| Except
from a handful of hardcore trophy-hunters, the calico bass doesn't get
a lot of respect as a game fish. Mostly, it's thought of as a sort of
stand-by catch for when the bigger species that share the same kind of
habitat — yellowtail and white seabass — aren't biting. You anchor up
at the edge of a help bed, start a chum line, and haul in foot-long
calico after foot-long calico, all the while wishing something more
exciting would happen. But that kind of calico fishing is to the best kind as fishing for little planted trout in a pond is to fishing for wild browns on the Madison. To me, fishing for big calicos with artificial lures is about as challenging and exciting as fishing gets. Unfortunately, though, you almost have to go to Baja to do it; there just aren't that many big calicos (anything over about 6 lbs. is big; 10 lbs. is huge) left in California waters. If you happen to catch a calico bigger than 2 or 3 lbs., whether you're specifically fishing for big bass or catch one incidentally, please, please release it unharmed. Calicos aren't great eating to begin with, and the little 12- to 14-inchers are markedly better than bigger fish. Also ask yourself whether you really need to keep your full 10-fish limit, even of small fish. Former United Anglers of Southern California president Tom Raftican has pointed, astutely, to freshwater bass fishing as a prime example of the way voluntary catch-and-release can drastically improve the quality of a fishery. So next time you catch a 3-pound calico, stop and think for a minute before tossing it in the icebox about what it would be like if that was your smallest bass of the day instead of your biggest. |