New Brighton, Saturday 5/3

Another no fish report: Arrived around 8:15. First launch was unsuccessful, lost some gear but nothing essential, second launch was uneventful. I feel I gained some experience from the first one... Fished til about 1:30 and got no fish, no bites. I was using shrimp flies with squid bits, or a scampi lead head with one shrimp fly above it. Always with squid bits. I went all around and through the kelp beds, drifting up to the outside edges, potholing and sometimes starting the drift way outside, but found no fish. I did see a bunch of otters, that was pretty cool. Met some other kayakers, locals I think. One had a single rock fish, a group of four had some mackerel and a sand shark. I saw some of the skiff guys catching fish, and two guys in a canoe with an electric motor told me they had 15 rock fish. So I guess they're there, but I wasn't finding them. Also thanks to Flip and his comrade (sorry I can't remember the name) for some much appreciated assistance landing and  hauling everything back up the hill. On the launch problem, I put it down to impatience, in addition to inexperience. I could see that the surf was gentler at the far right of the beach, but after I dragged my boat all the way down to the ramp by the rest rooms and all the way back up to the creek, I got lazy and stopped about 30 yards short of where the surf was better. So on the first attempt I got stuck in the wash zone and found I couldn't control the boat in those conditions. Once I extracted myself from there I moved up the beach and launched without any problem. Like I said before, nothing essential was lost but I did some damage to the recessed rod holders so now I have a little repair project to work on. I hope next time I can report that I caught some fish...

Dude, I feel your pain.  You didn't see my sunglasses on the beach?  or my net?  *grumble*

I got some rockies on Friday out there but took my kids to the Capitola kite festival on Saturday instead.  I was on the beach watching you guys work the kelp and wishing I was out there.

In that area I find it produces better to get into about 30-35 feet of water and work some of the little rocks for fish.  I've not had too much luck in the kelp although I'm still hoping to bag a big ling there so I can make the Mooch weep like a little girl.

Thanks for the tip Joel, I expect I'll be back down there to try it again in a few weeks.

Little secret for ling success in that area. There is a ledge out there. Lings hide under the ledge. Going to need a GPS to find the fine little line and fish the deep water side of the ledge.

-Brian G

There are NO fish in Capitola/SC. I repeat, NONE. In fact these guys -- http://capitolaboatandbait.com/2008/05/03/who-needs-a-boat -- did NOT catch 3 lingcod to 14 lbs., 10 nice grass rockfish, and a 12 lb. halibut fishing the Capitola Reef. Yup, Mooch is definitely right. NO fish there. No sir, no reason to come out.

(props to Kevien and Tony... just passing along their success since I wasn't fortunate to make it out this weekend. Hope that's cool with everyone.)

Heh Mike, great talking with you Sat. Joe was the other guy that helped out. He has never been on saltwater with his Hobie and the conditions looked iffy enough that we chose to wait for a better first outing. (especially a beach launch). We went to Loch Lomond on Sun. late and got bit but no fish. We were really there late and spent too much time trying all the options on our new FF. Look for you at NB.

There are NO fish in Capitola/SC. I repeat, NONE. In fact these guys -- http://capitolaboatandbait.com/2008/05/03/who-needs-a-boat -- did NOT catch 3 lingcod to 14 lbs., 10 nice grass rockfish, and a 12 lb. halibut fishing the Capitola Reef. Yup, Mooch is definitely right. NO fish there. No sir, no reason to come out.

Chill out - I KNOW there are FISH in CAPITOLA / SC. I would RATHER just fish MORE PRODUCTIVE spots like Bean Hollow or even Big Sur. That's MY opinion.

Oh Mooch...

The only thing we appreciate more about you than your tireless work in this site with Bill or your advice or your great posts or how good a fishing buddy you are...





Is the opportunity to give you crap about something.