SC rpt 5/6...

Arrived early enough and met up with Mark.  No action shots this time because I left the cell phone in the car.  Don't worry, it was super safe in its' water proof container resting on the floorboard.

Once loaded and ready to go we headed out of the harbor and were OTW by about 7am.  There were a few boats out and overcast conditions in the morning.  Little chilly for the first few hours.  Out we pedaled to a few proven marks and trolled/drifted squid, herring, and anchovy.  We marked some bait balls and did see some birds diving.  Santa Cruz is slowly coming alive no doubt....

We had a steady day of fishing and eventually headed to the mile buoy.  99.9% sure we saw NoWhereMan in his sailing AI  a good 1/2k further out.  We fished the mile buoy and at about 12pm the wind picked up.  We figured we'd troll in, but within 5-10 minutes that plan abruptly changed.  It was time to reel up and simply head in for safety's sake.  It was a blast spending time with a friend who enjoys ocean fishing probably more than I do...   

We ended the day with 3 halibut (2 - 28" and 1 - 27") and a handful of rockfish.  Day well spent 

Nice work, gents.  Thanks for the report!

sounds like a good time!

Nice report and impressive score!

Yes, that was me. I launched at about 6:30 and passed the mile buoy in record time, and felt like I could have kept going to Monterey (well, if it wasn't for the SCA with predictions of 30 knot winds in the afternoon...).

I spent my time trolling bounce-ball style, mostly in 75 to 85 fow, briefly going out as far as 95+, looking for a big butt. As mentioned, there was a lot of bait and some bird activity. I hooked a dozen rockfish, in spite of mostly trying to avoid them. Strangely, a lot of the RF were small, almost bait-sized, with only 4 being nice keeper-sized (released, so there are at least 4 fish in Santa Cruz). But, no butt.

The wind died at about 10:00 or 10:30, and then I was just hanging out waiting for a good breeze to sail back in.The wind eventually came up a bit and it was giving me a really nice push, but once I got half way in, it died again, and it was a slow slog back to the harbor. Traveled over 9.5 miles, and got a good workout.

Thanks for the reports and picture guys.

Full disclosure: Aaron caught all the fish today (except for that teeny tiny brown rockfish, that was mine). 

Congratulations to Aaron for his butt limit!! 

The fish didn't like the spreader bar I stubbornly used all day (including the rockfish).  Probably too much bling and too short a leader... Oh well, live and learn.  Still had a good day being on the water.

Congratulations to Aaron for his butt limit!! 

The fish didn't like the spreader bar I stubbornly used all day ...

Halibut limits are rarer than UFOs in Santa Cruz, so that's really impressive.

The water temp is still pretty cold so that might have something to do with your spreader bar (and my bounce ball) results. In the next few weeks, trolling should really pick up, so I wouldn't give up on your approach just yet...

Congrats!!! Definitely much better than my try last weekend. I do need to take a day off to fish during a week day

Nicely done guys! 

Full disclosure: Aaron caught all the fish today (except for that teeny tiny brown rockfish, that was mine). 

Sounds like me watching everyone catching chrome but me.   

Anybody heading out of scruz harbor tomorrow (5/8)? Thinking about heading out but my buddies are all booked with honeydos.

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Anybody heading out of scruz harbor tomorrow (5/8)? Thinking about heading out but my buddies are all booked with honeydos.

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I’d pass on that outing tomorrow.  Waves are a bit big... then you’ll have the wind to deal with later as well...

Thanks for the report guys. Can't wait for the wx to improve so we can all get back to fishing.