Fishing Notes : Top Catches at Cortez and Tanner Bank : Cortez and Tanner Bank Boasting Tuna and Yellowtail

Anglers have been catching substantial numbers of tuna and yellowtail on 2-day trips to the Cortez and Tanner Bank.

Excitement of game-fish catches was heightened last week when a San Pedro commercial tuna boat caught bluefin weighing upward to 675 pounds.

It lit a fire among sportsmen but the chance of catching these monster fish with rod and reel is small.

Capt. Russ Izor, who has operated sportfishing boats for 40 years, recalls that in the 1950s tuna at Catalina Island and San Clemente were so big that anglers could not land them.

Last year some 200-pounders were caught at Catalina’s west end, but this season the largest caught on a South Bay sportfishing boat was a 107-pounder.

The plentiful supply of anchovies, sardines and squid has become important to local angling.

At this time last year fishing pursuits were rock cod and sand bass, but with squid, decent catches of blue perch have added spice to fishing.

The rock fish devotees can still get their share of action when they go to the bottom with a diamond jig or squid.

There was drastic improvement last weekend at Marina del Rey Sportfishing. After several slow days, the halibut bite improved. On the half-day and three-quarter-day boats anglers caught more than 50 of the flatties weighing from 8 to 23 pounds.

Fishing aboard the private Blue Tango at the Short Bank, Bob Steele of Carson was using a cod rig with squid and anchovies and hooked a 7 3/4-pound lingcod.

After inserting live squid on his bottom two hooks he thought he had captured a larger ling when his line peeled out. Steele thought, “This fish is too aggressive to be a cod.”

Right. The scrappy fish kept him pumping and reeling. He decked a 32-pound yellowtail that had two hooks in the gills, which proved it was hooked and had broken away from fishermen, probably fishing with light tackle.

South Bay Catches: Yoshi Osha of Gardena, on a 2-day trip aboard the Outerlimits at the Cortez, caught the whopper of the week, a 36-pound yellowtail.

Bijan Hersel of West Los Angeles, fishing aboard the Queen of the Sea at Catalina Island using live squid, brought to gaff a 29-pound white sea bass that won the jackpot.

Al Contras of Santa Monica, on a half-day trip aboard the Happyman, caught a limit of halibut and won the jackpot with a 28 1/2-pounder.

Mike Hamilton of Torrance, aboard the Blackjack at Catalina, brought to gaff a 20-pound yellowtail.

Bob Clarke of West Los Angeles was in Santa Monica Bay aboard the Spitfire and caught an 18-pound halibut.

Freshwater Notes: Clinton Burkette of Lomita used a power bait to catch a 6 1/2-pound trout at Irvine Lake.

Three Long Beach anglers had good catches at Santa Ana Lake on Monday: Alex Gonzales, John Stembridge and Troy Barnum caught the limit of 5 trout with an average weight of 3 pounds.

Fish Reports

At Marina del Rey Sportfishing: The Spitfire worked Santa Monica Bay and anglers sacked 30 halibut, 31 sculpin, 18 sand bass and 2 sole.

At Redondo Sportfishing: The Blackjack fished Catalina with success as anglers caught 48 calico bass, 7 halibut, 2 yellowtail and 1 barracuda.

At 22nd Street Landing: The First String fished Catalina with live squid. Anglers caught 410 blue perch, 32 calico bass, 5 sheepshead and 15 halibut.