Dana Point Fish Report
December was a great month for fishing. Crowds were at a minimum and the weather was great. We focused the last part of the month on filling our freezes with Cod before the season closure January 1, 2017. The Cod bite was really good and produced a large variety of fish, my personal favorite are the big Sheepshead (see picture). Sheepshead can live up to 20 years and reach weights of over 30 pounds. What’s very interesting about these fish is the fact they are all born female, they don’t turn into males until later on in life. Environmental conditions play the largest role on determining the Sheepsheads gender. These fish have large buck teeth they use to eat Sea Urchins and other crustaceans living in the rocky environment. Like most other fish, they will also indulge in eating Live Sardine as this one did featured in our picture below.
Yellowtail were also popping up at different areas like San Clemente Island and a couple hot spots off the beach. They provided their usual fun fishing as they are pound for pound one of the hardest fighting fish around. The fish we’ve been catching have been on the bigger side, we consider them to be “Home Guard Yellows” as they reside off the coast of Southern California year round.
