Day 2 – Salmon Season

Fishing for just about everyone on the first day of the salmon season was not nearly as good as the expectations.  Depending on where you were caught fishing had quite a bit to do with your luck, but for the most part, the majority of the anglers who fished off Santa Cruz, CA came back into the docs in the early afternoon without a single fish.  It was a shame in some ways, but the good news was the weather was pretty darn good for everyone.  There was plenty of sunshine, and the wind and the waves were not too out control.

Just after leaving Santa Cruz Harbor - super calm and clear skies

To give a better idea of the sea conditions, for most of the boats who left before six o’clock Saturday morning, the stampede to the fishing grounds out near the Soquel Hole were just about flat.  Maybe not like a lake, but the ocean was very calm and was a great way to cruise over the ten mile run at the start of the season.  Later in the morning, the winds started to pick up a bit, and the currents started to play a part in the fishing, but overall weather was not a factor on day one.

here's our small Boston Whaler Fishing Boat

Most fishermen were trolling around, pulling both hoochies, spin baits, and dragging dodgers and flashers as would be expected for an opening day of salmon fishing.  It was estimated that over 250 sport fishing boats left the Santa Cruz, CA harbor on Saturday in search of the salmon, and less than 85 salmon were reported to be caught come late evening.  There were some reports on undersized fish being released, however its very hard to verify those numbers.

some fellow fishermen trolling for salmon on Opening Day 2012

As the fleet was fishing the area known as “The Hole”, much of the water is deeper than 250 feet, and there again were varying reports of the depths where fish were taken.  Some fish were said to be caught below the 150 foot mark, and some others were reporting fish quite a bit higher.  One thing that was for sure were the complaints of very large schools of jellyfish in the area.  The jellyfish are not usually a major problem, but they can definitely turn your baits into a cluster mess of jelly and the jellyfish can also get all tangled up in your down-rigger gear.  Just one of those nuisances of salmon fishing, but not the end of the world.

Jelly Fish on top of the Soquel Hole Saturday April 7th, 2012

As for how we did, well, I’m sorry to say that we did not even get a single bite this opening day.  We did our usual mooching, which was droppin down to 100-200 feet some sardines that were threaded up with a nice hook on the end.  Depending on the time of day, we were using between 2-4 ounces to get everything down as the currents were changing rapidly, but that method produced no luck for us.  Many boats were passing us all day long with their trolling gear, but we did not even see a single net get dipped into the water.  So, quite strange to say the least.  Not what was expected, but maybe it was just us, and others had some much better luck farther up or farther down the coast.

Good weather was a great treat, and we’ll all be trying for some salmon again real soon.

We just finished fishing the Stanislaus River off Highway 4, and man was it an excellent few days of fishing for trout.  With all of the rain this year, the river was running higher than we have ever seen it, and that seemed to positively impact our overall fishing numbers. 

Please watch the video of how the fishing ended up:

Our fishing trip started out with buying some live crickets and night crawler worms from Ebbetts Pass Sporting Goods.  They are located just off Highway 4 in Arnold, CA.  This store I thought was going to be great in terms of help, as the young guy I talked to the day before told me the owner would be there the next day when I planned on driving through their town, but not so much the case.  Actually, the old man was cool and helpful with some fishing tips, but his wife was VERY un-cool and actually quite rude.  She was trying to tell my friend and I we could not fish where we were planning on fishing off Boards Crossing, which ended up being completely NOT TRUE.  Quite strange that she would act so rude to new customers trying to bring her business to her fishing shop.

Either way, this place did not disturb our fishing trip, and we pretty much laughed her off a few miles down the road as a grump.

The drive from Arnold to Boards Crossing Road is not very far at all.  And for sure B Davis and I were pretty pumped to get the fishing line in the water, because this was the first time we had live crickets to fish with.  In the past we had used pretty much everything else, but not crickets yet.

We started off walking down a good ways downriver to what is known as “The Gorge”.  It’s about a 45 minute walk from the actual Boards Crossing, but once we got there, it was well worth the hike.  Since the water of the Stanislaus is running so high right now.

