Surf Fishing for Thanksgiving and Warm Weekend Weather for Fishing

Tom Raftican from the Sportfishing Conservancy and Bob Osborne from Surfside are true fishermen. They were up at daybreak on Thanksgiving catching a variety of surf fish. Osborne battled a guitarfish for more than an hour on six-pound test before catching and releasing the creature. The duo have a fierce yet amicable competition going on for bragging right on most holidays. There is still a great debate going on about who won this year's competition as Osborne claimed victory with his feisty guitarfish and Raftican claimed foul saying it was not a gamefish.

In the end, the two caught and released barred perch, spotfin croaker, corbina, and the infamous guitarfish. For a fisherman, there is little doubt that this is a great way to start off Thanksgiving.

Great weather is in the forecast and that should continue our fine rockfish bite. Boats from San Clemente to the Santa Monica Bay continue to take good numbers of bottom dwellers including lingcod. Lingcod season closes December 1, so now is the time to get out and catch one if you like. The Toronado from Pierpoint landing in Long Beach is headed out Saturday night for a lingcod special to San Nicolas Island. The weather is forecast to be fantastic so this promises to be a fun and productive trip.

The Native Sun out of Long Beach Sportfishing is one of the best kept secrets in town. She is a comfortable and beautiful ride.

“We have been catching lingcod at times along with a mess of other rockfish, “ said Captain Gabriel . “The great weather this weekend is only going to make it better.”

Boats from Marina del Rey and Redondo also have been catching excellent numbers of rockfish and lingcod and have had some excellent surface action at times. The Highliner out of Redondo was out this week for excellent calico and sand bass fishing. Live and/or fresh dead squid has been very effective for the late bass fishing.

More gray whales are moving through our local waters as they head for their calving grounds in the Baja lagoons.

“We are seeing more and more gray whales all the time,” reported Danny Salas from Harbor Breeze Cruises in Long Beach. In addition, there has been some huge pods of dolphin off Marina del Rey and Redondo as well as off Long Beach, Corona del Mar and San Clemente. You can hardly go wrong with a whale watching trip this weekend with the summerlike weather forecast.