Santa Cruz Perchin' (non-kayak) 12/8

Met Allen Bushnell at the harbor beach in Santa Cruz for some perchin' action.  Surf was coming up and tide was a bit higher than I like.  Lots of water moving with the surging swell on the leading edge of a storm.

This all led to no fish.  Still fun to get out and with the strength of the swell it was comforting to be fishing with a buddy.  I almost got swept off my feet twice.

MolBasser

Glad to hear you two are safe and adventurous

It was kind of brutal today, but nothing like it is going to be tomorrow.  Mol and I could see 8-10' waves breaking at Steamer Lane, from the 7th ave Harbor beach.

I tried in Capitola, figuring the swell would be less down there. I was right, but so much junk in the water, I had two casts only.  Kelp, grass, etc covering my line.  I hung it up after 2 casts and about 20 minutes cleaning my line.

Still fun, though!  Thanks for watching my back Chris!

Allen

good report. perching is always fun cause it involves the beach, but it's more fun when you catch, I know!
swell looks mackin' for the next 5 days and fairly ugly conditions for surfers too.

for what it's worth, if it's blowing onshore (from the south) in santa cruz, if you go to the south side of the moss landing
harbour jetty, the waves are often actually surfable, the wind can be offshore (SE)
and it can be fishable although sometimes the littoral current is so strong you can't get your grub to stay on the bottom.
I'd kind of recommend wetsuit and pfd use tho as you could end up swimming even if you started standing!

looks like some santa clara lakes and also lake pinto are being stocked with trout this week and the next month,
so might be time to bust out the the waterproof mp3 player and do some trout trolling.

J

I will say this, the cloud formations on the leading edge of the front (which was incredibly well defined) were spectacular!  Just beautiful.  Both Alan and I commented on it multiple times on the trip.

Looking at the radar now, the edge of this front is STRONG.  We are gonna get hammered in a couple of hours.

MolBasser

it's 3PM right now and the wind is blowing HARD here in San Carlos - a few sprinkles here and there 

Lunch at the Crows Nest at SC harbor today and it was blowing like stink.  Ugly breakers at the harbor mouth and just the beggining of sprinnkles.  No way I am ever going out in conditions like that.  Moderate rain back at the office about 2:45 but I think the main front is still comming.

Two years ago the Perch derby was nastier weather than we have today...  I just went to the beach in my PFD and wetsuit and kept on fishin'.

I have to say that a day fishing with Chris and Allen would be just about heaven.  I spent mine changing diapers and reading Dr. Seuss instead.

Joel:  the best days of our lives.......I'm pretty clear the next two weeks, get to work when i want to, or not.

Let's steal and hour or three to get together, OK?

Just let me know where and when- I'm avail 8:30 to 2:30 mostly.

Allen

Duuuuude!  I'm definitely going to get this going.

I've just started to limber up the perching rod and kit. We've been doing a lot of landscaping (almost done) and I've been struggling with my grad school applications.  Oh, and the new baby.  I'm finally coming to the end of a pretty long hard few months.

Once I get everything going (probably Monday, rain permitting) I'll be free during the days (9-2:30) almost every day.  Not that I don't work, just that it's very flexible.

Okay, I don't know much about surf perchin, but I have a little spiining outfit, and I think I can afford the extravagance of a few motor oil grubs and some wee little hooks and a bit of lead. I'm actually not all that excited about eating perch, but I'm jonesing for some fishing...simple pleasures, huh?

So, I'd love an invitation to join in the fun, let me know....please!

Paul:

I tried eating pech just once, and I wasn't too impressed.

It may have been the ay I cooked them, but the flesh was too mushy for my taste.

I just like to catch and release.  It is a blast when there's nothing esle to do, Perching comes thorough.

I might get out for some casting later today (Saturday) Mol might join, and I'm gonna call big red. 

Big waves today so we'd have to find a beach that doesn't have too much junk.  maybe cowell's? 

Feel free to cgive a call and stay in touch   251-9732

Allen

The best day of perching I ever had was when I wasn't trying for them. I was a kid and we were at Russian Gulch ( Sonoma ) fishing from a rock outcropping. Not having any luck casting out I decided to drop my line straight down off the rock just behind the breakers. Wham!!! perch. Did it again. Wham!! perch. Took the big weight off and put a split shot on and Wham! Perch. It was so non-stop that we ran out of bait. I added a split shot next to the eye of the hook and put a piece of styrofoam on the hook from the container the bait came in and was still nailing them non-stop. Easily caught over 100 that day. I have yet to duplicate a day like that.

Hi Tote,

What kind of perch were you getting?  I've had days similar to yours. Fishing off a rock, Where the surf perch was just wide open catching them one after the other with anything i threw out to them.

Oh! The perch i was catching was  a mixture of Mooneye, Silvers,and walleye just to name a few.

Alex.

McNugget frying works well for perch.

That first Sandcrab classic feast was epic.

I will agree that it isn't the best eating, but it is good eating.

MolBasser