Santa Cruz report 6/5

Met Paul and Scott at the lot this am. Met Nowhere Man heading out of the harbor. Winds were calm with a good sized swell. Bait was not cooperating and it took awhile to get a couple mackerel. No action for quite awhile as I bounced around East and then past the red buoy up to lighthouse reef. Wind came up a bit after 10 am but mostly on the outside. At one point traded a 10oz weight for a 13” Greenling - not a fair trade. Had a few other bites and scratched baits but no halibut, no lings, no rockfish ( didn’t really try for RF). Off the water around 12:30. Bite was just not there today.
When I got back my new fish cleaning table had arrived from Basspro. I’ll have to wait to put it to use. Maybe jinxed myself ordering it.

Not sure why photos post upside down.

I started moving toward my halibut spots and searching for baits.  I couldn't get any live bait. 
Around 9 AM, I got a bite. I reeled in slowly and noticed it was a 24-25" halibut. I was debating whether to use a gaff or net, but suddenly, it started running like crazy and pulling my drag. It was pulling so hard I could not stop even after I engaged my slow gear. It stopped pulling once it got to the bottom, but I could not pull up. I circled around, and I could feel the weight, but my fish would not move.  I finally pulled hard and broke the leader.  I guess that I provide breakfast for a seal.
I got another bite around 11 a.m., and it was a small halibut. I measured it. When it opened the mouth, it was a keeper, but it was only a 21.5" shaker when I closed it.  Both bites were around 60 FOW, and I was using purple hoochie and frozen herring.

The wind started blowing, and I moved into 40 FOW and caught two smelts. I trolled around for another hour, but there was no bite.

Paul

Thanks for the report gentlemen!  I’ve been having a helluva time making bait in Santa Cruz as well….  It’s just not there yet.  Joe, I’ve got a similar fish cleaning table.  I hope yours works better because mine is garbage.  Water leaks and sprays, super messy, twas a waste of money to say the least.  I use it as a filet table now and hose off the after mess. 

Thanks for the reports and pictures guys.

Not sure why photos post upside down.

Fixed.

It was good to see/hear everybody today.

When I launched, there was not much wind. After a couple of hours, I was getting so toasty pedaling up the coast, that I figured that I'd soon need strip off everything inside my drysuit. But then at about 9:30, a good breeze came up out of the west and it really cooled things down. I spent another hour tacking back and forth, trying to get past Natural Bridges, but was making little forward progress, so at 10:30, I turned around. Coming back, even with both sails furled, the drift was too fast, so just east of Steamer Lane, I quite fishing and unfurled my sails, taking an indirect route back to the harbor. My total distance was 10.3 miles in a little less than 5 hours. Fishing-wise, the total catch was 6 rockfish (2 nice olives, 1 decent verm, 3 small blues) and 3 underlings (2 of which were probably close enough to measure, but I didn't bother). No halibut sightings. One sea lion did eye me for a while, but he left me alone.

After I got back to the harbor, I put away my fishing gear, and took a leak standing up (so much more pleasant than the Gatorade bottle method). I then went sailing for an hour, covering a distance of 5.2 miles. That was fun, very wet sailing.

Don’t knock the Gatorade bottle! 

Thanks for the report. Any sighting of squid or squid boats?

Thanks for the report. Any sighting of squid or squid boats?

I didn't personally see any signs of squid, but I heard that there was a squid boat out in somewhat deeper water. I also talked to a boater who had gone to Rio Del Mar looking for squid (he said they had been there a couple days earlier), but couldn't find any.

Yeah, bait has been crazy slow all year. I managed a single spanish mackerel one trip and a few jack smelt another, all kinda off the radio towers. Got my first SC halibut of the year in 50-ish FOW in that same area but have gotten all others more in the pier, Steamers area.

Felt like I had a few hits on my squid jig this past weekend (6/8) but no hook ups.