WSB swimming thru Capitola kelp 6/23

Got down to the beach house my father-in-law rented for the week.  After getting unpacked I just had to get out there.  We are staying right on the beach at the northern end of the Capitola kelp, I think just past Pleasure Point.  I didn't know what to go for first but started with the sabiki to try to catch topsmelt and drag them on the very edge of the kelp.  Most of the topsmelt were huge, 12-14".  The water visibility wasn't that great but was clear enough, I'd say 5 ft. at most.  Well nothing on the smelt and I was about to give up after a couple hours and as I'm reeling up my other rig with the smelt, an approximate 10-11 lb. white sea bass swims 2 feet under my kayak.  Very positive on the ID as I've caught 10-20 in my life, but all down south at the channel islands.  As you can imagine I was very excited, but I was trying not to be as I know how frustrating these fish can be.  Well I chucked my sardine in the general direction it was swimming but no hook up.  I shifted to rockfish for about a half hour for naught!  I can't believe I didn't at least get a rockfish in the kelp.  Oh well, I'll be back at it more during the week.  I need a legal halibut to round out my California game fish life list and this seems like the place to do it.  Anyone want to join me this week let me know!

hey man, you are not talking smack because i was there on a pb this past weekend just north of the pier at capitola with a friend and we drifted into the kelp and bounced some jigs. while there i saw a big silver fish swim west out of the kelp and it was just under the surface. i thought i was seeing things but i think you are right. i know it wasnt a rockfish and the speed and length of it definitely made me think of wsb first. the thing was long and silver.

there was a lot of bait in the water and a lot of baby fish in huge masses.

i think its a good time to be out there.

i confirm your reports.

john

Go get-um Joe! Have fun, keep us posted.

while there i saw a big silver fish swim west out of the kelp and it was just under the surface. i thought i was seeing things but i think you are right

I hear the locals call 'em "ghosts"......now you see 'em, now you don't 

bluefin17, I was in that area for 5 weeks, but I'm out of there now. have fun, it's not
Elk-style fishing, it's a bit more of a chess game to figure out what will work.
but yes, there are halibut, WSB, and legal lingcod there.

if you just want a few rockfish for tacos (you only need one little rock fish per
person for baja-style fish tacos), try lowering a frozen anchovy into as many kelp potholes
as you can cover.  if you don't get hit, move. On saturday, I did that just off your house
with a 4" blue and silver fishtrap and also a 1.5oz crippled herring iron and got dinner.

some other things to try are drifting live bait or trolling something on a three-way
swivel setup past the kelp. both have worked for me (28" halibut and 30" ling).

besides the ever-present smelt, you can also catch kingfish for bait just
beyond the moored boats with a perch rig.
and then drift those out deeper for a shot at a halibut.
if you can find some anchovies you are guaranteed some kind of action
on those.

or try some variation on scallen's halibut post! if they can catch them from
shore, you should be able to catch them while drifting from the yak!

J

Big schools of da ghosts swim thru those kelp beds and off pleasure point... from sub legals to 60 lbs... seen em while surfing the long baord break off Jack Oneills, and some of my buddies from the local secret society of freedivers, the Santa Cruz Kelp Stalkers, routinely spear them during the summer and fall.. catching them hook and line is a different story.. if they're not in feeding mode on some huge squid spawn, its all about being in the right place, at the right time, with the right bait, and the right gear to pull one of these fish out of the kelp.
I've been dealing with some health issues down here in my neck fo the woods, and won't be guiding much, or fishing, until the end of the summer!! Good luck to yall and keep the posts comin in!! I can't fish these days so I'm always stoked to check out the stories and pix!!

Hope you feel better soon, Brendan