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The halibut fishing has been pretty hot. Take a look at the guys filleting their day’s catch below. This group of guys went out on their private boat on Sunday before Memorial Day and caught 4 halibut. This was their first day fishing for halibut of the season, so my guess is that fishing must be pretty good right now if you know where to go for the halibut. They mentioned that they caught the fish just right off the Santa Cruz point, which I think is just south of Santa Cruz harbor less than a few miles.

Some other halibut fishermen from santa cruz harbor said they too had some good luck over the past few weeks fishing for halibut at the Santa Cruz Point. Most of them seem to be using live bait when its possible to get that. Others are using dead anchovies or sardines as bait and then just bouncing that off the bottom until the fish strike. The guys from the halibut video said that all of the fish gave them a pretty good fight, so get prepared for a little workout.

One quick fishing tip, be sure to only gaff the halibut that you are positive are legal fish. If you are bringing up a fish and you are not sure it is of legal size, you are better off netting it, and then measuring it. That way, it will if the fish is undersized, you will have a better chance of releasing it alive compared to if you have gaffed a hole inside of it already.

Good luck with the halibut fishing!

That’s right, its time to get your salmon gear together and make your way down to Santa Cruz or Monterey California to get your 2 daily salmon limit.  The fishing has been the best its been all year for several days now, and its not too far of a crawl to get to the fishing grounds.

Most of the anglers are choosing to fish salmon at the Soquel Hole which is just a 30 minute run for most boats from the Santa Cruz harbor.  If you are planning on coming from Monterey it will be a bit longer run to the fishing grounds.  And of course if you are making the trip by boat from Half Moon Bay harbor, it will be even longer again. The Soquel Hole is known for great salmon fishing because it is a collection pot for all types of bait fish with the massive depth changes it has.

The sea conditions the past few days have been relatively nice and calm compared to several weeks ago.  There has been a really nice calm feel out there early in the morning, and of course the afternoon winds have kicked up every single day so far this week, so get your fishing done early.

As the fish are now being caught closer to the surface, mostly between 30-80 feet of water, more and more people are stopping the trolling and opting to save some gas and energy with their mooching gear.  Of course, you won’t escape the numerous troll fisherman who are have tons of success with rigs like pulling a anchovy around or pretty much any other lure these days.

Most of the fish that are showing up at the docs in Santa Cruz have been in the 8-14 pound range, with 20 pound fish coming in daily as well.  Good luck, and if you are going out for the whole day and don’t catch anything, we’ll, better luck fishing next time.

The Salmon fishing has been luke warm still in the Monterey Bay.  The bets have still been the Soquel Hole off of Santa Cruz with some anglers catching their limits of reasonable sized salmon.

monterey bay

The fishing a bit north in Half Moon Bay has continued to be less attractive to the small skiff fisherman, and many have opted to launch their boats out of Santa Cruz in search of a faster ride to the more productive fishing grounds.  But, this surely doesn’t mean that fishing has been a complete waste out of Half Moon Bay.  There have been a few limits of salmon reported there as well.

The fishing out of Monterey has been reasonable, just under one fish per rod on some of the boats, and of course some limits and some skunked salmon fishermen mixed in too.  Most of the party boats are dropping anchovies and sardines down to relatively low depths of 150 feet or more to find the salmon while on the mooching rigs.   Overall, there seems to be a very high percentage of fisherman trolling hoochies and all sorts of other rigs for the salmon.  One of the common lures last week was a yellow Crocodile lure.

This week coming up should have some decent days for getting out and making another stab at the salmon if you are still in search of your first fish of the season.   There were several reports of boats who kissed their first salmon of the season over the weekend, and if you are still searching, don’t get discouraged.

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Been a long time coming, but the Salmon Season is arriving this weekend on April 3rd, 2010!

Going to be going out on a 17 foot Boston Whaler out of Santa Cruz, California early on Saturday morning in hopes of hooking up with a few of the red meat fish.  It has been a few years for so many people to have the chance to go and do this once again, hopefully the weather will cooperate.

The latest reports from local friends along the Monterey Bay and Half Moon Bay parts of California is that the salmon are out there, so you bet my crew will already have the bait and gas ready when it comes time to go to bed on Friday night.  Our current plan is to head down to water a few miles off Moss Beach and to do some mooching with dead anchovies.  Mooching is fishing with the engine turned off with bait on a hook, and some weight to get the bait down to the desired depth.  This method is my favorite for salmon in the ocean as it allows you to feel the bite and set the hook on your own.  Also, it allows you to catch some sleep if you like with the hope of getting woken up by the sound of a fish pulling line against the drag.  Some people like using sardines for bait, and yet a very select few will use dead squid for bait when hunting for salmon.  I personally have never used the squid, but a few fishing buddies swear by it.

