White Seabass fishing

[gavin310]

I have a trip booked in mid-April for the opening of white seabass. How do you fish for these things? I've heard they're reeeaaaal gentle and you really have to be paying attention for some gentle nibbling on your bait, but then get ready for a fight. What else should I know about white seabass fishing? Should my tuna rigs be good for white seabass?

[go fish]

I have caught a few I usually use 30 to 40 lb line with Iron,your tuna rods will be fine.I may go with 20 lb line on a slow bite if theres not too much structure around.Sometimes you may have to stay up most of the night to make squid if your lucky they float and you get all you need.I like to use just enough weight to get me to the bottom usually use a sliding sinker and a size 4/0 to 6/0 hook.

[Ricky-Ray]

Fishing for the grey ghost....one of the most challenging things an angler can go for IMO. Squid is generally your best bait of choice to fish for these guys. Typical techniques can be flylining them with a sliding egg sinker, pinning 2 or 3 dead squid on a leadhead and bounce it back or catching them on the yo-yo iron.

If the WSB are biting full on break out the 40# rig and start hauling them in. If it's a pick bit you might have to go down to 20-30# line. That MXJ 2 speed you have should work just fine.

If you wanna fish the iron something like a sumo 6x jr in white with a glow back has worked really well. Pin on 2 or 3 dead squid on it and send it to the bottom and bounce it off the bottom.

Fishing the leadhead something around 1/2 to 1 oz or maybe a little heavier depending on current pin on 1 or 2 squids and cast it out and slowly work it back to the boat.

If you want to flyline it something like a 1/4 or 1/2 oz sliding egg sinker should be sufficient.

I'm sure there are other techniques out there but usually those are the most common and I've caught WSB on 2 outta the 3 techniques listed above.

[Cangler]

Fishing for the grey ghost....one of the most challenging things an angler can go for IMO. Squid is generally your best bait of choice to fish for these guys. Typical techniques can be flylining them with a sliding egg sinker, pinning 2 or 3 dead squid on a leadhead and bounce it back or catching them on the yo-yo iron.

If the WSB are biting full on break out the 40# rig and start hauling them in. If it's a pick bit you might have to go down to 20-30# line. That MXJ 2 speed you have should work just fine.

If you wanna fish the iron something like a sumo 6x jr in white with a glow back has worked really well. Pin on 2 or 3 dead squid on it and send it to the bottom and bounce it off the bottom.

Fishing the leadhead something around 1/2 to 1 oz or maybe a little heavier depending on current pin on 1 or 2 squids and cast it out and slowly work it back to the boat.

If you want to flyline it something like a 1/4 or 1/2 oz sliding egg sinker should be sufficient.

I'm sure there are other techniques out there but usually those are the most common and I've caught WSB on 2 outta the 3 techniques listed above.


Yup ... Dead dines and chovies work well too , live bait doesnt really
cut it with them.

Fish as heavy as you can if the bite is on . They are not line shy
and the fight like tigers

[fisherbabe]

OOOOOooo..... WSB TIME!!! Getting soo excited!! Anytime now!!..

Amen to all of the techniques RR mentioned. I agree on the sliding egg as well as a the leadhead. I use a glow in the dark leadhead, 1/2 oz and of course depending on the conditions.

Good luck on your April trip and I hope you get into the WSB!

[karlow]

You missed an important one.
Droper loop!
Make your loop about 4-6 ft above the sinker.
The hook can be free sliding on the loop or tied on.
When you are fishing the DL, you will not be the guy doing rounds only to find out that your fiah has wings again!!

KP

[ghetto dad]

I will generally fish WSB with 25 lb test. 25-40 is what you want to bring. I have had to fish them with 50 in tight to the kelp.

Banana heads in 1/4-2 oz, white or chartruse.
Heavy white jigs with single hook.
1/4-2 oz sliders
3-4 oz torpedos
hooks 2/0-5/0

Have them all the ways above.

As far as a "tuna" rod, I really hope its not too stiff. You want a heavier, softer tipped rod, WSB has very soft mouths, you cant pull on them like a yellowtail.

Also, an FYI, seabass believe it or not, will sometimes bite like a perch, so really, really pay attention!! lol....

