Main Overview UPDATED : 11/2/2000- The season is winding down, and things are looking more and more like winter time each day now. Looking back on the Y2K season, I must say we had a pretty good year.

Offshore fishing was excellent. We had albacore prowling our waters as early as May, and a few months later, the yellowfin and dorado took over in force. And unlike the longfins which usually stay at least 30 miles offshore, these warm water pelagics swam within 10 miles of our coastline, making it possible for even the smallest of ocean-going skiffs to catch a tuna. We also had a very good show on the bigeye beginning in Sept. It's good to see the big boys out there in numbers again. Marlin action was, ehhh, fair. The fish were out there, you just had to work for them. As long as there are no drastic changes in the commercial take of our offshore pelagics, we should continue to have decent action for years to come.

On the inshore side, well not too good. We did have some great yellowtail and barracuda action around the Coronados starting in April but they never really got with it north of there. Sand bass kept most anglers busy from Dana Point to Santa Monica Bay with only scattered flurries of yellowtail and barracuda mixed in. (Mostly at the islands) And most of the bass were only "barely legal" size, very few "big grumps" are taken now. It is this (inshore) fishery that I am very concerned about and I believe we need to do more to protect it.

On a brighter note, the bonito have made a little appearance this year. Nothing like the "swarms" we used to see back in the 80's but there were quite a few around and that is encouraging after them being almost absent for the past few years. Also on the rebound are the white seabass. They have been coming back strong at the offshore islands for several years now, but this year we saw a significant increase in WSB catches along our coastline, including "The best WSB bite off Rocky Point in 30 years" last april. The halibut bite is also coming back and I believe we can thank the ban on gillnets for that.

This winter, we will see even stricter regulations on the rock cod fishery, including a total ban on the take of lingcod (effective Nov. 1). Although I know these regulations are hurting much of the sport fishing industry, I am in favor of the new regs. as I have seen the rock cod fishing steadily decline over my lifetime.

Well, that about wraps up our first fishing season of the new millenium, I hope you all had a chance to get out there and catch some fish. I'm looking forward to a great 2001 season, I hope to see you out there!