The 2nd Week of April, 2010:
Well, the salmon fishing has been decent for most people fishing near and around the Soquel Hole. But, weather has started to take the fish counts down. As the weekend went on, there wind and the waves and the rain made fishing conditions not worth it for many of the anglers, and the launch ramp at Santa Cruz harbor became a ghost town. A big difference from opening weekend a week ago.
The overwhelming majority of salmon being caught from private fisherman is happening with trolling gear. Most of these fish are being hooked at depths ranging from 120-200 feet down. There was even a report of a kid fishing for halibut near the Soquel Hole bouncing a anchovy off the bottom who landed a keeper salmon (not confirmed though)
It’s too difficult to say what is working best, there is the usual mix of hoochie and dodgers/flashers and dead bait being dragged off the downriggers for the trollers. And the few fisherman who are mooching are doing the typical sardine/anchovy rig with anywhere from 2-8 ounces of weight depending on the conditions. If you asked me, mooching with anything over 6 ounces is not too much fun, especially if you are down deep.
So here’s the deal, we are all going to hope for some good weather these next few days off of the coast of California, and if that works out, there just might be some reports of some 30 plus lb. salmon next week. If anyone has any reliable mile buoy reports for salmon fishing from either Monterey or Santa Cruz of even Half Moon Bay, please submit them via comments below. There are quite a few smaller craft fisherman who are dying to know if they can just creep out of the channel and have some decent luck at catching their first salmon of the season.