As for the fishing regulations, right now the rules for most of California are 2 salmon per person per day, and the minimum size is 20 inches.  Coho need to be thrown back to get those growing in numbers once again.

My hope is to be able to bring you all kinds of reports of how the action is and how things go down on the fishing side of things, if you have any great news to report on your end, feel free to comment it below.

Good Luck Fishing,

Fishing Feeds

The fishing has been relatively slow lately out of Lake Mead, Nevada
Everybody is waiting for the catfish action to heat up, but it has surely been slow for a few weeks now. There is also much anticipation for the trout to starting coming out of the woodwork especially after the planting has taken place, but as well, this is slow to come right now. It is just going to take some more time before this stuff starts heating up.
Some of the locals are using cut anchovies for bait, or shrimp to catch the bass that have been hiding out down low lately. Some crocodile lures are also turning some decent numbers. There was one bass landed last week by a young kid which weighed in just under 8 pounds!! That was rather impressive.

Q: I remember viewing some posts a while back so I thought it would be appropriate to ask if anyone knew of any shore spots here? I’ve lived in Vegas the past 6 mos. and have yet to check it out. Man I miss fishing SD, but if I can get on some bucketmouths I’ll be happy for a bit. I’m over the cement ponds here that stock 7-10 in. trout. MGM may be filing Ch.11 soon which means I’ll lose my job, but at least I can move back home and fish my familiar “ponds”. Until then, Lake Mead is my only option. Thanks for your help.

A: John they are still planting trout at Mead. www.ndow.org will tell you where and when and give you some current info on fishing for Bass, Catfish and Stripers. In the past I have had good sucess fishing from the shore near Echo Bay & Overton Marinas for Stripers and Catfish. Also Willow Beach from shore isn’t bad for Trout but you really need a boat to go for the big Stripers the area is known for.

I’d say that between the Sugoi Splash topwater popper and the soft plastic Senko, you should be all set for some fun Sep/Oct action in the shallows there at Mead. The two topwater patterns that have served me well there are both shad-related. Early mornings I like to “milk run” the cuts in the Big Gyps and Little Gyps area, throwing either the Splash or a buzzbait, and covering a lot of water. BUT, and here’s the payday, you need to have a follow-up bait ready at ALL times, because those early morning cruisers will often swipe at, and miss, the buzzbait or Splash. If you can get that Senko in to the area immediately (rigged weightless, Tex-posed) it’s almost a guaranteed hook-up.

Through the sun and heat of the day, I often retraced the morning’s steps in cuts that have flooded grass beds – it’s a quick-paced deal, the bass will cruise into those cuts (looking for shad) at various times through the day, and you should, too! But, if you don’t get some activity in 10-20 minutes, move to the next cut. You need to move until you’re at the right place, at the right time. Keep throwing that Splash, with the follow-up at the ready.

When the sun’s up and blazing, the bass will often park in the middle of the heaviest brush in the back of those cuts – like the ones in the T-Bar area, Monkey Box, etc. That’s a great time to rig up with really heavy tackle and pitch that big shad-patterned Senko OVER the brush, onto the bank (not to spook the fish) and then twitch it into the shallow, open water behind the brushline, or right into the midst of the
heaviest cover.

One last tip – if the midday shallow water bite just won’t produce for you, try C-rigging that #177 Senko on long-running points and submerged ridges at 25-40 feet deep – same hold true for Hula Grubs also. And, whatever you do, DO NOT dip 1/2″ of the tail of that #177 Senko in chartreuse dye – you’re likely to GET YOUR ARM BROKE!”

Subject: Salmon Fishing west of HMB

Ahoy there one and all!

Spring is in the air (and howling a gale)!! We were blown off the ocean
on Saturday. The waves were just right to make for a miserable ride so we
turned back after giving it a try! On sunday we fared much better going
20 miles west of the harbor. We had a good size swell but not too much
wind close to shore. As we got further off shore it did increaset but
conditions were very fishable.

We were lucky and did not have much trouble with the sea lions (darn
dragons)! or many problems with alot of shakers. Most everything we
hooked ended up in the fish box and tagged by either Zack or Jeff!
Around 11:30 the wind started to freshen and things got a bit dicier. We
continued to catch fish and by 1 PM we had thirteen limits!!! No really
big fish – our biggest was around 16 lbs.
The ride home had me working hard at the wheel to hold our course as
things were not improving in the weather department!

I just hope that it will lay down by Tuesday for our regulars who are
coming out for there monthly Tuesday trip.

Ahoy there one and all!

This is the best day so far of the season!!! The ocean today was oily slick calm. We left the dock with 12 passengers who were enjoying the anticipation of an early start and heading out of the harbor with the dawn’s early light just starting to emerge over the costal mountains. A day full of promise and it sure did deliver!

