Santa Cruz Perch Derby - March 3, 2007

Carpooled with Alex / Aliens and Papa Bill to SC. Met up with Aaron and headed to the Salinas river. I caught one using my secret "combination platter" (released)  Aaron hooked up a couple as well. Bill caught 3 smaller ones and Alex pulled a "skunk"  Yet, it was a beautiful day at the beach. The bite was tough as even the bait dunkers were not getting any action as well.

random pics....

pic 1: Aaron and Bill searching for the elusive perch 
pic 2: I can only guess that these a friends of jmairey 

at the weigh-in: some of the bigger fish caught .....

Thanks for the info Mooch. Did you guys try scents?

I tried Pro Cure "sandshrimp pro gel" and only caught a few small ones to 10".The four of us fished hard and I'm surprised at least one of us didn't land a jumbo.From what I heard at the "measure in" it was pretty slow at the beaches.Probably because the surf was so small.In fact, several of the larger perch including the winner were caught using live bait off the rocks at Carmel.These were different species than the ones we were targeting...mostly striped and black perch.Maybe a different strategy is in order for next year?

It was still a beautiful day and I had a great time fishing with you guys.

Huh...I didn't know striped seaperch counted. Dang, I know a spot where you can catch tons of 12-15 inchers.

Even though you guys didn't land a jumbo, it looks like you all had a good time.

Thanks for the report and great pics,
PK

That looked like a lot of fun! What was the fish the kid had? Maybe its my eyes but it looked like some kind of flatfish.

Sole?

Maybe its my eyes but it looked like some kind of flatfish.

brother Ben.....stop smoking da bad stuff  it's CLEARLY affecting your fish-judging-skillzzz    You too Randall 

A bit hard to tell from the pic,but the kid had a perch...I believe it was a striped seaperch.They get dark when they're that size with opalescent undertones and rust colored horizontal pinstripes.Handsome fish.

Any species of perch (and only perch) could be measured for the derby.The longest single fish wins.However, other species showed up (and were not counted) such as a striper and a grass rockfish.Goes to show you never know what you'll catch when you target perch.

Aaron - where was the striper caught?

The fisherman didn't give specifics, but it sounded like Manresa on a live sandcrab.

I guess me and compa did okay up north then. we saw 3 guys, all with limits on bait up north.

mooch,  that ain't surfin. it's wakeboarding!  no friends of mine! 

maybe it was the full moon letting those perch feed at night or something.

J,I think you nailed it with the full moon theory.I tried Manresa yesterday for about a dozen dinks in pretty much the same conditions.The larger models weren't biting.There were also a TON of sandcrabs out.The waves were as small as they get and the water very clear.I think that when there is a full moon and lots of tidal movement at night the perch feed at night and then just laze around in deeper water when the sun is high during the day.

Hey alien,how'd that sandcrab soup turn out?

mooch,  that ain't surfin. it's wakeboarding!  no friends of mine! 

negative....this was "tow in surfing". Every now and then, the surfer would let go of the tow rope and ride the bigger waves....he falls and gets picked up the wave runner and does it all over again. We must have seen 3 wave runners towing surfers in and out the surf line. I have never seen this type of surfing before. I always knew Laird Hamilton did this with the REALLY BIG waves in Hawaii....