GD

[LBSea]

My favorite way to fish them is the Dropper Loop. You will most likley be targeting them in shallow water close to shore, I mean CLOSE! The dropper loop allows for the weight to contact the bottom without the bait sitting there too. If the weight becomes hung up you can actually pop the line at the weight and still keep the fish on. Placing the hook 3' up from where the weight is at the bottom seems to work well for me. Sea Bass have a good first and maybe second run then it is slow and steady so DON'T freak out like a tuna strike when you get bit. When they bite they usually bite in hords so if someone is getting bit get ready. Another method is the newer Egg Shaped lead heads in RED or WHITE fished with one to two squid and nothing else. Be sure to double or triple hook the squid so the pearch don't rip you off. Finally is the HEAVY & SMALL all white jigs either with or without the red squiggle line on top and use a Siwash hook before a Treble if possible. If using the jig pin one to two squid on, drop to the bottom, crank one or two off the bottom and start jigging slowley up and down. I start with 25lb test for Dropper or Lead Head and 30lb for the jig, but if they are the 30-50lb range go to 40lb test. When they are full speed they will bite just about anything if fished right.

GREAT EATING FISH FOR SURE.

Side Note: Keep the Rib Meat! I watched a decky cleaning sea bass one trip and every bass he would toss the rib section into the bait trough. After all fish were cleaned he took the ribs flipped them over and filleted the meat off the ribs and kept it for the crew. By the time he was done he had close to 15 lbs of Sea Bass that otherwise would have been thrown away. Now when I go I just ask for the ribs and do the same thing at home. When one fish is the limit I think keeping the ribs is not being cheap just smart!

Second Side Note: For an extra fee ask for the Middle Ear Bones. They are cool momento if this is your first Sea Bass. They can also be used to make jewelry such as ear rings.

Tight Lines,
Doug

[Evilone]

I have a trip booked in mid-April for the opening of white seabass. How do you fish for these things? I've heard they're reeeaaaal gentle and you really have to be paying attention for some gentle nibbling on your bait, but then get ready for a fight. What else should I know about white seabass fishing? Should my tuna rigs be good for white seabass?

Most important...which boat,a few are far better than others. Don't plan on sleeping to much. Many bites happen well before sunrise, the moment the boat sets up, be at the rail and listen to the crew, they have been there.While most people think shallow is the way to go, far more are caught deep early in the season. Dropper loop by far my favorite followed closely by the 1/2 oz jighead. Best year recently is over 50 landed. Are my favorite fish of all to target due to the hunt for them first. Ear stones are called otoliths

[bsp]

Most important...which boat,a few are far better than others. Don't plan on sleeping to much. Many bites happen well before sunrise, the moment the boat sets up, be at the rail and listen to the crew, they have been there.While most people think shallow is the way to go, far more are caught deep early in the season. Dropper loop by far my favorite followed closely by the 1/2 oz jighead. Best year recently is over 50 landed. Are my favorite fish of all to target due to the hunt for them first. Ear stones are called otoliths

Which are the better boats for white seabass fishing? I was thinking of booking a trip, but could not find too much information on the party boats. The Freedom was the only boat that I could find that seemed to do well.

Sorry for the partial thread jack Gavin! The only thing I have heard that wasn't mentioned here is to try fresh dead squid. By that, I mean take as many squid as you can fit on your hook from the bait tank, throw them hard on the deck to kill/really hurt them, and then pin them on the hook. Supposedly, seabass will hit this when they are ignoring the live stuff because they feed on the squid that have just died after spawning.

[ghetto dad]

Which are the better boats for white seabass fishing? I was thinking of booking a trip, but could not find too much information on the party boats. The Freedom was the only boat that I could find that seemed to do well.

Sorry for the partial thread jack Gavin! The only thing I have heard that wasn't mentioned here is to try fresh dead squid. By that, I mean take as many squid as you can fit on your hook from the bait tank, throw them hard on the deck to kill/really hurt them, and then pin them on the hook. Supposedly, seabass will hit this when they are ignoring the live stuff because they feed on the squid that have just died after spawning.

To be honest, the 6 packs usually always do the best. Seabass are VERY spooky, and with 6 people on a boat as opposed to 40. Also, no generators mean less noise. Back in the day, when I worked for Gary on the Outer Limits, when I was fairly "new" to Seabass fishing (on a side note guys, back in the day, If ONE boat got ONE seabass, that would be big news, and the boat would be packed the next day. Seabass were not always as plentiful as they are now), I jumped off the bait tank, and Gary SmACKED me in the back on the leg with the bait scoop!! "NO NOISE!!!!!!"..I learned that lesson QUICK!!! Anyways, if you can possibly get on/organize a 6 pack, I would highly recommend it.

