What’s Cooking? White Seabass Heat Up Action on Half-Day Boat

A typical day for Em (Mama) Celeste is spent behind the grill aboard the Southern Cal, not being dragged up and down the rail of the vessel by a monster of a seabass.

But Celeste was doing just that Saturday on the Long Beach Sportfishing’s half-day boat. The galley cook had escaped the heat of the kitchen only to find herself in the heat of battle against a white seabass intent on winning its freedom.

“He took off and pulled me up and down and around and around. Whoa, I still have an adrenaline rush,” Celeste said Wednesday.

Celeste, 55, of Long Beach, has been fishing on and off for the past year, but has never come close to landing a 40-pound fish like the one she decked Saturday.

“That fish was almost as big as I am, and I am not a petite woman,” Celeste said. “It came up over my chin.”

After the catch, and a brief rest, Celeste happily went back to work behind the grill.

“The Southern Cal is one of the best boats around, but it certainly has the best galley,” she said.

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Celeste’s was one of only a few white seabass caught this past week aboard South Bay-based boats, but it could be only a matter of time until more arrive and the first genuine fall bite gets under way.

The reason? Cephalopods. Or squid, which have been found in the bellies of fish in the last two weeks.

Should the squid arrive in force, the white seabass should follow.

“Generally in the fall we start looking for the white seabass,” said Brian Greene, skipper of the Southern Cal. “The first squid usually helps. Once the squid pops up we start picking up more white seabass and yellowtail.”

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The white seabass fishery, which has suffered a decline in recent decades, will get a boost locally Monday, as the United Anglers of California will release 1,500 hatchery-raised white seabass into the ocean off Rocky Point on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

The fish were received as fingerlings from Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute and raised at the King Harbor grow-out facility to 7 1/2 inches to give them a greater chance of survival. It will take about five years for the fish to reach the legal size limit of 28 inches. Releases such as Monday’s are part of a plan to determine the feasibility of enhancing the fishery via stocking programs.

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Nothing like a trip to Baja to test the tackle.

Glenn Bernier, Carl Weizel and Martin Rudolph, all from Torrance, spent four days recently fishing out of Playa del Sol hotel in the East Cape region of Southern Baja and did a number on the Dorado, catching 24. There was some variety, as the three also accounted for several tuna and three sailfish.

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South Bay catches: Eric Fujimoto, San Pedro, 40-pound yellowtail on 22nd Street Landing’s Daiwa at Cortez Bank; Eddie Painter of Redondo Beach, a 32-0 white seabass on Redondo Sportfishing’s Sea Spray at Rocky Point, and Gene Collins of Long Beach, a 29-0 yellowtail on L.A. Harbor Sportfishing’s First String at Cortez Bank.

Notes

Overnight boats are finding some yellowtail, an occasional bite on tuna and lots of rockfish at Cortez Bank. Commercial fishermen reported an abundance of squid in the vicinity of San Nicolas Island, prompting an exploratory trip by the First String, which embarked Wednesday night. The crew and a handful of passengers will try to catch enough squid to entice the island’s yellowtail and resident barn-door halibut. . . . Locally, fishing remains slow, with an occasional run on bonito throughout South Bay waters. The Santa Monica Bay appears to be holding a fair amount of sand bass and local kelp beds remain a good bet for calico bass. . . . The Cabrillo Marine Museum in San Pedro will officially become the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium on Saturday during the annual Autumn Sea Fair at the facility. With Marineland of the Pacific only a memory, the museum-turned-aquarium plans to expand to hold more and larger live fish, marine mammals and marine life.