Slow day in Santa Cruz, 6/1

Yesterday was the first time in a couple of eons that I had my AI on the water. I've done a lot of minor mods, and was sure that something would be off kilter, so it was more of a shakedown cruise than anythings. Anyways, here are a few details...

I was up by 4:15 and left home at 4:30, only to find construction traffic on 17. Once I got to the harbor, I noticed that there were no other boats launching or having launched. I took my time, and after I launched, I realized that I'd forgotten to prep my jib sail properly so I headed back to the dock (fortunately, I was not even out of the harbor when I remembered).

There was absolutely no wind when I finally made it out of the harbor at almost 6:00am. It was overcast with cool air temps, and the water was cold, at 53 degrees. After pedaling out to 35 fow, the wind picked up to where it was enough for reasonable sail-trolling (5+ knots wind, I'd guess). The wind was pretty much straight out of the west, and I wanted to go that direction, so I started trolling and tacking back and forth. That's when I realized that I'd forgotten my daggerboard, which reduces sideways slippage, and helps a lot with that kind of sailing. That was annoying, but regardless, I was puttering along at about 1.5 mph, which would be pretty much my consistent speed all morning.

It seemed to take forever to get to the wharf and a second forever to get to Steamer Lane. I made it about as far as Mitchell's Cove and out to about 65 fow. To that point, I'd only landed a couple of small blue rockfish (released), and in spite of there being abundant bait, my sabiki had only managed a couple of anchovies.  By then, I was cold, and getting bored with the slow, slow sailing/fishing, so I turned directly towards shore, and cruised at about 4 mph in to about 30 fow. I left my line in the water, as I was heading towards shore, and I somehow hooked a speedy 20" lingcod.

I then did a long slow stroll thru the halibut zone until I was past the harbor entrance with no success. Then I turned to the harbor and was able to briefly reach sailing speed of almost 6 mph, which was a nice way to end a slow fishing day. I was back in the harbor by shortly before noon.

There was a bit of a swell early in the morning, and that was probably the main reason for the lack of fish activity. That settled down later in the morning. There were a couple of kayakers around the wharf area as I was coming back in, and at the dock, I met another kayaker who I'd talked to a couple of times last year. The fish survey people were at the dock, and they said nobody had come in with halibut or anything too exciting by that point.

Hey Mark,
Didn’t see you out there. I was otw 6:30 - 11:30, but on the opposite side of the mile buoy.  Stayed shallow <45’ and agree it was real slow. Only had 2 takes, a short ling but also a 28” Hali.  Feeling lucky. 

Thanks for the report!

Hey Mark,
Didn’t see you out there. I was otw 6:30 - 11:30, but on the opposite side of the mile buoy.  Stayed shallow <45’ and agree it was real slow. Only had 2 takes, a short ling but also a 28” Hali.  Feeling lucky.

Nice! What did you catch the 'butt on? I saw lots of bait, but nothing was interested in my sabiki...

At least there was wind  . Thanks for the report Mark!

Hey Mark,
DidnÂ’t see you out there. I was otw 6:30 - 11:30, but on the opposite side of the mile buoy.  Stayed shallow <45Â’ and agree it was real slow. Only had 2 takes, a short ling but also a 28” Hali.  Feeling lucky.

Crocs and socks ftw!


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Crocs and socks ftw!

That must be the secret...

Thanks for the reports and pictures guys.

Thanks for the report NWM!  Looked chilly…  I have also sort of struggled so far with catching live smelt...  It's early though.

Got it on a frozen herring. 

Looked chilly… 

It was surprisingly cold. When I launched, there was 0 wind, so I underestimated how cold it would be, especially going into the wind...

Radical