk about as tough conditions on the outside
are keeping the longfins from coming to the boat.
Doug Hone and this outdoor editor grew up in Newport Beach and
worked together on sport boats running out of Newport Bay back in the
late '50s and early '60s. Hone has since moved to a ranch in
Gardnerville, Nev., but saltwater has never left his blood so he
decided to put together a charter aboard the sportfisher Pacific
Queen for a 1 1/2 -day trip to the albacore grounds earlier this
week.
Don Yarnell grew up on 32nd Street and Andy Davis was raised in
West Newport and all of us attended grade school and Newport Harbor
High School. It was kind of like a class reunion but we didn't have
to try and impress each other or get dressed up for the occasion. The
Pacific Queen operates out of Fisherman's Landing in San Diego so
Hone picked Davis up at a relative's house next to Hoag Hospital and
then came down to the Niemiec family beach house to pick up this
writer.
It's been a very up-and-down season for albacore fishing off the
coast and this trip wasn't a killer. The first stop put a few smaller
grade longfins on the deck, while a mid-afternoon stop did produce
enough fish to make most everyone onboard happy, as the captain
fished an area southeast of the 60-Mile Bank. Even though conditions
were a little on the sloppy side everything is looking good for a mix
of albies, yellowfin tuna, dorado and yellowtail to show up any day.
The water temperature in the channel is up in the high 60s and the
first marlin was landed last week off Catalina's Church Rock.
The 22nd Annual Schock Boat fishing tournament was held last
Saturday out of Newport Bay and a total of 198 anglers, fishing
aboard either Boston Whalers or Grady-White sportfishers, competed
for awards and tackle prizes. Fishing along the coast really dropped
off and the catch for competitors was tough but some nice fish were
landed. Taking first place with all honors for this year's event was
