THE `INSIDE' STORY OF HARBOR FISHING.

Byline: BRETT PAULY

Ever wonder as your party boat putters out of the harbor for an hours-long run to the fishing grounds what it would be like to toss a line right there in port?

Just think, you wouldn't have to contend with the dozens of sweat-and-saltwater-soaked blokes on board breaking off your jackpot fish or hooking your ear with a barracuda jig. No need to commit 12 hours to the ocean only to get skunked anyhow. That Dramamine you take to calm your queasy tummy on choppy seas would be a distant memory inside the breakwater, where it's as flat as a lake.

Quit daydreaming. Better yet, wake up to the reality of ``inside'' fishing.

``An awful lot of people really miss the boat when they go outside the harbor,'' said Russ Dean, a Long Beach angling guide whose specialty is opening the eyes of clients to the bountiful fisheries of Long Beach Harbor and Newport Bay. ``There are most of the fish inside the harbor that there are on the outside trips.''

Sand bass, calico bass, spotted bay bass, white seabass, bonito, barracuda, halibut, sculpin, croaker, corbina, cabezon - they're all found between the breakwater and the landing, and in large quantities. And if you do get skunked - a rarity - at least you won't have made your own chum (read: get seasick).

``I may pick up 50 to 60 sand bass in one spot right where guys pass me on their way out to the ocean,'' Dean said. ``I just let them motor on by; they are leaving a lot of the pressure off.''

Bay, harbor and estuary anglers point to the ease and convenience of their recreation. You can walk with reel and pole in hand along the shoreline of Balboa Island or the retaining walls of King Harbor or the park in Marina del Rey.

Rent a boat in San Diego Bay or Mission Bay or Newport Bay. Or a kayak in Alamitos Bay. Or even a paddleboat in Ventura Harbor.

Boat owners can launch in Oxnard's Channel Islands Harbor, Port Hueneme, Los Angeles and Long Beach harbors or Huntington Harbour. Canoeists and float tubers can join in, too.

``Bay and harbor fishing is underutilized and it's great for families because it's close and can be inexpensive,'' said inshore fishing expert Dick Gaumer of La Crescenta. ``A $30 rod and reel and a handful of plastic grubs and leadheads will get it done.''

Placentia guide Mike Gardner, considered by many the granddaddy of inshore anglers, regularly gets comments from clients surprised by the treasures found finning around the riprap, channel-marker pilings, loading docks, oil islands, sunken ships, piers, docks, slips and kelp beds that define inshore development.

He drove home his point on a recent trip by hefting into his converted bass boat a 3-pound spotted bay bass under the Gerald Desmond Bridge in Long Beach's back channel. It was an odd sight: a fisherman fighting his quarry while being dwarfed by loading cranes and freighters filled with cargo and oil.

Blame it on the old sportswriter-on-board-shuts-off-the-bite curse or a change in barometric pressure, but Monday's outing was terrible compared to most. Maybe 20 fish were boated; when 100-fish days are commonplace, 35 constitutes a bad day for Gardner, whose icy exterior belies his fun-loving persona and self-described ``real warped sense of humor.''

He has caught spotted bay bass to 5-3/4 pounds, calico bass to 8 pounds and sand bass to 10 pounds. Dean routinely catches halibut from 8 to 22 pounds around the 10-mile stretch of the Long Beach breakwater.

Of course, inside fishing isn't all wine and roses. There is pollution, boating traffic and the ugliness of industrialism and urban dwelling. Gardner has found two human bodies during his harbor-fishing career, which has spanned the better part of three decades.

He advocates catch and release for the health of the fishery and the health of the angler.

``I don't want my grandkids to have to get into mackerel-catching contests,'' Gardner said. ``And I don't want anyone getting sick; there is no such thing as a nearshore species of fish that hasn't got some level of pollution in it.''

Don't expect to hook into any of the yellowtail, dorado or tuna, but if you don't have the time or know-how for long-distance offshore trips, reach for lighter tackle and head to the nearest bay for spotted bay bass.

The handsome, hard-fitting, semitropical spotted bay bass, a favorite game of Gardner's, is found from Oxnard to the tip of Baja California. It prefers the warmer waters of back bays, lagoons and other inshore shallows or, with less frequency, quiet sections of open coast that are anchored by rocks and eel grass.

The fish feed on razor clams, mussels, bloodworms, minnows, smelt, anchovies, other baitfish and just about anything else that moves. ``If they were as big as sharks, you wouldn't want to be in the water,'' said Gardner, whose book, ``Fish Have No Hands: Catching Tons of Fish in Bays and Estuaries'' (Ragnar's Books; $19.95), was published this year.

Artificial baits are the way to go here. A 3- to 5-inch single- and curly-tail grub in chartreuse with a gold back is Gardner's piece de resistance. Gaumer prefers a clear grub with red flake. Bait it on a -1/4- to -1/2-ounce leadhead jig and away you go. Another winner is a knob-tail swim bait in a rainbow trout pattern. Stock up on a variety colors, sizes and weights.

With its telltale vertical bars and prolific dots, there's no mistaking a spotted bay bass. And it doesn't give up fighting, ever, even when you're removing the hook.

``When you lip a largemouth, it paralyzes it,'' Gardner explained. ``When you lip a spotted bay bass, it just gets mad and works its way up your thumb.''

Gardner uses mostly 6-pound spinning and bait-casting rigs. Gaumer said that's fine for water 20 feet or shallower. Deeper applications require heavier line - 10, 12, 15 pounds. Also consider using jerkbaits and crankbaits - trolled or cast - especially when there is little current.

Dean enjoys fishing at night, when increased water movement and less angling pressure bring out a larger class of calico bass. He uses 20-pound line on modified tuna sticks.

The imagination fairly reels with inshore fly- and bait-fishing possibilities.

Whatever technique your choose, look for moving water in which harbor fish love to feed, reel in the slack line and set the hook after sensing the slightest tap of the line and leave the Dramamine at home.

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Photo

Photo: (color) Placentia inshore fishing guide Mike Gardner boats a sand bass as Long Beach's Gerald Desmond Bridge looms in the background.

Brett Pauly / Daily News