Fishing With the Sun Shinning

On our first day of fishing, we met a girl at the local breakfast restaurant down in Murphy’s, California.  And, since she looked like she might know something about trout fishing on the Stanislaus, we asked her what she would recommend.  And of course, any

Brad's first Trout on a Lure at the Stanislaus Gorge

fisherman or woman has their own opinions on everything, but this girl told us you won’t catch any trout in the middle of the day.  Well, that too was WRONG.  We sure caught a ton of trout in the middle of the day.  In-fact, all of the trout we caught from the Gorge was during the middle of the day when the sun was shinning pretty hard.  Of course, after the long hike down the river, it might have been a better idea to fish later or just stay out of the sun for a little while longer, but we didn’t.  The trout kept pouncing on the crickets so we just couldn’t stop.  Brad even caught a German Brown Trout on a spinner, and that was his first trout on a lure EVER.

Speaking of fisherwomen, we ran into one of the best we have ever seen on all of our adventures trout fishing off Highway 4.  There was a young girl maybe in her early twenties who was sitting down in a lawn chair in the shade with her fishing pole and book, who was absolutely nailing the fish.  She was using salmon eggs and the trout were loving it.  We noticed that in the span of about 45 minutes, she must have pulled in about 3 keeper trout, and eventually she got up and left with a string of 5 nice sized 12-14 inch trout for dinner.  Congrats to her, and it was great to see trout being caught out of the Stanislaus on salmon eggs.  We ourselves did not have any luck with using the salmon eggs however.

Catching Trout with Crickets:

There are a few things we learned about fishing with crickets to catch the trout.  Here is a list:

1. get used to chasing the crickets around on the ground after you take one from the cage
2. Once you have one, hold it with two fingers(thumb and pointer) while you are hooking it
3. Hook the cricket in the thorax and than back through the neck
4. When the small trout nibble, relax and take a few seconds before you jerk the fishing pole
5. When the larger trout strike, you will know for sure
6. Keep the crickets in a cool place out of the direct sunlight
7. A “half tube” of crickets lasted two of us 2 full days
8. Don’t spend more than $4 on a half tube of live crickets
9. Use either a bobber or a few hooks to get the cricket presenting properly
10. When fishing with crickets, don’t freak out about the cricket juice that comes out after the initial hooking

Pictures of Rainbow Trout from the 2011 Stanislaus Fishing Trip:

One of the first Rainbows of the trip, notice the sun is out

Brad taking the hook out of the trouts mouth

An excellent shot of "The Gorge" on the Stanislaus River

this is what we called "the beach"

frying up some rainbow trout in the morning for breakfast

Half Moon Bay, CA is located just about 1 hour south of San Francisco and it sits just off highway 1.  There is a great local harbor called Pillar Point Harbor, which has a multi lane boat ramp, fishing tackle shops, several Charter Fishing Boats, as well as tons of seafood restaurants.  The fishing can be excellent depending on the weather conditions and the time of year you plan to fish.

Boat Launch Ramp

The launch ramp at Pillar Point Harbor was constructed in 1996, and it replaced the very much outdated older launch ramp which was closer to the restaurants.  There is ample parking for your vehicle and trailer, and there is also a very large over-flow lot which is just a few minutes walk away.  On opening day of salmon season, you can expect to be parking in the overflow lot, as well on days when weekend fishing in the summer for salmon is red hot.  There is a nominal fee to launch your boat, and there are also fillet tables and some water available to clean your boat afterwards.

You could expect on a very busy weekend like opening day of salmon season, or on a day when there is a huge amount of albacore fishing and moderate salmon fishing in the middle of the summer to have a 15-30 minute wait for others who are launching their boats in front of you.  Otherwise, the chances are that you will be able to drive right up and launch your boat without any wait and with no delays in driving out to the fishing grounds.  Probably some of the biggest amounts of time you will feel are wasted will be the motoring of your fishing boat from the launch ramp to the outside of the JAWS of the harbor.  This takes about ten minutes on its own as this is a massive harbor to navigate through.

Salmon Fishing in Half Moon Bay

The good thing about fishing out of Half Moon Bay or Pillar Point harbor is there are many different spots to fish for salmon.  There are places to the north, as well as several different spots to the south.  This is good news because often you will be able to run north to a place like Pedro Point off Pacifica, and catch an early morning calm ride to the salmon fishing grounds, but by the afternoon when it is time to get back to the harbor, you will be able to ride the waves behind your boat and have it relatively easy getting in.  This is sometimes the case as well for people fishing down south of Half Moon Bay, but for me at least, it has often been a harder run back to Pillar Point from the south.

Early in the year for the past few decades, the best fishing has been up around Pedro Point and often times in very close to the shore compared to being out 5-6 miles.  The salmon seem to bite really well on trolling gear, whether you are using rigged sardines or anchovies, or hoochies and dodgers.  The fish are usually in the mood to bite all sorts of things, as long as you don’t mind throwing back some shakers or small salmon.

