Water too cold for calicos - NPH?
 

I was think about going out of NPH this weekend and try for calicos. The water temp seems to be around 62 deg F lately. I heard that the calico bite slows down below 64 deg F. Is this true? If the calicos won't bite will the harbor bass bite? I'm not rigged for rockfish (no FF) so just bassing. TIA

Spotties are definitely going to be off the table for a few months at least (unless you like fishing the docks). Calicoes definitely slow down in winter, but you can still find biters. You'll probably need a ff though as they are moving deep right now. My favorite spot for winter bassing is the pipe in dana. There'll be traps all over it right now so it's findable w/out a ff. All fish will probably be off their feed right now after the blow we had.

Calis bite all year. They move lower in the water column when the water gets colder. Right on the bottom usually. You can fish them like shallow water rock fish with plastics on heavier jig heads. Pot holing creature baits in the kelp can be good. 40-100'. Mike

I just took the boat out to Point Loma kelp on Saturday for calicos. It was a bit slow, but still had some luck.

I worked a 5.5 inch weed guard swim bait all through the water column. I got a few bites, but only 1 keeper calico. My bites were about 10 feet down, maybe shallower, which was weird because I was expecting to only get hit on the bottom.

But calicos definitely bite year round. I caught tons of them last winter.

There's tons of lobster traps out right now. It was like a mine field dodging those things... Just fish the bottom near those if you want to fish near ground structure.

Just use a heavier led head (I prefer 2oz) and just slow roll your bait on the bottom if your fishing structure. They will hit it. It's not like the fish stop eating over winter so there is no reason why they won't bite, you're just going to have to change your tactics.

While I do not target calicos, I usually catch HUGE ones during the winter months as bycatch.

Edited to say, Dang, I just wrote the word "winter" :mad:

Bycatch when you are fishing for what?

Andy

Cold water calicos bite alot like cold water large mouth. Slow your retrieve down and try jigs and fish em deep. It is that time of the year where they want an easy meal that they don't have to work too hard for. If you find em suspended, jerk shads on darter heads are a good bet.

So fished the kelp area of CDM today. Nothing caught, just short bites and I'm not certain if they were calicos! Just fished swimbaits. When fished very slowly, they'd get hung up on the bottom. No current.

Were you fishing with Warbait heads?

Caught a nice looking Calico today as I approached Zuniga jetty from the north. I was following the edge of the channel. I did not have a measuring device or mark, but this one looked 14". I was tempted to take it home for dinner. It was an easy release so I let it go. I generally try to avoid bass. I've heard Calico taste better than the spotted bay bass.

I was trolling a Rapala X-Rap at Outback cruise speed for mackerel or smelt to use as bait as I was going out to my target zone. According to my FF, the water was 65 F. I got the mackerel I wanted, along with a bonito.

The wind was gusty from multiple directions. Enough to get blown around. The water was not calm. Beautiful blue sky. The air was dry. Felt like light Santa Ana conditions. I got back just after dark.

Fished NPH yesterday morning. The spotties were active in the eel grass areas. I find that they bite well into the fall/winter. Less pressure out there for sure!

Glad they bite for you. I've found the consistency of the bite drops dramatically once the water drops below 62. Last year it hovered at 63 until March and Newport bit until then. Mission seems to go no matter the temp, as long as it's somewhat stable.