Santa Cruz/ Capitola tips?

My girlfriend, mom, and I are thinking about renting a little skiff from Santa Cruz/ Capitola boat and bait Sunday the 25th.

Since this little skiff has no fishfinder and I have 0 experience in Santa Cruz, does any one have any tips?

I would prefer to try for halibut but have no way of knowing the depth and if its sand bottom. Is there a hard to miss type of sand bar area to try?

If no luck drifting live bait around then I'll just try the kelp for some rock fish.

I saw boats between the harbor mouth and the first point in shallow yesterday, and another group of boats out near the mile buoy. There is some rubble bottom out there and the rockfish have been biting, with the occasional lunker hali as well.

if you rent from capitola, Ed will usually point you the right way and provide you a map.  it would probably help if you had some sort of hand held GPS to match with the map they provide.

if you rent from capitola, Ed will usually point you the right way and provide you a map.  it would probably help if you had some sort of hand held GPS to match with the map they provide.

Googlemaps on a smartphone will work too. 

Nice! Thanks guys!

The buoys produce rockfish. Work the SC 3 buoy out off the point for some halibut. Its rocky and sandy.

in my experience, the Capitola crew is WAY more helpful than the SC people.  however, I've had better fishing luck out of SC.  I don't know, it could just be me.  also, parking and stuff is way more convenient at SC.  I usually just fish in or around the kelp beds on either side of the lighthouse.  caught lings and halis on both sides.

The reefs around SC/Cap are sort of patch reefs with a mix of structure and sand fingers.  Halibut can be found anywhere in and around them as well as out on the flats. With just a little bit of drift you can cover some ground and search.  This year the halibut have been found out a little deeper in 40-60, but they are starting to come in shallower as they normally do.  I guess what I'm saying is you can work the water just about anywhere in search for butts.  I like to drop a bait to the bottom while fan casting a swimbait.

-Allen

I'll be at Capitola this sunday as well.   Some friends want me to take them on a skiff as well.  We'll be there around 7 am or little before.  I'll be on ch.69.
John

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