Prefishing Santa Cruz from the harbor 9/5/07

Going to prefish the Santa Cruz Harbor area before Sat. Looking for any intel from the locals or if anyone wants to hookup. Will be leaving Union City at 0500hrs. w/ (nimble fingers) Dangling for a pre-tourney jaunt and neither of us has any experience around this area. So if anyone wants to join in or has info to share please chime in. Love this sport Frankfishing

(nimble fingers) Dangling

 Hope I don't ruin my clueless Mojo by prefishing........

 

I might be fishing the bay with Insane Wed morning... he hasn't confirmed yet.  If not, then I'll try to join your floatilla.  Either way, I'm-a-yaking Wed morning.  Can't help with SantaCruz info, as I'm still a newbie when it comes to the big blue.

Just found out I have a conflict tomorrow, so I'm out.  I'll just build up my WAF for Sat    Have fun, guys!

Going to prefish the Santa Cruz Harbor area before Sat. Looking for any intel from the locals or if anyone wants to hookup. Will be leaving Union City at 0500hrs. w/ (nimble fingers) Dangling for a pre-tourney jaunt and neither of us has any experience around this area. So if anyone wants to join in or has info to share please chime in. Love this sport Frankfishing

I have been watching to see if anyone more experienced than me would respond and since not here is my $0.02. A warning on this intel: Slowmo and I have caught fish on every trip this summer EXCEPT when we have gone out of the harbor (disclaimer).
When you paddle out from the harbor mouth look straight out, about a mile out is a buoy (the mile buoy, as it is known) I have been told (second hand intel) that there is a reef about 100 yards in from the buoy that holds fish. Slowmo and I have tried twice to find it with no luck and we paddled all over heck out there..... Check out the link below to the fish report, obviously there are fish!
Once you are out to the mile buoy you will find that you are not far from the kelp off lighthouse point on West Cliff drive. That areas sees a lot of pressure and we have fished there only once with no luck. The kelp runs from the light house all along the coast west. Where we have done well is another 4 miles or so at Natural Bridges State Park, maybe too far to go for this event, but you will see PBs along that area fishing. The prevailing wind will come from the west so if you do go out long you should get a push back (remember Murphy's Law) unless it is one of those odd days and it blows the other way (pretty rare)
Another strategy is to go port side out of the harbor and head toward Capitola, that could be productive, BUT you will fight the wind coming back. You might even get seduced into a pleasureful drift all the way over to Capitola and not make it back for the weigh-in. That would actually be a fun thing for another day. Slowmo and I have been talking about doing a Natural Bridges to Capitola drift, or a 4 mile beach to Mitchell's Cove drift.
You could actually get a breeze in your face going towards Captola/Pleasure Point early on the morning, it is commom to have a morning breeze from that direction  that then turns around later in the morning.
If the fog bank stands off the coast  you can usually count on wind along the fog bank (you might notice the sailboats using the fog bank) so if that is too rough out along the fog come in away from it (more of an afternoon condition, but something to be aware of ).
One other thought would be to hunker down right around the harbor mouth where you could get anything from bait to a whale. As you come out of the harbor if you head towards the boardwalk there is also some kelp, have not fished in there.
So, there you have it.
I hope some veterens will speak up and correct any of my rookieness, I really know the area better from a sailing perspective and just recently from fishing. I will not be offended by corrections and only pass this on for lack of anyone else speaking up.
Good Luck,
Rocketman



 Also check the fishing report: http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php/topic,9833.0.HTML

Thanks ,

 That is all educational to me...

 will post the results .......... Danglin

That pretty much covers the areas going out from the harbor , but I'd add that there is a large area extending out south a good ways from Lighthouse Point that is rocky/kelpy. Also, the area off Black's Point (just to the east of the harbor) has some structure and fish at times.  The area near the Mile Buoy seems to be hit and miss - at times you can't keep fish (often small rockies, but some lings too) off the hook, other times it's seemingly barren. 
  If you guys ever plan a drift from 4 Mile down during calm conditions, let me know.

  If you guys ever plan a drift from 4 Mile down during calm conditions, let me know.

Will do, Tom. We are working on a pair of kayak carts  so we can roll the kayaks into 4 mile (it is a bit of a hike). Once the carts are done we can pick a day and with the season turning to fall i think we should be able to catch some smooth water to do this. Will keep you posted.
Rocketman

Rocketman, 4mile is a regular yakfishing spot for me, though this year it has been much slower than last year. Send me a PM if you'd like to hook up. I have always wanted to do the same shuttle drift, just never had anyone to share it with. The coming month will be a great window for this I think.
One thing to note is that the entire area from 4mile south to natural bridges will become a closed area on 9/21, from mean low water out 200 feet. This will be the new Natural Bridges marine reserve.
As for fishing the harbor area, I also have had little luck at the mile buoy. The 2 times this year I launched from the harbor I fished the area north of Seal Rock. In May I got a 29" ling and a few small bues there, and in June only a few short lings and one 15" black RF. Lots of PBs around both times.

-Sean