Local Fishing Trip: Rockfish at the Redondo Canyon
By Jeff Luzod
Customer Service/E-Commerce Support
Yesterday (Sunday, March 13) jumped on the Promar and the plan was to fish rockfish.
We headed towards Palos Verdes and fished various spots along the Redondo Submarine Canyon at various depths from 230 up to 600 feet. While there, there were quite a few sport boats and private boaters as well. Conditions weren’t too great. It was a little choppy but manageable, swells came up high at times and at several spots, The current was either nonexistent or too fast. Despite the conditions, we had a decent pick at fish along with a few nice ones. Any hopes for any pelagic species were shot down with the cold water. From what I remembered on the meter, the water temperature was hovering in the upper 50’s.
As far as the actual fishing, the first few drops were around 200-300 feet. Nothing absolutely wide open but a few decent one mixed in with smaller grade fish. After a few hours of drifting at spots, less than 300 we tried deeper in 300-400 and eventually 500-600. I fished the Assault Diamond Jig throughout the day. I fished 8 to 10 ounce in less than 300 and using the 14 ounce when we went deeper. Caught a few Sculpin in shallower water on an 8 to 10 ounce jig in Mackerel. I ended up tying a dropper loop about 18 inches above the jig with squid in deeper water and it increased the number of bites I got. The Pink Glow 3.5 Rock Cod Squirts tipped with squid was the key to getting bit. Most of the day it was smaller fish but we did get a few decent Reds mixed in to go with some Bank Perch, Barberpoles, Starries, and Salmon Grouper. .
3.5" Rock Cod Squirts (Pink Glow)
We ended the day fishing along the kelp line for some Sheephead, Whitefish, maybe a calico and possibly a White Sea Bass. We tied on smaller hooks and even drifted whole dead squid on sliding sinker or jig head. We fished for a few hours for nothing. All in all not a disappointing day but a little on the slow side. Fish were there and had some good marks on the meter but they didn’t want to bite. With all that said, we took home a decent cooler of fish.
As i stressed in my last blog post, as with any fishing trip, you're going to want to bring a variety of hook sizes, weights, and jigs. Just be prepared. Sometimes you won't know what the conditions are going to be until you actually get out to the spot.
Speaking of never knowing what you'll run into. We came across a boat that was obviously not a civilian boat. We came across a Military Boat at the fuel dock. I am assuming they were doing some training operations of some sort, which apparently is a normal thing up and down the coast..
After doing a little google searching, the boat is a Combatant Craft Medium Mark 1 (CCM Mk1) which was entered into the US Naval Special Warfare Fleet middle of last decade.
The CCM Mk1 can hold 4 crew + 19 Navy Seals + Mission Equipment. Its length is 60 feet with a payload of 7750 pounds. It can travel at a max speed of 50+ Knots and has a range of 400 nautical miles. The boat has mounts for M@HB .50 caliber machine guns, M240g machine guns and Mk19 40 40mm grenade launchers in its stern, with room for a mount for machine gun in the bow.. The boat itself is equipped with Combatant Craft Forward looking Infrared, maritime radar, GPS navigation and secure radio communications (UHF/VHF/SATCOMMs)
Here are a few links to what I searched:
https://sofrep.com/news/the-navys-new-stealth-special-ops-boats-have-been-spotted-in-the-pacific/
https://www.americanspecialops.com/boats/combatant-craft-medium/
I do have a few more trips planned within the next month. I may do some trout fishing next weekend. I do plan on getting out on March 27th and April 3rd. On the 3rd, I will be jumping on the Aloha Spirit out Channel Islands Sport fishing in search of better quality than we typically see down her in LA and Orange County. I really love catching rockfish on jigs so this would probably be my best opportunity. The 27th, I may do another local trip but I just may head down south to San Diego and fish the Coronado Islands. Boats are catching rockfish but they are also seeing signs of yellowtail around. All these trips are subject to weather so we shall see. Stay tuned!
