Water Conditions HIGH


SURFACE TEMPERATURE: LOW


62°F VISIBILITY


64°F 5'–15'


The best days for those peering around underwater will be midweek to early Friday. Strong onshore winds and a driving head-high swell will reduce visibility and create strong rip currents over the weekend. The surf should be best Friday and early Saturday before the wind fuzzes it up. Saturday afternoon through early next week it will be basically blown out. Boaters should especially keep an extra eye out for divers near the reefs and channel edges and divers always mark yourselves and area appropriately.


Visibility based on existing conditions and NOAA predicted swell and weather conditions at press time. Check up-to-date daily visibility/ conditions at the San Diego County Lifeguard info line: 619-221-8824


Moon Calendar SUNRISE


APRIL SUNSET


THUR 6


6:30 19:12


LENGTH OF DAY 12H 42M


SAT 8


6:28 19:14


12H 46M


MON 10


6:25 19:15


12H 50M


WED 12


6:23 19:16


12H 53M


Kids fishing area at Day at the Docks


licans, Secretary Zinke has championed clean-energy and global warming legisla- tion. Prior to serving in the White House, Zinke, a former Navy SEAL, served in the Montana State Senate before being elected to Congress in 2014.


— Ken Harrison


Tie a knot, dunk a captain, fillet a fish Every spring the Day at the Docks takes over the sportfishing landings at Scott and Emerald streets in Point Loma. In the normal migration patterns, this is usually the slow time of year, especially for pelagic species — the tunas, yellowtail, and white seabass normally do not come near our waters until late spring, and the larger glam- our fish, like marlin or mahimahi (dorado), don’t show north of the border until mid to late summer. That has not been the case the past


few years. We’ve had fishing nearly year- round on yellowtail. Half-day boats have been chasing tuna within sight of Point Loma. A blue marlin was caught from a bass boat within 10 miles of downtown. A 45-pound yellowtail was caught from Mission Beach jetty. This year, due to a predicted cooler


trend as the effects of the strong El Niño fades, the migratory species, the pelagics, are seemingly holding to their recent patterns as the old patterns return. The yellowtail have continued to bite, bluefin tuna are already in our local waters within one-day range, and white seabass are stacking up at Catalina and San Clemente Islands. The kelp beds that have been stunted by warm water are already coming back. The docks celebration on Sunday, April


9, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., will feature open houses aboard boats; fishing and boating seminars; kids fishing area; cooking demos


to get it down. Something around 8” with a lot of flashy flakes in it, regardless of color. Then, I’ll add a whole sardine or a strip of mackerel to ‘up the action’. This is not a guarantee to avoid the reds, the big ones will certainly eat a big plastic, but it does limit the little guys from eating up the bait before a ling or bigger rockfish does. The yellowtail bite is pretty solid for the ¾ day boats out looking for the bluefin tuna. A lot of these fish are about 10 to 15 pounds but there have been a few in the 20s, the larger coming from closer in along the kelp beds off La Jolla. The smaller yellowtail are about 3 years old now


Shelter Island boat ramp — will the new one catch a lot of kelp?


by local chefs, fish fillet demos, live music, contests for casting and knot tying, a cap- tains’ dunk tank, and three-dollar boat rides around San Diego Bay.


— Daniel Powell


Hunker down for a bigger basin On April 11, the Port of San Diego board of commissioners will consider a contract for improvements to the Shelter Island boat- launch facility. Originally constructed in the 1950s, the ramp is believed to be the busiest in California. The lowest bidder was R.E. Staite Engi-


neering, coming in at $8.6 million. According to Rafael Castellanos, vice chairman of the port’s board of commissioners, “The new boat launch will have walking platforms with viewing decks surrounding the launch basin. It will be a bigger basin so more people can use it with less congestion.”


and are probably entering their first year of sexual maturity and some anglers are keeping one or two and releasing the rest. The Bluefin tuna are still around and biting well at times, while other times they seem to have sewn their lips shut. That’s early season tuna fishing. The fact that they are in US waters and within ¾ day range makes the gamble worth it for most anglers, especially if a slow day on the tuna includes near limits of yellowtail. Nearly two-thousand anglers showed up to the landings last week, the fishing was very good all around, and as far as I can tell, nobody is crying the blues.


During construction, the boat launch


will be subject to closures except during the summer months when one lane will remain open. Glyn Fricker said he’s down at Shelter


Island about three to four times a week. “The new design will catch a lot of kelp. It will be a full-time job for someone to pull all that kelp out.” Also, “My concern is that the money will


run out and it won’t be completed on time. You don’t get that much for $10 million.” Fricker said he isn’t sure how one lane


at the boat launch in the summer is going to work for locals, especially considering Seal Tours has a contract that reputedly gives their amphibious vehicles priority access at all times. “The launch ramp is used by a lot of charter operators, a lot of unlicensed operators. It just seems every time I turn around, there is another tourist operation.” — Julie Stalmer


Top performing boats of the week:


4/1: It was no foolin’ when the Dolphin took 25 anglers out on a ¾ day run for limits of 125 yellowtail. The Tribute went offshore overnight with 33 anglers aboard and reported 13 bluefin tuna and 93 yellowtail caught.


3/31: 38 anglers aboard the Electra ½ day run out of Oceanside caught a nice mix of 2 sculpin, 111 sanddab, 37 rockfish, 1 halibut and 6 bocaccio.


Fish Plants: 4/11, Lake Cuyamaca, trout (1,200)


San Diego Reader April 6, 2017 43


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92