Fishing Reefs for Calico Bass

Reefs are offshore rockpiles or rocky highspots. If the rocks break the surface they are boiler rocks, if they are found underwater and do not break the surface they are called reefs. Reefs can also be man made, the Calif Dept of Fish and Game has tried many different materials to make reefs. They have used old car and truck tires, ( they are light and strong currents pushed them away ) trolley car bodies / car bodies ( they quickly rusted away ) and the reef material of choice, giant rocks quarried at Catalina Island and barged across the channel and placed in strategic positions on the sea floor, usually in forty to eighty feet of water.

Instead of making one large reef the DFG makes several smaller ones (five and twenty in number to spread fishing pressure over a larger area ) They made many reefs in Santa Monica Bay whose bottom was mainly miles and miles of sand and mud, not very conducive to giving bass, sculpin, sheep head, rock bass, sand bass, lobsters, octopus and multitudes of other fish, mollusks and crustaceans places to live and spawn, and give the hatchlings places to hide so they are not all eaten before they are one year old. After building many reefs on the floor of the bay, it is now alive with thousands of fish where once was just mud bottoms with few fish.

There are many ways to fish these underwater rock piles, my favorite is anchoring upcurrent of them, throwing out some chum, live and chunked sardines / anchovies and wait until the fish come up the chum slick and away from the rocks. Once the fish are away from the rocks and up in the water column you can fish them with light gear and have a blast. Depending on the size of the fish I see in the chum, I will use anywhere from six to ten pound Berkley Vanish fluorocarbon mono fished on light to medium action spinning tackle, consisting of a six to seven and a half foot rod with a Shimano bait runner reel ( small size ).