When our warm water fishing season ends, it can be fast. Just a week ago I was hearing stories of spots of bonito action out by the oil rigs off Santa Barbara.
A boater had to be watchful for bird activity and follow the baitballs to luck into a school of feeding bonito, but when the connection was made, they were bigger units around 10 pounds and fishing reel drag systems were whining loudly because “boneheads” are hard fighting speedsters.
A school of bonito can change geographic locations in a tail beat. All of a sudden, the cooling water started feeling uncomfortable on their sensitive gills and they made a beeline to the south. Some went through the gap between Anacapa and Santa Cruz islands and some went down the coast between the mainland and Anacapa Island.
The entire school borrowed a line from the original “Top Gun” movie, “I feel a need for speed!” And poof, they were gone.
Maybe a few will still be caught, but the main school put those magnificent tails on afterburner and skedaddled at predator speed in search of southern schools of anchovies and sardines in warmer water.
During 30 years of professional fishing and a lifetime of private fishing before that, I’ve watched the seasons change the watched the lifecycles of the ocean change with it.
The cool water portion of the year (which is about two-thirds of the year) is very good for the critters of the sea because that is when they get the nutrients they need and the cooler water that supports many reproductive cycles.
While appreciating the goodness that the cooler period brings to so much of our local ocean life, I stare out at sea each autumn and wistfully wave goodbye to the sizzling hot surface bites from bonito, barracuda, calico bass, yellowtail and even dorado (they only get called mahi mahi in restaurants and fish markets, to the rest of us they are dorado).
In the meantime, lobster season is going strong for both recreational and commercial fisherfolk, and if you don’t catch them yourself, you can often find them fresh and on sale at our Saturday morning fish market in the Santa Barbara Harbor, and then maybe try out the new Anchor Rose restaurant and take a cruise with Sunset Kidd, the Santa Barbara Sail Center or Santa Barbara Landing.
Make a day of it. The sizzling fish of summer may be swimming southward, but there are many fish to be caught or bought. We have the nicest weather of our entire year and here we are right on the coast with lots of ocean-related recreational opportunities, even if it is simply taking a stroll along the beach.
— Capt. David Bacon operates WaveWalker Charters and is president of SOFTIN Inc., a nonprofit organization providing seafaring opportunities for those in need. Visit softininc.blogspot.com to learn more about the organization and how you can help. Click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.
