Today, March 1st marks the first day of the fishing season and it did not disappoint! We already saw signs of an impending spring Yellowtail bite. One of the Yellowtail caught was brought back whole to be weighed in on our official I.G.F.A. scale. It was a beast weighing in at 50.6 pounds! Captains are already predicting April to be a break out month for Yellows. But the opener is traditionally bottom fishing and judging by the counts it was better than average. In past years the first couple days of Rockfish and Lingcod fishing can be challenging because we have not been on the grounds for two months and believe it or not these fish change location often. On top of that they are not always cooperative even when you find stones holding fish. But today was different. Not only did we find them quickly but they were biting! Both the inner island and outer island boats had fantastic days loading up on Red Snapper and other assorted Rockfish species. Yes, it was only the first day but it was a big step forward in validating the optimism and hype of the 2016 fishing season here at the Channel Islands.

Today’s Fish Count: 10 Boat and 242 anglers

2,393 Rockfish, 107 Lingcod, 487 Ocean Whitefish, 43 Sheephead, 15 Sole, 9 Sculpin, 1 Perch, 1 Bonito, 1 Thresher Shark and 2 Yellowtail.

For a detailed boat by boat count,
Click Here--> http://www.channelislandssportfishing.com/fish-counts