rockfishin' in a big swell

Hi, I've found my luck with rockfish goes down dramatically when fishing on a big swell. Does anyone know of any particular areas that still produce on the big swells?

Thanks,

Carmel is ok, but not near as productive when there are no swells. Last weekend I caught about 6 keepers, all blues. We got in the water about 7 am. The swells were big right of the get go. They mellowed out a bit for a couple of hours and then it got nasty.  At about 11:30 the bite almost completely stopped. I know that when you have southwest swell, which we've had the last couple of weekends that really kills the bite even more.

Im going on Saturday if youre interested. Last weekend the tides werent favorable for fishing either. This weekend looks to be better, hopefully no sw swell, the nw swell they say will be 7 to 9 feet. We'll see.................

I have found the tides to be a much bigger factor than anything else.  I have done well on 9 plus foot days as long as there isn't a bunch of wind.  Wind sucks at every swell size.

Ooops, that was me.

I don't have any specific spots in mind but I'd try and fish deeper water, 80' +.  I think the shallower reefs tend to suffer more from the surge and the fish split.

thanks! I hadn't thought much about the tides but I guess I should. What would be a favorable tide vs. non-favorable and where do you typically go for this info

I'm with art.  I think if there's acres of 40 foot deep water, the surge is strong and the fish bail to deeper water. that's my relatively limited experience in santa cruz.

sean's deal might be that his spots don't have a lot of flat 40 foot bottom, they drop right off into deep water. just a guess.

I think I can answer for Sean.  He and I believe in the bite is best on incoming to high tide theory.  I don't have any science to prove it, but it sure seems to hold true for me when I am fishing.

Tides make a huge difference in the bay, I won't even fish unless they're right.  Farther out though, it doesn't seem to have as much effect but I'm sure it's there.  I think the flood and top of the tide submerges lots of forage stuff on mudflats and whatnot, and probably has a similar effect on rocky shoreline.

I don't think rockfish go anywhere when the surge is up, I think they just stick their head in a hole and wait it out.  They'll still hit something that pops up right in front of them, but they aren't patrolling their rock looking for food - so your odds are worse.

I always think of these things in terms of the current-- when there is a big swell, there's more or less a big "Current" (washes back and forth), and the rockfish are still there just sitting closer to home (the rocks).  Same thing with a big tide- pushes them down out of the current.

Think of those glassy days with little tide down in Carmel, rockfish jumping out of the water at your lure!

works the same for perch as well  (its almost that season).

I've heard that Lingcod are particularly finicky about  biting when there are large swells, but it seem like I catch a lot less of
all kinds of rockfish.