Mitchell Cove - Santa Cruz 5/25

tallpaul and I launched into incredibly mild conditions, and stayed out on the water for about 5 hours. The water was awfully brown looking. The fishing for me was slow but steady, for Paul it was pretty much slow. And to top it off, the fish we were picking up were small.

We started in about 70 feet of water off of Natural Bridges, working our way out to deeper water. I had my best luck when I was targeting structure and marking fish. I picked up a puny gopher, a steamer sized vermillion that was kept, two underlings and then another vermillion of about 4 lbs or so. Eventually it got to the point where we were both getting hit by 6" fish in 90 feet of water so we headed into shallow water, and then the kelp. Paul picked up a good sized grass? rockfish in the kelp, while I kept getting hit by more undersized fish - two more underlings and a 14" cabezon. The last ling was a fish that chased the scampi all the way to the surface, he hit when I had about 4 feet of line out. For the first time, I was skunked when using the spinning gear in the kelp. The 4-5 foot visibility may have had something to do with it. We returned to an uneventful landing, schlepped the boats and gear back up the stairs. All in all, not a bad day on the water, but not a great day either, as we returned with just 3 fish between us.

Regards,
Scott

Sounds like a fun day to me!  Where's the pics?   

Boy, aren't you the demanding type

I forgot that Paul caught a keeper sized octopus:


The biggest of the underlings, at 23.5"


The undersized cabbie


Back on shore

Dude!  Where's the helmet for your spacesuit?!!     JK - I'm just jealous that I don't have a dry suit!     The pics are great - thanks for posting them.

Eric

Abking I have one that might fit you from my days working as a diver

I hate the things myself

Scott Looks like a great time slow fishing and all

Is Mitchell Cove the beach with the stairs between the lighthouse and NB?

that grass rockfish is big. especially considering tall paul is 9 feet tall,  .

scott, you should have tested the big hammers. I did pretty well with a dark one,
a 2.5oz head and a white/grey/red fly (lefty's deceiver) as a teaser.
go high tech for those highly pressured santa cruz rockfish,  .

So, I have a new hypothesis:

white lings eat swimbaits that look like fish. blue lings eat squid and squid like lures.

I almost never fish squid like lures, almost always fish shaped lures and I only catch
white lings. my friend leo dunks squid and he catches the blue lings.

Scott's underling looks like a blue ling and he's using a squid like scampi...

and remember brendan saying cabbies like red lures? well...

J

So, I have a new hypothesis:

white lings eat swimbaits that look like fish. blue lings eat squid and squid like lures.

I almost never fish squid like lures, almost always fish shaped lures and I only catch
white lings. my friend leo dunks squid and he catches the blue lings.

Scott's underling looks like a blue ling and he's using a squid like scampi...

and remember brendan saying cabbies like red lures? well...

I like it, John.  I'm going to get some good, hard data on this and post back.   

Paul,

Yep, you're exactly right on the location of Mitchell Cove. After negotiating the stairs, I'd say that this launch requires at least two paddlers.

jmairey,

An interesting theory on lings, but I don't think that it necessarily holds up. Of the four underlings that I caught, one self-released right at the boat, so I can't say for sure if it was a white one or a blue one. Of the other three lings, two were white, and one was blue. A blue and a white were each caught on a rootbeer scampi, while the last white ling was caught on the red scampi.

Next time I hit Santa Cruz, I will take the big hammers out of the tackle box and give them a try. This trip, they were just along for the ride.

Regards,
Scott

I used to hit up Mitchell all the time for the free parking and shorter paddle to NB.  Be wary of all the landmines - lots of dogs on that beach.  It is also kind of tough on your boat with the stairs, especially for longer yaks.  I had trouble with my 9' hobie back in the day, I can't imagine hitting the corners with my adventure! .  Definitely a two man job.

Agree on the water condition.  It's looked like diluted chocolate milk for the last two weekends i've been out there.  Royally uncool.

Still waiting to pick up a SC ling this year.  So far, only rockies.

Thx for the post/pics.

I have to agree that my hypothesis needs much research before we can call it a theory...

we need a few hundred ling catches listed with squid-like lure or fish-like lure,  .

but it should make for some good entertainment in the meantime!

J

especially considering tall paul is 9 feet tall,  .

yup....he can also scratch his knees without hunching over