March 5-6

Exactly my thoughts Chuck.  Gives a little excitement while waiting for the sturgeon bite.

-Allen

I am leaning towards a perch trip down the coast with the add bonus of trying to locate "secret" launch sites. Since the surf will be huge I am thinking if it looks doable this weekend it will be doable anytime.

How far south?  I'm game for Saturday.  Oh shoot ... I broke my perching rod the last time out.  Broke about 4" off the tip.  Anyone have any good "fixit" instructions.  This is the first time I've ever broken a rod.

-Allen

The only fix I know is buy a new one!  

By south I was reffering to south of HMB. I am thinking we can start there and head south. Also we could start in Santa Cruz and head south from there.

Allen - if you still have the tip of the pole - you can buy a a fix-it tube that you heat with a lighter. It will connect both pieces together after the heating process.

OR if you don't have the tip - you can  buy a replacement tip as well..

http://www.jimporter.org/tipster/tipster20.shtml

Both can be bought at any Big Five sporting goods or Sportsmart.

I don't think shrink tubes will last very long.  I broke it right above the 2nd eye.  I'm probably going to snip it below that and just replace the tip.  My 8'6" rod just became 8'.

-Allen

Maybe try loch lomond instead?

sure! I can't even remember the last time I fished that lake.

Does anyone have the address to the lake itself? (so I can map quest it) I don't remember how to get there

I need some salt water!!!

-Allen

Here is the lakes web page:

http://www.ci.santa-cruz.ca.us/wt/llra/llra.html

Allen, I hear ya man I am going through withdraw as well. The massive surf this weekend doesn't bode well for perch. We could always get crazy and try a double, loch lomond in the morning then perch in the afternoon.

Hi Pole,

If you want I could take you to San Luis Forebay.  It is freshwater...but, the stripers are cleaner and fun to catch.

Joel & Bill...a good perch area is Palm Beach(Monterey)...next beach after Sunset Beach...Hard to find .  But what I like is that there are 6 to 8 car parking spaces out side the beach parking area.  Alot, of beaches at open at 8am...I like to get the morning bite at 6:30 to 7amm..Also, Sunset Beach is good.  HMB I would go to San Gregorio or Pomponio.

There also, Twin Lakes and Manresa(Sant Cruz) for perch.
Also, remember that the farer south you go the surf gets smaller.But, if it rough I would go to Loch Lomond.  It will be a zoo this weekend (Loch).

Ken Kickfish

Guys.... I'm not trying to talk you guys out of perching this Saturday, but take a look at this report from Coastside....

Was on a mission to find those perch this morning. Began at sun up (0628) trying to catch the outgoing tide (0746). Started out at Santa Maria Beach but couldn't find any holes = zero. Picked up and moved right away down to Manresa. 3 great holes but only had a couple of strikes and 1 medium barred on pumpkin seed grub. Couple others there, one bait fishing and a couple other grub fisherman, also with little luck today. Talked to all of them, all had the same complaint "surge and waves are too big, was better over the weekend". The swell would come in 2-3 huge waves, flood the area, then leave the area dry. Fished until 10am. Decided to go get some breakfast and come back at 1200 to fish the incoming tide till 2. Same fisherman were still in the water with no luck. Decided to head back north to Santa Maria Beach but waves were still too big. I knew it was going to be tough with swell forecast being as high as it was better than being at work. Looks like the beaches will calm down a little friday but shoot back up over the weekend. http://www.surfingsantacruz.com/swellforcast.html
will head out there next tuesday though.

Personally, I'd wait for the surf to die down a bit before you go all out to target perch.  The size of the surf really seems to make a difference.  I plan to get back out to the beach to hammer the perch again as soon as conditions improve.

Yeah ok, Loch Lomond or sturgies then...

Oakland Airport for sturgies?

I talked to SteveS tonight, he's likely fishing China Camp for sturgeon Saturday... but first, he's planning to scope out the San Quentin area Friday.  There have been a number of reports of stripers being caught by trollers in the area.  If that's the case, we might try for stripers.

Either way...  it looks like there's a good chance for stripers around San Pablo Bay whether you're targetting them or just fishing for sturgeon.

As for the Oakland Airport.... that's good choice for Saturday too.... considering the rain we're getting right now.

Is Alviso out of the question?..... I haven't looked at the tides yet, but would we even be able to launch where you guys launched the last time?

Tides aren't so hot for Alviso...

2005-03-05  2:12 AM PST   4.09 feet  Low Tide
2005-03-05  3:28 AM PST   Moonrise
2005-03-05  6:33 AM PST   Sunrise
2005-03-05  7:28 AM PST   9.51 feet  High Tide
2005-03-05 12:37 PM PST   Moonset
2005-03-05  3:43 PM PST  -0.52 feet  Low Tide
2005-03-05  6:06 PM PST   Sunset
2005-03-05 10:29 PM PST   7.20 feet  High Tide

We could ride the outgo but the inflow is a little late.