SALTWATER REPORT

John Pagett of Ventura caught a 7-pound bonito on Aug. 20, a sign of the warmer water now at the Channel Islands. Large schools of bonito chasing baitfish are prevalent, and there have been reports of yellowtail in the area.

Pagett caught his bonito on a Channel Islands Sportfishing trip aboard the Gentleman.

Jim Clark of Channel Islands Sportfishing reports the fishing has been really good.

"Anglers are catching limits on calico bass, bonito and rockfish," said Clark, the landing's general manager.

"Sandbass fishing is picking up."

There will be a no-license fishing day on Sept. 27 and those interested should make reservations.

White seabass and yellowtail are among the variety of fish being caught, but finding them is the first problem. Some of the skippers able to keep track of the big gamefish have been doing well.

Boats leave at 4, 6 and 9 a.m. Landing hours are 3 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Capt. Hook's reports the warmer water temperatures provides nice scores of bonito, rockfish and barracuda.

"The seabass are a wash because the water temperature hasn't dropped a tick," said Jeff Grodin, owner of Capt. Hook's.

Thousand Oaks' Brad Roberts caught a 9-pound halibut. William Nowaltzle caught a 22-pound halibut. Both catches were on Monday fishing the local islands. Fisher Corbin of Ventura landed a 17-pound lingcod.

White seabass were the big catches on Sunday at Port Hueneme Sportfishing. There were 40 caught on the Mirage and 42 on the Pacific Eagle.

Gail Seachrist of Port Hueneme said there's been good counts of calico bass, bonito, barracuda and rockfish.

Tobi Keefe caught a 35-pound white seabass on Aug. 20 along the coast. The San Fernando Valley angler used a sardine as bait.

On Tuesday, fishing off the Sea Jay, Mike Reese of Ventura caught a 9-pound calico bass using a plastic swimbait at the islands.

Ventura Sportfishing had 15 anglers on Monday return with 137 calico bass, 24 bonito, six rockfish and two halibut.

"We've had some really good fishing," said Steve Volaski of Ventura Sportfishing. "The weather has been really good."

FRESHWATER REPORT

Lake Casitas: Eric Elshere of Meiners Oaks caught a 9-pound bass on a plastic worm on Friday.

On Monday, Oxnard's Pifa Victoria caught a 4-pound bass on a plastic worm.

Randy King of the lake rental boat office reports the bass are averaging pounds and are being caught on plastic worms or night crawlers. It seems the points are hot spots.

An algae bloom from last week has caused the fish to be more elusive.

Trout are being found in 40 or 50 feet of water. Trolling with Needlefish lures works well. The average trout weighs 2 pounds.

Ojai's Steve Snowbarger reeled in three trout, all in the 2-pound cookie-cutter fish range.

"Fishing is hard work, but with rewards," said King.

Lake hours: 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Lake Piru: Trout fishing remains good. Several anglers have caught limits of trout. Anglers are trolling 5-9 colors using Kastmasters, Rapalas or Needlefish.

Crappie are not being caught and bass are being found in 15 to 40 feet on plastics and jigs.

Lake hours: 6 a.m. to 7:45 p.m.

Castaic Lake: Chris Hansen of Thousand Oaks caught 10 striper, totaling 38 pounds, on Aug. 17. The largest fish was 8 pounds. Hansen was trolling and fishing all over the lake. Striper action has picked up and anglers are catching multiple limits of fish to 10 pounds.

Lake hours: 7 a.m. to 5:15 p.m.

Cachuma Lake: Catfish are being caught by anglers using mackerel for bait.

Trout fishing has slowed down because the fish are going to depths between 20 and 40 feet.

Lake hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., weekdays, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekends.

—Compiled by Rich Romine