GD

[SOSO]

Frozen squid is better than live squid? That's new to me. I'm no expert, but live squid has caught my fair share of White Seabass and many other species.

[ghetto dad]

Frozen squid is better than live squid? That's new to me. I'm no expert, but live squid has caught my fair share of White Seabass and many other species.

Yea, i was gonna say something about that too.....i have had bites where FRESH dead has worked better than the live, but never frozen

GD

[SOSO]

Yea, i was gonna say something about that too.....i have had bites where FRESH dead has worked better than the live, but never frozen

GD

Typo.. I meant to type Dead Squid.. So it works better overall than live Squid, or certain situations? I always did well with live squid when ever it was available, hooked with a leadhead.

[LBSea]

Well some of the best are The Phantom & the Dreamer. These boats are always first on and first back. If you go this rout be ready to pay thousands. BUT!!!! If you have a flexible schedule you can jump on a limited load overnight out of Pierpoint, 22nd, or Channel Island than it is pretty reasonable to get out and fish White Sea bass. Timing is EVERYTHING well then there is squid; Ok squid is EVERYTHING and so is timing. Follow the counts and the day they hit the sea bass you must be ready to go. When they start this season they will go in bursts of days at a time. In fact the first few burst are sometime shared by a select few before anyone knows what is going on. When I go for them I like to be the second or third day into when they are first found.

Well I have given enough to make my next trip a little more crowded but that’s how you do it if you can't do the charter.

Good luck all you Ghost Busters

[Ricky-Ray]

Well some of the best are The Phantom & the Dreamer. These boats are always first on and first back. If you go this rout be ready to pay thousands. BUT!!!! If you have a flexible schedule you can jump on a limited load overnight out of Pierpoint, 22nd, or Channel Island than it is pretty reasonable to get out and fish White Sea bass. Timing is EVERYTHING well then there is squid; Ok squid is EVERYTHING and so is timing. Follow the counts and the day they hit the sea bass you must be ready to go. When they start this season they will go in bursts of days at a time. In fact the first few burst are sometime shared by a select few before anyone knows what is going on. When I go for them I like to be the second or third day into when they are first found.

Well I have given enough to make my next trip a little more crowded but that’s how you do it if you can't do the charter.

Good luck all you Ghost Busters


The Phantom is no more. Same thing with the Old #7. The only 6 pack boat's that are left at Pierpoint are the Dreamer and Mardiosa. Both which are good boat's to go on for WSB.

[migfrias]

The Channel Islands bite at Anacapa and Rosa are normally dropper bites. Using 40lb test and enough weight to keep you down (2-6oz), as large of a hook that you can get away with 2/0 to 4/0 and a fresh dead squid. SBI has some really ripper bites early in the season!

Miguel

[ToadsToadsOnly]

In Mexico we pin a Large Live Mackerel on an Iron or Mega Bait, send it down, and hang on. They do not want it flylined they only want it pinned on a jig. Have anyone ever tried this technique here?

If you want to catch some Monster seabass go to San Quintin in the summer. There are also a few other spots just north of SQ that produces pretty well also. These are the big boys we pull out of there and the price out there are extremly reasonable. You could probably fish out there for 3 days for the price of 1 day out here. I am no expert either but when fishing Seabass I always try to correlate my trip around the full moon or the new moon. Not sure what it is about the full moon but I think it has to do with the tidal movement.

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg264/toadstoadsonly/l_800e95bce8e1c89ece3977cb4d856e90.jpg

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg264/toadstoadsonly/l_266694bf145705323d849f7c59a363f2.jpg

[gavin310]

Damn that's a beast ToadsToadsOnly. Thanks for all the info guys. Can't wait to get out there

[SOSO]

Sometimes you don't have to travel and spend a lot of money to catch White Seabass. Check you local landings this April-May. Caught 35~40lb WSB on a half day boat out of Pierpoint landing around this time of the year.

[sansou]

Nice fish Toadsonly!

I've had pretty good success over the years just flylining for them with asmall weight or using a big chrome kroc. I've had multiple WSB days, but can't ever seem to get over the 50lb mark though!!!!

[ghetto dad]

Sometimes you don't have to travel and spend a lot of money to catch White Seabass. Check you local landings this April-May. Caught 35~40lb WSB on a half day boat out of Pierpoint landing around this time of the year.

