Tips on the Tourney

Here's my two cents on current Santa Cruz water/fishing conditions.
1) There have been a handful of salmon caught in the shallows within the past week. I have buddies who are out on the water everyday, and they have seen some pretty good sized kings follow their halibut baits up to the surface. I'd try trolling from right outside the harbor mouth to the mile buoy/yellow can areas. Everyone else is trying the deep water, this is the time of year they start to move in shallow.
2) There is a ton of bait stacked up right off the beach up and down from La Selva to Natural Bridges. I try to surf every morning, and I've seen huge flocks of pelicans and seagulls bombing the shallows everyday for the past week or so. It looks like larger anchovies and smaller sardines. I even saw a few bigger boils, which could have been big striped bass or even halibut. One might even want to try casting crocodiles or fly lined live baits up onto the outside of the surfline. There have been some good striper reports coming in from the SC wharf down through New Brighton.
3) We had a killer swell pattern for a few weeks, and then the 10 ft swells we had passing through last weekend kinda messed things up. The halibut have once again dispersed and are off the bite. This could change anyday. It usually takes a few days of minimal swell for them to get active again.
I would try fishing the protected pockets and coves, like Cowells, Mitchells, Capitola and the flats to the left of New Brighton. These areas remain relatively flat when a big swell holds through, and still hold active fish. A handful were speared down off Capitola on Tuesday.
 
I'll be guiding down in Big Sur from Thursday through Sunday, so I won't be in attendance this year. Western Outdoor News is going to be doing an article on kayakfishing Big Sur, and this is the weekend we need to get some good pictures.
Good luck!  

Thanks Brendan... that's good stuff.  Ought to get the everyone chomping at the bit...

Erik

Also... I just found out that Shamrock is not carrying any live bait.  

He said "Boccie Boy" probably has some... which I guess is a boat on either "F" or "S" dock (I couldn't tell which over the phone).  

Gotta get there early and hope someone's around to sell bait... otherwise you'll need to make your own.

Erik

Erik,

Think we can keep some bait alive overnight with some bubbles in a big ice chest?

-Brian

if the bait is as thick as brendan suggets, it shouldn't be hard to jig some up.  Worst case fish artificials or traybait for the halibut with a small hook and a bit of squid for the everpresent kingfish.  A 14" croaker aught to produce a derby winner...