Report submitted by Andrew Gomez
As many salt water Bass anglers know, the key to zeroing in on that awesome bite it knowing what conditions to look for and how to fish them. And who would know how to find both of those better then anyone? Why none other then Benny Florentino! My SWBA partner (Jeremy Glenn) and I had the chance to fish with Benny on his 22′ Skeeter skiff after winning a 1/2 day trip with him, that he graciously donated at one of the Fibber’s fishing club meetings. The second we won the trip I knew what an amazing learning opportunity we would have being able to fish with one the SWBA’s most accomplished anglers. After a few phone calls and texts Jeremy had set up the time to go on the hunt with Benny in search of some beastly bass. Our morning started off right, beautifully clam seas, warm water temps, as well as solid tidal swings all were indicators of a steller day on the water. We made the run to beautiful Palos Verdes to fish various spots up and down the coast line. Now my personal experience with this specific area had always left me with and empty live well and me scratching my head wondering what I could have done to put more fish on the boat. I fished this same area numerous times and could never manage to get more then just a few small checkers on board, but Benny knew what he was looking for, we were on the search for…conditions! The morning stared off slow, as many of you know the water color and clarity at PV are enough to scare away many fishermen, and have often deterred me from fishing in certain spots, but Benny made a good case for the other factors affecting a fishing area: food, current, and structure. If you can find a place that has all of these then water color would be less of a contributing factor. Starting the morning off in some kelp beds we noticed the lack of current and the fish would have none of what were were throwing at them. So we went north and rolled up to a few shallow water spots, only to pull off a small sand bass and a tiny calico. Jeremy got one oh those “professional backspins” on his reel and once he got it out and started winding when his rod instantly bent over, he managed to pull a nice 8 pound legal Halibut from the bottom. Pretty nice fish for the way things were going at the time. The whole morning was spent fishing the inside of the kelp stringers, then trying the outside in an attempt to find the pattern the fish were on. We got some barracuda, grass bass, but just could not find the calicos. We got into one small flurry on the outside of the kelp in the late morning in one of the windows the sun was able to poke its head out but after that the bite disappeared. Afternoon rolled around and Benny knew of a spot that had produced earlier in the week for him and some other clients, and all the factors were shaping up to produce the same environment for us this day. “1 o’clock” said Benny, “thats when the bite will open up.” So we gunned it to our original first location of the morning to find the conditions were…perfect! Ripping currant, warm water, and laid down kelp. We made our first drift across the spot and no sooner then a few cranks of my reel my waxwing got hammered! Fishing with Benny gave us the awesome chance to use some of Shimano’s newest products, and I was using a Stella 4000 with a new terez waxwing rod. I never fish for calicos with a spinning set up so it was a little awkward for me to say the least but once I got the fish to the boat Benny and I flipped out when we saw all the followers that were swiping at the bait in my fishes mouth. “3…4…5….5 followers!” yelled benny and he scrambled to wind in his bait to toss at the swarming bass. I bounced my calico, which was about a 4 pounder, in the boat and the followers scattered. After the high fives I looked at my watch and, what do you know, it was 1:12pm. The fish were right on time. We kept drifting across the same spot for the rest of the day to see bass boil on Irons, jerk baits, waxwings and spinner baits. The bite stayed solid for about an hour then slowly tapered off as the day went on. Jeremy, Benny and myself all managed to pull some nice fish from this area, and I saw fish crash on baits like I was fishing San Clemente Island. Benny knew what to look for and he found it, I was just glad to be on the boat when he did. Jeremy and I had such a great time talking and fishing with Benny on his boat. I highly recommend Coastal Charters and Benny Florentino for a steller day on the water.
