San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

My 26 ft Triton 260 LTS Pro just arrived from Florida and I plan to get out and experience SoCal fishing soon! Most of my fishing in Florida was targeting tarpon with some snook, redfish, and grouper thrown in. Really hope to dial in some yellowtail, tuna, halibut and white sea bass this spring. I hope to post some vids soon! Will be launching out of Mission Bay.

That shallow hull will be a handful in these waters, pick your days wisely. welcome to SoCal. I would have sold that boat and bought something else. lots of fishing inside mission bay and SD bay I suppose if the conditions are too much outside.

Appreciate the advice and yes, I will certainly pick my days going offshore. The boat handles chop pretty well. Really considered selling the boat in Florida, and looked at several boats for sale here in SD, but then decided to give this rig a go for now. In the process of removing the Minn Kota Talon shallow water anchors, I do not think they will be of much use here and will just be in the way. Not sure if there is a market for them here. Boat holds 96 gallons of fuel and I can get 3-4 miles a gallon at cruise so I should have decent range.

Welcome, you should be able to get out to catch the offshore fish but like twin said, some days you really need to watch the weather. I'm sure your boat will handle the swells fine but when the winds pick up and create that wind swell, it's not going to be a good day. Luckily in the summer it stays relatively mellow most of the time so you won't have a hard time getting out to fish offshore or locally. You do however have a good bay bass boat and there are a lot of tournaments you might want to jump in on and or just fish the bays which are pretty much like lakes.

Since lake bass fishing is big here you can always fish the lakes too. You could also sell the shallow water anchors to the bass boat people I'm assuming as well

Thank you for the tips. Definitely plan to fish SD bay, looks like I could just tow to Shelter Island ramp if desired. Looks like 3 ramps in Mission Bay. I have talked to some local guys with boats and they have given good advice as well. Trying to watch YouTube videos for some info as well. I know that at the end of the day I am going to have to put my time in on the water. I have 5 cast nets and apparently I cannot use those to catch bait!? Guess I may sell those too!

Thackerc1 wrote: Wed Mar 05, 2025 8:41 pm I have 5 cast nets and apparently I cannot use those to catch bait!? Guess I may sell those too!

That is correct... They are illegal south of Pt. Conception... Don't sell them yet..."The Sportfishing Conservancy has proposed allowing recreational use of cast nets in southern California waters"... But who knows if this will happen and when...
Butch

For San Diego bay, I launch out of Shelter Island and it's easy to leave from since they redid it about a year ago, but when the bite is hot it can get pretty crowded. A section of the dock is closed off for maintenance but they are currently fixing it. There are a few other public ramps to use but are way in the back bay and unless you live in Imperial Beach, they can be a pain to get to.

Mission bay has Dana landing launch ramp which can get hectic in the summer but is the most direct area to launch from if you're planning on fishing outside the bay except it is prone to morons that block the ramp to load or unload their gear. I actually like to launch from South shores since there is typically much less launch traffic even though it's further back in the bay. They have an RV pump station that you are technically not allowed to use to wash down your boat but I do anyways and haven't gotten any grief from city workers or police and both have seen me washing my boat (probably because it's recycled water). Mission bay also has quite a few other launch ramps that might be more convenient to you depending on which direction you are coming from and where you plan on fishing.

Trust me, I really wish we could use cast nets to catch bait around here, it would make dealing with a sabiki rig less hectic at times. You're still allowed to use cast nets in Mexican waters so you may want to hold onto at least one in case you find yourself down there. Welcome to Kommiefornia, where everything has a tax on a tax and fishing rules and regulations are done without proper research. As a matter of fact a change to the limit of sand bass was reduced from 5 to 4 recently and was proposed by bogus research.

Thanks for the advice! My boat is at Mission Bay Boat and Ski Club and the DeAnza ramp is right there, although some guys at the club said it can be tricky at low tides. The south shore ramp is not far, either so I will pay attention to tides.

I've never launched from there but I'm betting it's probably not accessible on king low tides

Welcome man sweet boat…

Nice boat! You’ll be fine. Grew up hand tillering a 12
Ft aluminum to the islands…
Here’s some inspiration-local blue Marlin from a bass boat….(not me)

Finally got the boat out for a shake down cruise. Navionics card I upgraded to West Coast did not load in my Lowrance unit. Downloaded the maps again when I got home and hopefully it will work. Livewell pump frozen so I will replace that. 2nd livewell fine. Hydraulic ram on the livewell lid broke so will replace. I swear, I spend as much time working on the boat as I do enjoying it! Launched at South Shore as the De Anza ramp looked shaky with the low tide yesterday
Morning. No problems. I have been trying to obtain the necessary permits and such to fish Mexican waters. The Mexican websites keep freezing or not working . I have a Mexican fishing license but if anyone has advice I would appreciate it.

I don't know if you needed one in FL, but CA requires a "Boating Card"... You may already have it, but I thought I should mention it to you...
Butch

Thanks Butch, yes I have the card and no, we did not need one in Florida. Fixed the above mentioned items and I should be good to go.

Check out https://www.discoverbaja.com/

Get a membership. It costs hardly anything and they can take care of all your paperwork needs and any info you need for mex

Thank you for that info, I will check it out

If you're not already signed up on BloodyDecks it would be good to become a member, otherwise here's the write up in case you have other questions

https://www.bdoutdoors.com/fishing/how- ... uide-baja/

This is mainly for fishing the Coronado Islands and within 10 miles of them, otherwise if you're outside of that range all you really need is a MX license

Thanks to all for the tips. I got the TIP through the visit baha service in one day! The FWW is proving a challenge as visit baha is not providing this service. I keep trying to upload my passport, but there are errors and I do not read Spanish! I will keep trying.

I have everything I need for Mexican waters, TIPS, FWW, bio bracelet and fishing license. Cannot wait to fish the Coronados. It was not easy getting all of this. The passport scan for the TIPS was very confusing. The dates for passport issue and expiration are messed up and took me awhile to figure it out. Looking forward to fishing this summer.

Haven't seen your boat out there yet, did you ever make it to the islands?