From dusk 'til dawn, Big Bass can be had fishing under the cover of darkness.

GATHERING KNOWLEDGE

.........The first time I ever heard anything about fishing for calico bass at night was when I was hanging out at a local fishing tackle shop near my house when I was around 10 years old. The “old timers” would come into the tackle shop and share their stories about the big bass they had caught while fishing the Federal break wall or as they referred to it “The Wall”. They would tell stories about the monster bass they hooked and were never able to turn before they made it back to the safety of their home among the rocks. I remember a gentleman coming into the tackle shop early one Saturday morning after he had spent the night before on the water and he invited me to peak into his live well in his boat and when I did, I saw some of the largest calicos bass of my life. He removed the largest calico from his live well and brought inside the store where he proceeded to place it on the scale. As we all stared at the needle on the scale and watched it bouncing randomly, back and forth until it finally came to rest on 11 ¾ pounds I knew at that time bass fishing was for me. Each time someone would talk about bass fishing in the tackle shop I was glued to their stories and could not wait to get my own boat.

....Finally, I was invited to go out fishing at night with Red Cartwright or as he was known around the shop “Red”. He took me up the line near the Point Vicente area and once up there he metered around until he found that honey hole.

Hoochie Toad: was a deadly weapon in the hands of yesteryear's Calco Bass Fisherman.

....His first cast with a yellow and green “Hoochie Toad” was engulfed by a solid 5-pound calico bass and from that point on it was a wide-open bite on calicos and sandbass in the 4 to 8 pound range on jigs and hoochie toads. From that point on I was hooked on fishing and I was determined to get me a boat, so I could experience this inshore fishery. I got my first boat when I was around 14 and started fishing the wall. I continued to hear from fishermen that came into the tackle shop of the big bass on the “Stones” off of Long Beach . I continued to asked questions and one day I started “Pinheading” on a local sport fishing boat and eventually got a job as a deckhand. As a young boy, I began to gather data on all of the different fishing spots during this time.

....I gathered some of my most valuable information while working on the Sea Sport out of 22 nd Street Landing. The Sea Sport ran ¾ day and half-day trips so all of the information I gathered was well within the range of my little 12 foot skiff. Back then, we used land bearings to set up on spots and it was a major challenge to find these bearings at night, but overtime I became pretty proficient at it.

Experience Pays off: Many anglers have learned to fish Calico Bass by fishing or working on the sport boats in Southern California and then graduated to buying boats of their own.

....My first trip out, I set up on a spot known as Indian Wells and I sent a live mackerel down to the bottom with 25 pound line and I waited. A short time later, I got picked up and the fish pulled line off the reel at a steady pace. I put the reel into gear and as the rod loaded up, I set the hook. The fish pulled harder than any fish I had hooked before and after what seemed like an eternity I landed a solid 7 pound calico, which I verified on my Langley “De-liar scale”. From that point on, I began doing a large amount of my calico bass fishing at night on the Horseshoe Kelp also fondly called The Shoe.

SIZE MATTERS

....Let's begin by defining what is considered a trophy calico and sandbass bass. Everyone will have their own opinion, but from my perspective, any bass up to 7 lbs are nice fish, fish over 8 lbs are trophies, and a bass 10 pounds or larger is a fish of a life time, especially a calico.

More Trophy Bass have been landed by anglers fishing either the Breakwall or deepwater structure at night.

STRUCTURE & TIME OF MORINING

....In order to be successful at bass fishing, the first thing you must do is to develop a sense of feel for the relationship of the structure, your bait or lure, and the changing position of the boat. The ability to perform these activities is magnified at night since your perception is impaired. Without this sense, you will be at a great disadvantage and you will find yourself fishing outside the “zone”. The only way to develop this skill is to spend lots of time on the water at night. As with fishing during the daytime for calico bass, structure plays just as an important role at night. I consider the “Wall” as one of the most simplistic type of structure fishing. I know there are many different aspects to fishing the wall; but in general, the structure is above the water and now a days with all of the new construction in the Los Angles/Long Beach Harbors there is plenty of lights to illuminate the area. I have always found fishing the deeper structure spots on the “Shoe” and up the line towards Point Vicente area at night more challenging and more consist for the real trophy bass.