If you are in the mood for walking around the fishing boats that are up at the harbor after your trip, you are in some great luck.  The working pier which leads out from the harbor master’s office is Johnson Pier.  It is big so you won’t miss it.  There are several different charter boats which will be happy to take you and your family fishing, whether it be for rock cod, or salmon or sometimes albacore tuna if you are lucky.  These Half Moon Bay Charter Fishing Boats are usually running on every weekend day, and many times during the weekdays when fishing is good.  Be sure to call up and ask beforehand to make sure you are able to get on board one of those boats.  One of the boats that has been fishing in Half Moon Bay for a long time is called the Huli Cat.  This boat is 53 feet long and is owned by Tom Mattusch.  There are several other boats as well, and you might be able to get on a smaller boat to make the long run for albacore if you do a bit more investigation into local charter boats in the area.

The local harbormaster’s office is a great resource to all fishermen in the Bay Area.  They monitor V.H.F. channels 16 and 74 24 hours a day.  The Half Moon Bay harbor website is: www.smharbor.com which also has much more local information.

Fresh Fish From the Dock in Half Moon Bay

If you find yourself fishing a full day in HMB, but you for some reason do not end up catching anything, you still might be in luck.  The commercial fishermen in the harbor have recently begun selling fish from their boats, in a very organized way.  There are actually posterboard signs at the end of each dock which list the boats and what type of fish they have to sell for anyone in the general public to purchase.  All you need to do is show up when there is fish, and purchase whatever you want right from the people who caught it.  It is a a great way to make sure you are eating fresh local caught fish at a reasonable price.  There is even a phone number you can call up to find out what is available, it is (650) 726-8724.

Some more harbor pictures from beautiful Half Moon Bay:

Setting Up a Fishing Trip in Puerto Morelos could not be easier than a quick walk down the main square to the one pier in the town.  Don’t worry on having trouble finding it, the town square is pretty small and everything leads to the beach so its never a problem for tourists.  What you will probably notice if you are in search of a fishing trip is that there are several different types of boats to choose from at Puerto Morelos.

panga fishing boats for charter

As for the fishing, this is an excellent place to get out into the blue waters of the Caribbean Sea and try your luck fishing for marlin, wahoo, mahi-mahi, dorado, yellow fin tuna, and all types of groupers and barracuda and other fish.  Most of the days, the crew who I spoke with down on the docks of the fishing pier said they catch several types of fish unless the customers want to target one specific fish.  The most common methods of fishing are trolling either lures or live bait to catch the bigger fish.  The bait of choice is either small mackerel or ballyhoo which are plentiful.  The prices for chartering a boat range on the boats size.  For the budget choice, the cheapest day of fishing would be to charter a panga.  Panga’s are small open air fishing boats powered by a gas outboard engine.  There will usually be one captain and one crew member on board the boat, and this can cost between $200-250 for 4 hours of fishing.  Bait, tackle, and fishing rods are all included, and sometimes you can negotiate for lunch to be included too. 

Some other fishing boats that can be chartered are definitely going to cost more money.  The larger boats can be upwards of $750 for a full day, although they can accommodate more people, usually in the 5-7 person range.  Below is a picture of one of the local fishing guides cutting up a freshly caught dorado in the 30 pound range.  This is an excellent fighting fish and also a great fish to bring back to your hotel and have the chef cook it up for you and your family for dinner or lunch.  This fish was caught on a lure while trolling just a few miles off the coast.  The fishing conditions in terms of weather are usually very pleasant.  There are expected daily winds of 10-15 miles per hour on most days during much of the year.  The hurricane season does exist, so you should plan accordingly.  For example, much of the region is very vacant from August until November due to the potential for very high winds.  The rest of the year is excellent.  The seas are very calm on most days with just a light wind chop of small waves that are no problem for the fishing boats to handle with grace.

Make sure to ask your fishing guides if you will need a license to go out fishing.  There have not been many incidents of fishermen from the United States running into the Mexican police demanding to see fishing licenses, but it is possible, so your best bet is to check beforehand on whether that would be necessary or not. 

Salmon Season Opening Day Santa Cruz 201

Saturday’s opening day of the long awaited Salmon Season for everyone in California was a great time no matter how many fish were caught big or small.  Not only was there relatively few problems reported, but the fishing turned out pretty good for most anglers.

As expected, the best salmon fishing and fish numbers that were reported was from Santa Cruz Harbor, where boats had on average just under 1 fish per person.  Considering how many boats were launched at the boat ramp and the number of local boats from the harbor that fished, it was quite incredible!