We headed southwest from the harbor and one of my regular customers Terry came up to the wheelhouse and said that the new propeller was so smooth was this the same boat???? I had changed the old propeller on Wednsday from a three bladed prop. to a 4 bladed prop with a different configuration and pitch. The change is dramatic to say the least!!! Kind of like driving on snow tires and then switching to a set of regular tires.

After getting about 10- miles off shore and south of the fleet I found a spot of krill and birdlife that looked intriguing.
So upon stopping and getting the gear in the water for everyone we started to work the bait. BANG, FISH ON!! then two hanging! Holy smoke we were catching some nice 10 to 12 pound salmon! With the fleet staying up above us and my thoughts were to head south to get away from the other boats I continued to work down the line, hooking fish here and there – some doubles and triples. Which is the way of things when you are “krill fishing.” This is one of the most exciting times for salmon fishing with multiple hookups and fish acting crazy zipping from one side to the other, jumping, then turning to look at the other rods as all the passengers are watching the fish and hollering HEY YOU GOT ONE ON YOUR ROD TOO!!! Dancing and weaving the lines around each other trying to keep them from tangling. Most of the time we are able to keep them clear but then some fish are just not going to make it to the boat.

Ahoy there one and all!

June has been a tough month for salmon fishing. We have had lots of wind,
big seas, rain, earthquakes, Tsunami warnings and just about everything
else thrown in including a new head for the boat (Don’t ask — you don’t
want to know!). So we have been using the time to get some fresh paint
on the old girl. I’ve never known a lady who does not like some fresh
makeup!

I’ve also been spending some time at the Pacific Fisheries Council
Meetings in Foster City where the rock fishing season was basically
staying the same. We hope this is good news. The season opener is on July
1st. The ling cod go back to the old regulations of 2 fish at 24 inches.
Which, after their (the scientists) statistical glitch we are looking at
some great fishing opportunities for ling cod. Boy! oh boy, I sure can’t
wait for that first fresh dinner of some schoolie blues (my favorite!).

Now on to today’s salmon fishing. We have not been out in almost a week
and a half and the last trip out was with Ken and the “boys”. Today we
traveled down south and found some great fishing off of Pigeon Point in
the deep water!!! After having so much time off and no one really looking
we decided to head down that way to see what the fish gods might offer up
to us. When we stopped and put the gear in the water we almost
immediately had on a 14 lb salmon! Hooray!!! But, we had several people
who thought they would stop these brutes by tightening down on their
drags and the next thing I hear is FISH ON and then snap. I hate that
sound!!! I saw at least 6 to 10 fish popped off due to tight drags. It
sure is tough to lose nice big fish like that. We finally got our act
together and started to box the fish!! There were many Humpback whales
throughout the area and if you know me I like to fish around them as I
think they bring me luck. Which they pretty much did today!

We did fish a bit late today with such beautiful weather it was really
grand to enjoy the ocean and spend some much needed time on the briny
deep! We ended the day with 14 limits for all of the passengers and the
biggest was 19 lbs.

Gosh I think I remember what it is like to once again enjoy being on the
ocean and enjoying the vast expanse of its rich bounty (and with a head
that works)!!!!
Till next time!

April 25, 2006

Ahoy there one and all!

Monday was a true awakening of the season for us aboard the RIPTIDE!! We
had a private family charter on board and they were pretty much locked
into going on Monday, which actually was a very nice weather day. But, I
was so worried about taking them out and having to stay so close to the
beach as everyone knows is not really where the salmon are thought to be
(what an assumption!). Off we went in search of one of the true sportfish
that can be caught on a rod and reel. After hearing about one boat that
had run south the day before (Sunday) I decided to go exploring down that
way. Knowing that the fishing had been slow on the inside and everyone
thinking the same thing I did not have very high expectations. Around 11
AM I was still praying to just get one fish!

For those of you who know me, you know I like to chase whales. I was
figuring that if nothing else I can at least show them some magnificent
creatures! When we found them, they were feeding on anchovies. We were
watching them lung feed through these huge balls of bait. As soon as we
hit one of these first haystacks of bait I heard Deckhand Zack screaming
out “FISH ON SMITTY!!!”

After boating the first one and noticing the current was screaming down
to the south I turned and started to tack back up to the whales. We did
not quite make it as we had a double go off with two rods screaming off
line with a pair of 15 pound salmon!
Losing one and getting the other I thought I better stick with these
Whales! Man was I right!! We had a steady pick from then on with singles
and doubles landing some and losing some. I just feel frustrated when
that happens but what the heck, at least they got to play the fish and
feel the thrill of the salmon fighting! Still fighting the current and
working around all of these great “riptides” on the surface we had an
OUTSTANDING DAY!!!!!!!!!