Capitola today

I was pleasently surprised to see Dave this morning at the Capitola wharf.  We launched just before 6am and headed to the yellow buoy in 60 fow outside Pleasure Point.

 A few PBs out there.  We fished hard till 10:30 or so, trying 50 ft and 40 ft drifts also, but no joy.  tried herring, whole squid, live kingfish, and trolled a hoochie/dodger combo on the way out. 

Nada.

I heard of one radio halibut this a.m., but have no idea where the fellow was fishing.

Salmon seemed scratchy from the radio chatter.  Some fish being caught in shallow water 120-180 FOW.  Others catching at soquel hole (West Side) and in front of te stacks and at pajaro.

A number of silvers were bugging the guys at pajaro, the hot spot for kings seemed to be that 180 in front of SC, and the hole, though it didn't sound "hot."

Allen

nobody deserves a fish more than you allen!

any swell in town?

dammit.
3 friends and I were out there too. Live bait and swimbaits, no flat fish. A PB guy told me he had one on my way in. My friend James caught a NICE ling on a spoon; if it were 30 days later in the year we would have had one hell of a lunch. I hooked a massive jack Smelt on the way in (actually inside the harbor) but nothing else. The fog was crazy and a little disconcerting at times, but I am new to the kayak thing. Maybe next week I'll get one....

Was great seeing you again, Allen.  Been too long...

any swell in town?

Not much swell on Lake Capitola.  Pretty calm, but very foggy.  Definitely a GPS kind of day.  You know it is foggy when PB-ers (pretty clueless ones) pull up to Allen and ask him how to get back to the SC harbor...

-- Dave

  Pretty calm, but very foggy.  Definitely a GPS kind of day.  You know it is foggy when PB-ers (pretty clueless ones) pull up to Allen and ask him how to get back to the SC harbor...

-- Dave

Man! that's bad  those guys have no buisness on the water
                                   Morgan

jmairey-  I saw pix of the high school contest that was at P Point yesterday.  Nice little 3' tube, so It was breaking , anyway...  oustside, we couldn't even notice the S swell. just the W wind swell, which was miniscule. 

Ocean conditions were fabulous, really, the current was running E>W and the wind was NW, insufficient to counter the current so our drifts were E>W.  Surface was glassy, very pleasant, we just needed some flatty action to make it all perfect.

Thanks for the sentiments on my deserving a fish.  We all do, just for paddling out. 

Rod hours.  It'll happen.  In the meantime it's always great to be out on the water no matter what, especially with friends like Dave.

Yeah, so the fog was pretty thick, visibility maybe 1/8th of a mile if you squinted. I wore my LED red flasher on the back of my hat for PB visibility. So, If I heard a PB coming from in front of me, I would have to remember to put my hat on backwards!

Dave says it showed up pretty good through the fog. He lauched about 5 minutes after me, and caught up to me in about another 5 minutes.  That guy paddles FAST! 

The PB guys that Dave mentioned were sooo lost.

"Uh, where are we?"

"You're just off Capitola"

"So that's South of the harbor?"

No, that's East of the harbor, Our shoreline faces South."

"OK, so to get back to the Harbor we go North?"

"Nooooo, you would head West, but there's a big Point of Land Called Pleasure Point between you and the harbor so be careful.  Ever thought about getting  a GPS"

"I have a GPS,but......"

So, remember there are guys like that zooming around in their PB's, in the fog, No idea where they are or what direction they are heading, while we are floating in our 15' pieces of plastic.  Shudder.........

Both Dave and I congratulated ouselves yesterday for ALWAYS having at least a whistle on our vests for alert sounds.  I might break down and get a small-can air horn as well.  those whistles can't really be heard very well over the sound of  a roaring outboard.

I'm going to try to sneak out again during the week, try the Lighthouse Point area, or maybe the West Side of Town off Mitchell's for flatties.

This is turning into a quest.....

Allen

The PB guys that Dave mentioned were sooo lost.

"Uh, where are we?"

"You're just off Capitola"

"So that's South of the harbor?"

No, that's East of the harbor, Our shoreline faces South."

"OK, so to get back to the Harbor we go North?"

"Nooooo, you would head West, but there's a big Point of Land Called Pleasure Point between you and the harbor so be careful.  Ever thought about getting  a GPS"

"I have a GPS,but......"

Well I guess guy's like that are job security for the coast gaurd.
                               Morgan
                                 

I was out at Capitola this morning (Sunday). I had 2 hours on the water. It was clam and no fog. Water was like lake. I had a couple of kingfish, but no love of flatie.

Allen - have you tried Davenport? You mentioned to head down that place. I was wondering whether Daveport is better.

Must have been beautiful today.  I had chores and kid duty, so no go for me.  Maybe tomorrow afternoon.

I've fished Davenport plenty and i love the place.  usually this time of year the flatties are down this way, by the lighthouse, harbor and Capitola flats.  This seems like a very "late" year, so things are swrewy.

Iknow of at least two flatties caught up North, one near Four Mile, and one near Ano, so far this year.

I'll keep trying....luck is bound to change .

one thing for sure, i won't catch a flattie if I'm not out fishig!

Allen

Wow thats terrible about those guys being so lost. A dumb question probably, but what are PBers? I invested in one of those air horns. Those wistles seem loud untill you actually try to use one to hail someone, I tried getting Petes attention with one - forget it. I was blowing my lungs out and he was oblivious. Air horn is defintely the way to go. I got a flag a while back like the ones they put on ATVs. I was thinking about trying it out on my yak. Kind of creepy when its foggy and the swells get steep and theres boats flying around everywhere. Kudos to some guy with a huge boat that courteously came almost to a complete stop to let a bunch of us yakkers thru. I had just been trying to debate on wether or not I should paddle like mad or stop. Very nice. Cant say that for some of those guys out there. I dont expect anyone to stop but a little courtesy is always nice. Ive been paddling out at Moss Landing where every stroke was a brace as much as it was a paddle when a guy in a huge boat came flying by and damn near capsized both me and my partner in our closed deck kayaks with his wake. Times like that makes you wish you had a torpedo launcher on your boat. Now THAT would be COOL.

PB = power boat

v

SCARY

Got an air-horn can today....It's loud, 118 db.  I'll just keep it in a zip-lok in my deck hatch. 

Allen

allen, the surge from long period swell extends pretty far down. one good set every 20 minutes might be enough
to annoy halibut trying to wait in ambush, I don't know.

I have read that the wave cycle extends down 100 feet (not sure what amplitude that is, or period, but obviously
longer period is a much bigger water cycle, and thus should reach much deeper) such that even in 50 or 60
feet of water, longer period swell can roil the bottom.

for me surfing saturday for 1.5 hours, I only saw about 4 big south swell sets the whole time, the kind where you can
feel the water being sucked off the reef when it hits.

definitely not something you might notice on the yak.  but visible when surfing for a couple hours.

J

yeah, that might be it for sure.  Waves are pretty fascinating. How can that swell consolidate to an 18-second period without gaining in wave height?  Obviously it happens, cause it's happening right now.  1-2 foot, 17 seconds......

I wouldn't be surprised if the fetch directly relates to an amplitude and correllant depth.

having said that, one surfcaster caught a halibut off the jetty in Capitola on Friday, so I think the scarcity is related more to low numbers rather than movement off shore to avoid the roil.

Mysterious fish.

My strategy at this time is to hit the usual early-season spots and pray I find a congregation (pun).

If all goes well today, I'm cutting out of work for a rare afternoon go-out- I'll try lighthouse point today, maybe around the corner to It's or Mitchell's, all good early season spots, though no fish reported form those areas yet.

WML

Allen