The Santa Monica Bay is waking up after a very slow summer surface bite.

The Santa Monica Bay is waking up after a very slow summer surface bite.

There has been a conspicuous lack of bass and barracuda leaving most anglers with rockfish as the only viable option. That may all be changing.

Copious amounts of market squid have taken up residence off Hermosa Beach and, as we all learned in our high school biology class, the big ones do come out to eat the little ones.

Halibut, white seabass and some fat sand and calico bass are starting to bite, as well as a few yellowtail. Squid is an essential part of the food chain and acts as a magnet to a variety of gamefish.

Gary La Croix from the sportfishing vessel Highliner, out of Redondo Sportfishing, has had several days of good white seabass fishing this week. “This bite is really turning around,” said La Croix. It’s looking better and better all the time.”

Good Captains like La Croix use a variety of tools and sources to find fish. Sonar, sea surface temperature gages, radar and radios are just a fraction of what good skippers use to locate their prey. But who would have ever thought that you could add paddle boarders to that list.

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