Hey Allen - You holdin' out on us??

Santa Cruz Sentinel
June 14, 2007
Fish rap-- Allen Bushnell

Saltwater Report

Despite the big salmon news, the Capitola area may actually be the hot spot for this week. Ed Burrell from Capitola Boat and Bait calls it "wide open" As of Wednesday, a huge school of bait was pushed up to the shoreline, followed by a good variety of predators.

"I've seen 25 white sea bass caught from the wharf today, caught with live anchovies or swimbaits," Burrell said. "Most were undersized, but at least four were legal"

If that's not enough, Burrell helped net a legal halibut off the wharf and a 25-pound striped bass caught by Larry Roland. Burrell also reported a big 24-pound halibut caught by skiff fisherman David Gomes near the Mile Reef this week.

Bringin' down the bust on Allen!  Way to put the pressure on, Rock Hopper!     He's just doing his job...  AND he probably wants to hookup on the yak before opening the gate. 

The question is if he is holding out or is it one of those over generous fishing reports we often read?

Just kidding...... sort of.

Jason

Spurred by fishing reports of wsb, AB10 & I headed out to Capitola for some afternoon fishing.

Lots of wind, lots of swell, cold, no diving birds, no fish being brought up, 1 tray of anchovies + a couple sabiki'd, no bites.   



As always, "should've been here yesterday"   

Dammit.... Kudos to Fuzz and AB10 for trying.

Definite kudos for trying,  sounds pretty typical for white seabass, at least you guys didn't have to make a run to Catalina or San Clemente to find that the bite is off.  If they are out there, NCKA will find them.

Nice try Fuzz.  At least you were on the water.
Jason

Hey hey!
I was wondering if those two yakkers were members of the NCKA fraternity. Saw two guys out there in yaks. A yellow one and a green one. Looked like Ocean Kayaks but couldn't make out the model.
Cool to hear it was you guys! I was watching you intently to see if you were catching any fish.

Me and MByakker (chris) drove up there after work to catch us some of them WSB too. Jigged up plenty of live bait (either sardines or anchovies...I can't tell the difference) on sabikis. But the stripers, halibut, and WSB didn't want to play with us. Chris got one good hit and that was it. I also caught a small perch on the sabiki.

We saw lots of ancho-dines, smelt, and perch caught. In addition to a couple stripers. There were a few barely legals lying on the deck---and I mean 18.0001 inches long. And there was a 5lber at the cleaning station. And we helped net a 4lber as we were leaving.

No WSB were caught yesterday.

PK

i didn't even know it was possible for fuzz to go out and not catch fish!

J

i didn't even know it was possible for fuzz to go out and not catch fish!

J

I'm surprised he even got up But then again, he did say he fished in the afternoon 

The report was no exageration.......later that night, I heard from Frank Ealy the numer was 30+ wsb, with around 6 being legal...woo hoo.  It was a one-day thing, the bait moved out and the wsb followed.  Nice to know they are out there in some numbers, though, isn't it?

(Let's do the nite fishing foray....!!!)

Sorry I didn't post here as well, immediatley, it's sometimes hard to keep track of where the words are going, or where I'm going sometimes as there are multiple directions...I get pretty busy mid-week.

You can always check the Sentinel report online, every thursday morning. Also, at Jim's request, I'm posting the collumn on kayak4fish Northern california forum board....Also posted at sportfishingrreport.com.

I would be happy to include it on NCKA as well (and I can post it Wednesday night, so all the yak-bretheren can get 1st crack.....)

Hey hey!
I was wondering if those two yakkers were members of the NCKA fraternity. Saw two guys out there in yaks. A yellow one and a green one. Looked like Ocean Kayaks but couldn't make out the model.
Cool to hear it was you guys! I was watching you intently to see if you were catching any fish.

That was me on the old yellow mooch-mobile p15 & ab10 on his green p13.   

I was starving and freezing, at one point contemplating pulling up to the dock and grabbing a burger.   

The chop and wind pretty much sucked... but we dragged bottom with anchovies on both sides of the pier for nada.

I am a surf fisherman and kayak fisherman wannabe.  I usually fish the beaches around Pacifica but the swells have been too big for my taste.  Anyways,  just wanted to add my two cents on the WSB at Capitola.  I was fortunate enough to be there when the WSB came in.  It just amazes me how the story changes over time.  There were around 35-40 fish caught and only one legal fish caught (about 29").   There were a few people in power boats that came by, but dont know if they caught any keepers.  Most fish were around 22-26". At one time there were 4 wsb in one crab net.  It was mayhem.  Lines crossing and a lot of tangles.
Most fish were caught on live anchovies, but a few were caught on swimbaits.  I hooked up on 6 and lost 2.  I was using 8lb test and wasn't aware those suckers have such sharp teeth.  I caught 4 on bait and 2 on swim baits.  When I threw the swimbait, I would get bit several times on each cast.  The bite is very light and not like a striper.

This is my first WSB experience and in my opinion I think that striped bass in the similar size range fight much better and harder.   Maybe you need to catch a 30lber to really experience the true WSB fight. I will never know.

Went back today to see if the WSB were back.  No luck on the WSB, but caught a 16.5 lb striper and 25in halibut.  The capitola pier seems to be pretty hot right now.  The bait was in, but not as thick as Wed. There were 3 stripers caught and 2 keeper halibut caught today.

Anyways, if I had a kayak, I would fish around the Capitola Pier by the kelp.  I am sure the WSB are still around. 

Take care  Naka (kayak fisher wannabe)

Nice info, Srvpmn.  Sounds like fun.   

I am a surf fisherman and kayak fisherman wannabe.  I usually fish the beaches around Pacifica but the swells have been too big for my taste.  Anyways,  just wanted to add my two cents on the WSB at Capitola.  I was fortunate enough to be there when the WSB came in.  It just amazes me how the story changes over time.  There were around 35-40 fish caught and only one legal fish caught (about 29").   There were a few people in power boats that came by, but dont know if they caught any keepers.  Most fish were around 22-26". At one time there were 4 wsb in one crab net.  It was mayhem.  Lines crossing and a lot of tangles.
Most fish were caught on live anchovies, but a few were caught on swimbaits.  I hooked up on 6 and lost 2.  I was using 8lb test and wasn't aware those suckers have such sharp teeth.  I caught 4 on bait and 2 on swim baits.  When I threw the swimbait, I would get bit several times on each cast.  The bite is very light and not like a striper.

This is my first WSB experience and in my opinion I think that striped bass in the similar size range fight much better and harder.   Maybe you need to catch a 30lber to really experience the true WSB fight. I will never know.

Went back today to see if the WSB were back.  No luck on the WSB, but caught a 16.5 lb striper and 25in halibut.  The capitola pier seems to be pretty hot right now.  The bait was in, but not as thick as Wed. There were 3 stripers caught and 2 keeper halibut caught today.

Anyways, if I had a kayak, I would fish around the Capitola Pier by the kelp.  I am sure the WSB are still around. 

Take care  Naka (kayak fisher wannabe)

EXCELLENT first report! Time for you to get a kayak. I can only imagine how cool those reports would be.