Fishing

The Huntington Harbor rock jetty with its¹ sandy bottom channel is maintained by the Navy Ammunition Dump. Large military ships use the back bay to load munitions, so the entire area is highly restricted. Halibut fishing along the rock edges of the jetty is very good for those anglers that possess the knowledge on how to fish for them. There is no fishing on the inside of the channel but fishing is allowed on the outside. Many perch live among these rocks and they really enjoy the open ocean pounding swells that constantly wash the rocks. But fishermen have to be extra careful anchoring their boats. Most all of the fishing is done at the edge of the rocks which puts anchored boats in a precarious position. Many times a large set of waves can suddenly appear and break over an anchored boat, so most anglers keep one eye on the incoming swells while they are fishing.

In deeper water between the Seal Beach pier and the jetty a large area of very hard slate like bottom exists. It is very unique because there is no place like it in the rest of the harbor. Once in awhile this particular spot has a history of housing some very large halibut. This last year two 35 pounders were taken by anglers on drifts across the area. For some reason the area is also a gathering spot for thresher sharks. On more than one occasion a hooked thresher shark has wiped out all the lines in the water on one side of the Seal Beach pier. Their presence in such abundance is probably because of the warm water influence of the Power Plants.

The Oil Islands

Aside from all the landfills and channeling going on in the LA and Long Beach harbors, the oil island structures are probably the most significant of all the fishing opportunities to anglers. The surrounding sand that was used to fill each islands¹ rock perimeter was pumped in from dredging operations and large buckets of sand were shifted around on the bottom, by giant cranes to aid in the dredging process. This has led to a massive demolition of the surrounding harbor bottom. Long channels are furrowed out of comparably shallow bottom, some of them to 70 feet deep and spontaneous hills of sand stick up like volcanoes as recorded on a depth finder. Needless to say the rugged bottom has the ocean currents flopping around in all directions, in some cases there is upwelling occurring during strong tidal changes creating great conditions for fishing. The upwelling supports large schools of baitfish that like to hang out in the strong surface swirling current that flow up the peaks and of course bring on many predator denizens eager for dinner.

Each island has individual particular fishing spots that may differ from the others. Island Grissom a # 5 sided square shape forms part of the north west boundary of the Long Beach Downtown Marina and is not fishable because of boat traffic. But on the east corner a spit of sand comes off for a short distance where some halibut can be caught. Also a small 20 yard wide channel is located on the north east side. The channel is formed by the east end of the short rock jetty that encloses the marina from the beach and the edge of the island. Small boats can move through the channel but large boats can¹t. Actually the channel was left there to augment proper water circulation throughout the Marina and definitely not for boat traffic. Some anglers have caught unusually large sized corbina from the channel as the fish move through during strong tidal changes.

Island White is situated slightly south west of Belmont Pier. This #7 sided island has long sand spits off every corner of the rocks. The longest of the spits extends 40 yards out from the rocks and ends up as a lip on one of the 70 foot deep channels. This projection of sand is probably one of the more prolific spots for halibut in the harbor. Strangely though, I have caught a number of juvenile black sea bass from the lip, one about 15 pounds. If you look at the charts this island has more area of dredged channels than any of the other islands. This is probably the reason why this island produces more unusual currents around its¹ perimeter than any of the other three. They fluctuate in all directions. Small barracuda are thick around the island although I have never caught a legal one in the hundreds of hook-ups I have had.

About one mile due south of White is Island Freeman. This island sports very shallow sand bars surrounding the east,west, and south sides of the #4 sided island. You can almost walk around this area at the base of the rocks at low tide. Anglers that throw the rubber at these shallow sand spots catch lots of halibut and sand bass. It¹s the best area in the harbor for this kind of technique. This island also takes a straight on hit from the currents through the Long Beach gap of the breakwater which creates a gathering spot for the white sea bass. Sometimes they are thicker than a school of mackerel along the south exposure but most are from #12 to #18 inches in length a far cry from the necessary #28 inches for bagging. There is one denizen we call the "Troll" that sometimes grabs a bait and disappears in a reel screaming journey to Catalina. I have hooked him about ten times and never yet slowed him down. He picks up the bait much like a sea bass but when he feels the hook he sprints down the island edge and heads for the Long Beach gap. We have hooked him on #30 pound and still never got him to hesitate. Since we have never landed him the story gets better all the time. Black sea bass? Leopard Shark? Giant white sea bass?

The last island in Long Beach harbor is seven sided Chaffee Island. This island sits about 3/4th of a mile off the beach about halfway between the Belmont Pier and the Alamitos Bay Jetty. The bottom depth is very shallow in the area and the island is open to a south exposure as the breakwater ends just southeast of its' location. Halibut fishermen like to escape the west wind by pulling their boats into the shallow island edge on the east side and drift off dragging live bait and rubber across the hard sand bottom.This is one of the few hard sand bottom spots in the harbor. Chaffee lacks the shallow sand bars that sport the other islands edges. It drops off quickly on all sides except for a slope of sand on the north side.

There are two more islands that really don¹t qualify as harbor islands but need mentioning since they are very close to the harbor. One is no longer with us as it was torn down last winter. It is still appears as Belmont Island in all the area Chart Plotters. My advice is don't lose its' GPS location. The island was located off the end of the breakwater on the edge of a solid rock plain and is now a better fishing spot than it was before, when it was with us. It produces "giant" sand bass at the crack of dawn and just before dark. You know it has to be a good fishing spot because its' loaded with lobster traps in season.

The last island is Esther, the one that blew away in the Perfect Storm of the 1980s. The 30 foot waves completely washed the island and the rock perimeter away to be scattered all over the bottom. It was reconstructed using metal pilings instead of rocks and it was moved about 50 yards east of its¹ original position. It is located off the entrance to Huntington Harbor. Yes, you guessed it, the rocks are still there and promote a super spot for sand bass. Suprisingly though the pilings also hold a population of calico bass, one of the very few places like it in the harbor.