Dude, thats very rare man.....if you wants the best shot at them, he needs to do a smaller boat.....fish the island.....

OR he can go up north on one of the bigger boats when they start catching them...prob is, they sell out QUICK!!

GD

[gavin310]

Dude, thats very rare man.....if you wants the best shot at them, he needs to do a smaller boat.....fish the island.....

OR he can go up north on one of the bigger boats when they start catching them...prob is, they sell out QUICK!!

GD

I'm going out on the Pacific Star April 17th to 19th. It's leaving out of Pierpoint in Long Beach. That's the boat I went on for a tuna trip and the crew were awesome.

[Ricky-Ray]

Yep I firmly believe the sea bass bite better around the full moon. Here's a good example. All 8 of us got our limit of seabass in just a little over 2 hours on this trip back in 2007. We timed our trip to go with the first full moon after the limit went to 3. In about 2 hours we all got our 3 and the smallest was 22 pounds and the biggest almost 40.

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd135/rkchiu/Ultra%2006-30-07/IMG_0013.jpg
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd135/rkchiu/Ultra%2006-30-07/IMG_009.jpg
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd135/rkchiu/Ultra%2006-30-07/IMG_012.jpg
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd135/rkchiu/Ultra%2006-30-07/IMG_0012.jpg

We spent the entire rest of the day hunting yellowtail and we ended our trip with 24 seabass, 12 yellowtail, 1 halibut and a few other misc fish.

[Ricky-Ray]

I'm going out on the Pacific Star April 17th to 19th. It's leaving out of Pierpoint in Long Beach. That's the boat I went on for a tuna trip and the crew were awesome.

LOL.. I'll be on the Pacific Star a week after you for a 2 day trip too.

[ghetto dad]

Like i said, smaller boats get bit better....nice RR

GD

[ghetto dad]

I'm going out on the Pacific Star April 17th to 19th. It's leaving out of Pierpoint in Long Beach. That's the boat I went on for a tuna trip and the crew were awesome.

thats cool man....i think soso was saying 1/2 day boats, thats what i said was rare.....have a great trip gavin!!

GD

[ToadsToadsOnly]

Nice fish Toadsonly!

I've had pretty good success over the years just flylining for them with asmall weight or using a big chrome kroc. I've had multiple WSB days, but can't ever seem to get over the 50lb mark though!!!!

Thanks, I have used the Crome kroc's they do work well but my favorite is the green megabait works best for me. I have been lucky eveytime ive been down there. My first trip I got the moster in the first pic I thought for sure it would be the biggest one of the fleet until some guy pulls up with a 78lb talking about a jaw dropper. But stick in there you'll get them drop me a pm I got some tips on some spots for these lunkers down south.

[ToadsToadsOnly]

Yep I firmly believe the sea bass bite better around the full moon. Here's a good example. All 8 of us got our limit of seabass in just a little over 2 hours on this trip back in 2007. We timed our trip to go with the first full moon after the limit went to 3. In about 2 hours we all got our 3 and the smallest was 22 pounds and the biggest almost 40.

Looks like an epic trip congrats

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd135/rkchiu/Ultra%2006-30-07/IMG_0013.jpg
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd135/rkchiu/Ultra%2006-30-07/IMG_009.jpg
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd135/rkchiu/Ultra%2006-30-07/IMG_012.jpg
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd135/rkchiu/Ultra%2006-30-07/IMG_0012.jpg

We spent the entire rest of the day hunting yellowtail and we ended our trip with 24 seabass, 12 yellowtail, 1 halibut and a few other misc fish.

[ghetto dad]

Well some of the best are The Phantom & the Dreamer. These boats are always first on and first back. If you go this rout be ready to pay thousands. BUT!!!! If you have a flexible schedule you can jump on a limited load overnight out of Pierpoint, 22nd, or Channel Island than it is pretty reasonable to get out and fish White Sea bass. Timing is EVERYTHING well then there is squid; Ok squid is EVERYTHING and so is timing. Follow the counts and the day they hit the sea bass you must be ready to go. When they start this season they will go in bursts of days at a time. In fact the first few burst are sometime shared by a select few before anyone knows what is going on. When I go for them I like to be the second or third day into when they are first found.

Well I have given enough to make my next trip a little more crowded but that’s how you do it if you can't do the charter.

Good luck all you Ghost Busters


Come on, he wont have to pay "thousands" man, unless he charters the boat himself.....lol

GD