Capitola Flatties 6/9/06

Yesterday, Tom and I fished it hard by Capitola reef and then drifts at 45 and 35 feet.

When I got in, about to land, Ed Burrell from the wharf zipped up on his Zodiac to tell me of small halibut in the shallows.  Basically right at our launch site.  I had to go, though, for a meeting at work.

This morning I put the GLoomis in the car as I took my boy to school, and parked the car by the wharf at 8:15. 

At 8:23 I had a hook-up, 3d or 4th cast.  First I thought it might be a ray, but when I got it to the surf.............yes!  Flatty!

I backed it onto the beach with the set wave and nervously measured.  It was  just barely legal maybe 22 1/2 or 23"    In the box!

Caught on a 3oz Kastmaster blue and silver with a treble hook.

Still doesn't count for my quest as it was not a yak flatty, but feels good nonetheless.

Allen

way to go Allen  I think landing a keeper from shore is just as challenging as catching one from the yak 

To this day, I'm still on the quest for catching my first keeper striper from the coast 

Good job, It might not be a yak flattie but it counts anyway!

Jason

awesome!!! might need to give that a try sometime this weekend.
Allen, I picked up the new P15 yesterday and plan to put it in the water tonight for the maiden voyage. It's a whole different boat than the scrambler; like comparing a VW to a BMW. A bit more refined. Can't wait to get out there and try to grab a flat fish (still no luck for me). Nice job getting the that thing on a Kastmaster! Let's fish soon...

fishcamp

Way to go on the 15!  I hope you enjoy that boat as much as i do.

Did you get it with a rudder?  I find it much better with than without.  Both ways cool, though.

And, thanks Jason for the vote.  i guess any fish counts, the main thing is to be out fishing.  Tell you what, i've put a lot of rod hours in surfcasting, too.  Nice to hook something bigger than smelt or perch.  this fish was small but with light line and, essentially a steelhead rod, it was an honorable fight.

To the victor belongs the spoils.  Enough for me and my family with a good fillet  for my 88 year old mom, whose favorite fish is halibut.

Mooch- when we fish together agin bra? 

More halibut reported on Bayside today, two near the mile buoy.  Already a better flatty year than last year.  We'll get em boys!

Allen

Allen - Your persistence paid off. Enjoy the moment!

Tomorrow will find me and my bicycle headed RIGHT THERE with my castmaster and surf pole at the ready.

There better be another one!   

Great Job,

Must of been a hear thumper when it hit!

How do you retrieve the castmaster when targeting flatties?  Is it a slow twitch and jig on the bottom, or go you go faster than that?  I was throwing one this morning for stripers in Seaside but in the middle of a cast my bail flipped shut somehow and that kastmaster is halfway to Asia now. 

P.S.  A guy throwing a popper had a smallish striper follow it in.  I guess they are here, I haven't found any website reports that talk much about stripers in the lower Monterey bay.

yeah, they are getting stirpers from the beaches and from the Capitola wharf as well.  Intermittent,  they travel in packs.

For the halibut, i was letting it hit bottom then giving a good pull, reeling in slack and letting it drop to the bottom again.  The fish was just "on,"  one of pulls up was super heavy, then the line starting zipping out.

Allen

Good reconnaissance, Allen!

sorry allen, that's cheating. I sentence you to 10 more yak attempts!

 

Oh, I'm still on the hunt, for sure. And I accept the sentence happily.

This weekend I got blindsided with the mel cotton's thing on sunday, so i couldn't get out, but I'll be paddling for the flatties during the week.   Today was all about chores and kids.

My strategy is shorter, more frequent go-outs.  Fish for a few hours, then go to work or vice-versa.

Once summer hits, I'll be able to fish a lot mopre. Can't wait.

Allen,

Congrats and thanks for the info on the bait and retrieve.  Every little bit helps.  I think I caught a 17 inch halibut yesterday off Stillwater (Carmel).  We were in the middle of a big school of sanddabs and I caught it.  Ed posted pics....We think it was a 'but becasue of the jump in the lateral line near the head....

Jim

I visited Capitola on Saturday with rod-in-hand...   I caught no fish but I got a lot of G2 on what's happening there.

On Saturday at least 7 halibut were caught from the Capitola wharf -- two of which I witnessed myself.  They were all undersize, caught on live anchovies under bobbers in around 5 feet of water.  The pier fishers are walking the edge of the wharf until they found anchovies then sabiki-ing them up and keeping them in floating bait buckets over the edge...   but the anchovies stopped biting in the afternoon and the fish I saw caught came on anchovy caught in the AM.

I flung a spoon an popper for a while but to no avail. 

I'm planning on heading back down there today with a sabiki and giant-size bobber to see if I can replicate the situation.