California White Sea Bass
The White Seabass is one of the most elusive frustrating fish to catch, and its for that reason it got the nickname “The Silver Ghost”. White Seabass is the largest member of the croaker family in California, not to be confused the “Chillean Sea bass” which is not a seabass at all. Fish weighing over 80 pounds and up to five feet long have been recorded, although fish over 60 pounds are pretty rare. With good size and light fluffy white meat they make a better meal than your average Halibut.
Where
White seabass travel over the continental shelf of the eastern north Pacific from Juneau, Alaska to Magdalena Bay, Baja California, and inhabit the northern portion of the Gulf of California in Mexico. Most of the population is primarily between San Diego and Point Conception off California. They become sexually mature at about three to four years old. White seabass reach “keeper” size (28 in. length) at around five years old, which allows each fish to reproduce for at least one to two years before capture. Spawning in Southern California occurs from April through August, peaking in May and June. During this period, mature White Seabass appear to congregate near shore over rocky habitat and near kelp beds. Females are believed to spawn several times each season. White seabass eggs are buoyant, and drift with the ocean currents. The eggs develop into darkly colored larvae, and settle out into coastal areas. Young-of-the-year white seabass may be found near drifting debris and algae in shallow areas just outside the surf zone. Older juveniles can be found in kelp beds and in protected bays, often near eelgrass beds. As white seabass mature, they are commonly found schooling near rocky bottom features and around kelp beds along the coast and offshore islands. Adults are also known to school several miles offshore when the bait schools are thick.
How to Target
If you are targeting these fish in Mexican water more than likely you will be using mackerel for bait as squid is much harder to come by. White Sea Bass are lazy opportunistic feeders so a hot mackerel needs to be slowed down a bit for it to get eaten. Using a dropper loop with heavy weight will keep the bait from running far, or the preferred Mexican way is called a Hamberguesa or “Hamburger rig”. Use a chrome spoon lure like a Luhr Jensen 2 1/4-ounce Krocodile or a jig like the Tady 9 or A11 fitted with a single 8/0 or 9/0 Siwash hook. Hook a 6-9” mackerel in the roof of the mouth and out the snout to prevent the hook from running back into the bait. Fish this setup in the rod holder with light drag and let the boat do the work. You can also add bobber to it if you want to spread multiple baits out. In places like Cedros Island, they are often caught but not targeted because of their finicky behavior.
Fishing in US waters has changed slightly over the years. Prior to the El Nino of 2015 there was a lot more fish found in coastal waters and sometimes open water, but as the water warmed up the kelp along the coastline has become less dense it hasn’t made for a good stopping point for these fish as the migrate north during the summer. This has led to a lot more fish being caught at the islands instead. The most common way to target white seabass is with the presence of a squid bed. When market squid spawn they lay their eggs under water on rocky bottom surfaces. The eggs pile up on top of each other and sometimes can be 2 feet or more thick. The squid crowd themselves into schools and with their low swimming speed become an easy target for a white sea bass meal. If there is one thing thats true about white seabass, its that they are never far from the lunchroom.
Generally speaking white seabass are not line shy, fishing with 60lb fluorocarbon is not uncommon, but if the bite is tough sizing down to 30lb may help. As a member of the Croaker family they are very sensitive to sound, so shutting off your engine and anchoring up is a must or the school may not swim through (this includes generators and stereos too). When using squid, it does not matter if you have live bait or not, fresh dead, or frozen baits work just fine. For the best hook up ratio use simple J hooks or my personal favorite Owner Aki Twist in a 6/0 to 7/0 size. Circle hooks don’t work particularly well with this species. The fish are generally in mid to low water column so if you are going to fish a fly lined bait put a sliding egg sinker on your line, this is a good way to get baits into the kelp line away from the boat in the current. If you are going to fish a dropper loop it needs be a “High dropper Loop” which is where the weight is 5 feet or so below the hook instead of the usual 2-3' feet. This because if you are sitting on a squid bed your bait will be too low and berried inside the bed and never seen by the fish. The last way is using a lead head in that 6/0 size or so and casting away from the boat and slowly working it back along the bottom. Sometimes fishing with squid will attract a bunch of Black Perch (Blacksmith) and they will hammer your bait with a ton of pecks until its gone which is why I don’t recommend using bobbers or floats with squid. You would never know you were fishing a bait less hook for hours without feeling the pecks. Avalon locals have also rigged up the same Black Perch as bait on a dropper loop and caught white seabass as well.
The Channel Islands are the last real hot bed for White Seabass. Sometimes the fish pile up like they do at Catalina on the squid beds, other times they school up in open water on the surface. This is the only place where you might spend some time in the binoculars glassing the waters for signs of fish. When the fish are setup on the squid beds the usual squid techniques will work just fine. For open water fishing using a lead head paired up with a white pearl color swimbait is going to be used to cast at these surface schools. Swim baits like the Zoom Magnum Super Fluke are an excellent choice.