Salmon Fishing the Soquel Hole

The overwhelming majority of salmon were caught at the Soquel Hole, which is just a 25-30 minute run from the mouth of Santa Cruz harbor.  The salmon were caught in depths of between 230 feet and 290 feet of water, and most of the actual fish were picked up between depths of 80-200 feet.  The most common fishing gear used to catch the salmon for opening day was a trolling rig made up of a salmon dodger or flasher, along with a hoochie which looks like a live squid.  Many of the fishermen reported large amounts of un-digested squid in the stomachs and intestines of the salmon they were filleting at the fish tables after wards.  Another common trolling setup that had success was dragging a dead sardine at slow trolling speeds of 2-4 knots.

In other parts of the California coast, the salmon fishing seemed to also be decent.  Many of the San Francisco Bay fleet headed north to Duxbury Reef for mixed results and the Half Moon Bay fleet also had some mixed results with occasional reports of large salmon taken.

The weather was slightly rough at different times of the day.  The wind would pick up at times in the early morning and then die off again and repeat that cycle.  The seas were  by no means calm, and large rollers up to 7 feet were reported.  Towards the end of the afternoon, the seas appeared much more calm compared to much of the early daytime, which is abnormal for this time of year.

Overall, the opening day of the 2011 Salmon Season was a big success with great fishing and few issues.  Sunday’s fishing should bring back some great stories as well.

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Alaska Halibut Fishing Boats

The first morning of our Alaskan fishing trip, we decided to go out on the salt water and try out halibut fishing.  We were fishing in the Cook Inlet just south of Kenai, Alaska.  We had been told that the halibut fishing was great, and yes, there were tons of pictures of one hundred and two and three hundred pound halibut all over the fishing lodge, but you never really know what you are getting into.

The lodge that we stayed at (Deep Creek Fishing Lodge, owned by Steve Moe and his wife Vivian) has two 28 foot boats that they use on the salt water for halibut. These boats are awesome to say the least.  Below is a picture of the halibut boats so you can get a feel for what I am talking about.  They are perfect for halibut fishing and the potentially nasty Alaskan weather too.

halibut fishing on Cook Inlet

Once we started our journey just a mile away to the launch site, things got really interesting.  I have used many launch ramps before, but nothing quite like the deal they got going in Ninilchik, Alaska.  Basically, you trailer your boat down to the “launch site” and take your boat off your car trailer.  Then the crew down there completely takes over.  What they do is they use a crane that has a trailer hitch on it, and they back your boat up into the water.  Next, you start your engine and pull off the trailer and away you go.
Here is a video of the Ninilchik launch ramp for small boats:

It was wild to see, and amazingly quick and easy.  The same deal when you pull your boat out later in the day.  And the total fee for this service is $55  per day.

Once we got out about 20 miles, we started our day halibut fishing.  The deal was each of us had our own pole.  Our captain Skye and Jeremy did a great job of loading up our hooks with weights and bait all day long.  The halibut bait that we used was cod fish, herring, and octopus.  The fishing line was pretty heavy duty.  The leaders were about 30 feet long and the final portion was some 300lb test line.  So I wasn’t too worried about anything every breaking free on us.  Here is a picture right before we started catching halibut.

We were fishing in about 180 feet of water, and there was about two knots of current.  So we all had some considerable amount of fishing line out.  But, within a few minutes of dropping down our poles, we started noticing that something was beginning to bite on our halibut poles.  My pole was the first to go off, so I began reeling it in.  After a few minutes, and not too much of a fight at all, it was a false alarm, just a couple pound cod.  But we pulled it overboard, and the deckhands began cutting it up and said we could surely use it for bait for the halibut.

It wasn’t too much longer until some of the other fishing poles went off, and this time it was halibut action.  Some of the halibut that we caught were between 20-50 pounds.  No 100 pound halibut today, but we limited out our 2 halibut per person within two hours, and that was pretty good.  The weather was starting to pick up with some relatively heavy winds and some light rain and moderate seas, so we decided to call it a day right after landing the final fish.  And back in we went to put our boat back on the trailer.

Alaskan Halibut Fishing near Homer,AK

A super great day halibut fishing, and I was most excited about being able to bring a ton of fish home and share it with family and friends, and especially my wife who told me to make sure to come home with some halibut or else… Here are some more fishing pictures from the day we caught all the halibut in Alaska.

Deep Creek Fishing Club