Live Bait Fishing for Yellowtail

Once you hook your first yellowtail You will be hooked as well! This fish is a very special fish for Southern California and Baja, Mexico anglers. It is a very powerful, hard fighting and great eating member of the Jack family. It is one of the most prized inshore fish in the Southern
California/Northern Mexico area. In California they are mostly a early summer to late fall fish, as they prefer water above sixty five degrees, though some may be caught all year at the local islands ( Catalina and San Clemente ).

Fishing is best when the squid come into shallow water to spawn. You can usually buy some from the local live bait operations, buy some from squid boats at Catalina Island, or you can catch your own at the Island. I prefer to buy them from a bait boat at Catalina as these have
not made two trips across the channel and are not all beat up. Yellowtail may be found at many locations at Catalina, the East end, the Vees, Farnsworth bank ( use sixty pound test here ) and the West Cove area are a few of my favorites, though the best fishing spots usually have a large number of party boats and private sport fishers anchored in the best areas, not hard to find.

When anchoring in a large fleet of boats try to stay at least forty to fifty yards from other anchored boats, yellowtail make long powerful runs and you don't want to get tangled with other fishermen's lines/anchor lines. Anyway yellows travel in schools and the boats on the outside of the fleet are usually the first to get hooked up. Just in case live squid are not available at the Island, I usually bring about ten pounds of frozen fresh dead from the super market ( don't get frozen squid from the tackle store or bait dock, these are low quality with no color, super market squid are eating quality and have all their color, they work twice as well ) .

If I get live ones I use the frozen to chum with. After you are anchored safely have one person start chumming. Cut the squid into three pieces for small ones and four or five pieces for larger ones. Now start your chum slick by throwing one piece of cut squid about one every ten seconds and once every two minutes throw a live one out.

You don't want to feed the fish, just encourage them to come into your area. I have several
rods rigged and ready to go should I need them. ( 14 ) I start out with two rods rigged with twenty pound mono on either casting or Shimano Baitrunner spinning reels on six and a half foot med-hvy rods. If the water is clear I will put a four foot fluorocarbon leader on the end of the line, this makes a big difference where the fish are heavily pressured. I always use premium hooks, Owner is my favorite, but any premium super sharp hook will work. For live squid I use a 4/0 short shank, and depending on the current I will put a 1/4 to 1/2 oz. egg sinker on the line before I tie on the hook.

This gets the bait deep enough to keep it away from the birds. Now put the reel in freespool and slowly let the squid drift out with the current. I let one go about twenty five yards and the other about thirty five yards from the boat. The next two rods have thirty pound test and have conventional reels, and six foot heavy rods, they are rigged the same way except they have
one to two ounce egg sinkers depending on the current. They should be straight down about half way to the bottom, put them in rod holders in free spool with clickers on. The squid should be hooked once through the pointed end.

The last two rods are heavy forty pound outfits with a four to six ounce heavy white iron jig, these have one or two squid pinned on the treble hooks, and are dropped to the bottom then reeled up about two feet from the bottom. Now put them in rod holders and let the rocking of the boat bounce them seductively right off the bottom. These rigs will catch yellows, white sea bass, calico bass, halibut and many other island bottom feeders. When a fish hits the Iron jig, the hook should be set as fast as possible. When a fish eats the squid rig, you should let him pull about fifteen feet of line off the reel before you set the hook. Put the reel in gear, point the rod tip at the fish, and when the line comes tight, set the hook hard. The drags should be set as tight as possible just short of the lines breaking point.

Yellowtail will make a series of hard runs, while they are pulling line from the reel, just hold on, don't wind the reel. When the fish stops running immediately start pumping the fish as hard as your tackle will allow. After landing any gamefish I quickly bleed it and put it on ice, this insures great quality steaks for the grill. These tactics work well anywhere yellowtail are found.