saturday the 15th salmon santa cruz/moss/linda mar?

I hope to be salmon kayak fishing saturday.

trolling or mooching, shallow or deep, I'll give it a try.

I can launch just after first light anywhere from moss landing to linda mar.

So suggestions and company welcome. I have VHS and compass, no FF or GPS.

surf forecast right now looks to be dinky, with SW wind, but not too strong,
some scattered rain in the forecast.

Stu and Blue, et. al., your armchair quarterbacking and advice is welcome, actually I'll
maybe call Stu friday night for last minute advice,  .

My default plan right now is to troll shallower @ moss so I don't end up miles out there
and then mooch if I see sitting birds.  But I could try the same thing of santa cruz or
linda mar.

Best,

J

thanks for the tips blue, 1 in 4 rods are catching fish, I guess if I go enough
it will either turn hot or I'll eventually come due. At least I'm losing weight, 

straw man plan to troll a little shallower @ moss, do shallower circles around birds,
maybe mooch a chovie or two.

anybody else thinking moss saturday? maybe i can convince my surf bud rocket
scientist friend Leo to go, but that'll be like the blind leading the clueless,  .

John,

The fishing hasn't been that hot lately, and you've pretty much got the odds down.

I'm waiting for better reports/weather and WAF.  Trust me, be patient and be willing to go on short notice, and it will pay off.  You can still score now, but its a bit scratchy.

If salmon season was closing, I'd be begging my wife to go.  But since we are going to have a season after all, I'm sitting on the sidelines, patiently building WAF.

Here's my $.02. 
If you're determined to go, I'd go from either Moss or from the Monterey side and go deep and mooch deep, mid columnish.  Leave the trolling gear behind unless you're willing to tow 2lb balls at 150 feet.  If you do troll, I'd suggest a lure (Apex?) over bait.  If you troll bait, you should check it about every 15-20 minutes.  If you go with a lure, you can go a little longer without checking, depending on how much junk is in the water.  Also, winding in 150ft of line with a 2lb ball is not that fun.

Birds are great indicators for surface bait, but beyond that, they don't help.  Last weekend, I was metering bait around 140, in 240ft.

Keep us posted,
Stuart

If conditions allow, Randy and I will be going out Saturday or Sunday for salmon.  We'll post on Friday.

Stu, all good points. not to mention the advice. thanks!

If I had your fishing history under my belt, I'd wait it out too. Like with surfing, these
days I often wait for the good waves.

but basically, I need the fishing practice, not to mention the adventure! When the fish
do come, I need to be comfortable with all my gear, the launch, etc.

I can stomach being skunked a couple more times before I retreat to the wait and see mode
or fish lexington or the forebay or oyster point or go surfing or maybe sleep in,  .

Failure or Success, I'll post.

pat and randy, hope you can make saturday.  maybe that hot stick will get the group a fish!

J

Hi, John

Your persistence is as good as anyone else, or better. I would not see any reason you will not catch salmons. As people often say, It is a matter of time. 

thanks for the tips blue, 1 in 4 rods are catching fish,

Your odds for catching one while at home are zero so looks good to me 

Weather isn't looking too bad last I checked it was 5-10k sw winds, 5-9 W swell, weak incoming tide in the afternoon.  Then again I got this from NOAA, shoulda got the scoop from you first........whats your prediction for Moss John? 

I'm gettin the boat ready to chase salmon this weekend (sat/sun), probably Moss too, I'll be on 69 feel free to call me in on the hot bite   

I'm in for Moss on Saturday or Sunday....hoping for decent conditions

By the way, I did a dumpster check at the HMB Harbor today and saw lot's of biig Dungies and sand dab carcass in the trash bin right by the cleaning station....I was hoping to see some salmon within the mix but to no avail  Some of the sand dabs were HE-UGE!

John,
Definitely not trying to discourage you from going, but just saying that it gets much better.

I'm skating on thin ice with WAF, so I have to wait, and even if the fishing turns on, I still may not be able to go.

Also, fishing can change quickly, so it could definitely pick up by Sat.

Your persistence will pay off,
Stuart

When in doubt, go fishing! Seriously though, one factor I feel needs pointing out is that the salmon at this time of year are the best tasting. At least what my neighbor has given me in past years, which is Farallons-caught krill-fed salmon. The anchovy-fed fish we catch inshore in July and August doesn't compare, IMHO.

John-

Good luck to you on Saturday. I'm with Stuie though. Fishing is tough right now. Plus, we do have time on our side by the looks of it. But, if you must go... mooch. I've always done better mooching than trolling. You can always "trooch" to cover more ground though. Just look for the tells and go for it. Fish can be anywhere. No hits deep, reel up a bit. It's all hit or miss right now. Avgs aren't that great. It's all good though. Bring both trolling and mooching gear. If one doesn't produce maybe the other will. You never know...

Freddie

The good news is that the wind FINALLY has turned.  It is blowing IN!

I'm in for another try. This time I'm going to use my old school way of fishing (Plug Herring) I tried all the other ways with no luck. The last time i caught a salmon mooching in Monterey Bay was four years ago and it was on a plug bait.

It's really difficult to thread the bait the way i want it with these darn circle hooks. But i think i got it down after practising with a dozen or so, anchovies.


see you all at moss if your there.

hey thanks for the encouragement folks. 

alien and mooch hope to see you there. no launching in the dark for me tho. If all goes well,
I'll be there around 6:15, launch around 6:35 from the mud near the boat ramp. I will have perch gear
in the truck just in case.

art thanks for the tide note! good luck with the new boat!
according to surf pulse, saturday should be small swell, as in dinky almost flat.
wind not too bad, they say sw, it might be sE in the
morning, but if you stay out past noon, it's sure to go sw or w or even a little nw, unlikely nnw.
fish the south side of the canyon and the paddle back shouldn't be too bad. I might stay a little
closer in this time and further south.

sunday it comes up again according to surf pulse. don't know
about rain, but right now saturday is the day for paddling conditions.

I think the vis is bad as others noted. This happened to me last week. This could be bad for mooching or
mooching with no extra scent? maybe if trolling it's worth using a dodger or something with a little more
vibration, I don't know.

stu hang in there, bro, my boys are 6 and 8 and it's about 400 times easier than 1 and 3! 

Hay Jmairey,

I guess I'll see you in the water. I will be parked on the south side of the jetty where parking is free.. I tried going to  the boat ramp last weekend but was to full, and that was at 5:30am. I expect it to be the same this weekend.

I don't launch till I could see where the heck I'm going. I'll be monitoring Chanel 69 for any yakers who's out floating for Kings!