From Sportfishing
Fish Report for 8-6-2009
Santa Cruz Sentinel Fish Report
8-6-2009
Allen Bushnell
Another pesky mixed swell might make fishing difficult for the inshore
anglers this weekend. Offshore albacore hunters are looking at the
weather forecast with mixed emotions of hope and dismay.
Last week's tropical depressions and resultant south swell had the
expected result of pushing warm water currents offshore closer to
Santa Cruz. This is good news for the tuna anglers who had been
traveling over 60 miles to reach the albacore grounds. According to
Corey Ragan at Bayside Marine, 20-25 boats launched from Santa Cruz on
Wednesday to fish for tuna. Ragan says the boats were scattered from
the Big Sur area to the 601 buoy area, and everyone caught tuna.
"Most scores were in the teens or 20's," Ragan said. "We fished the
Sur Canyon area and got eight for the boat; five on the troll, and
three with live bait. It was a gorgeous day, you couldn't ask for
much more, with a minimal swell and light winds. We found the
beautiful blue water and measured temperatures from 66-70 degrees."
Ragan added that the offshore conditions are truly tropical. At least
three yellowtail were caught from the tuna grounds Wednesday, and one
boat sighted a swordfish. The weekend forecast is for 15-25 knot
winds over a three to six-foot mixed swell, which is potentially too
rough for safe fishing. Tuna hunters are hoping the forecast will be
downgraded before the weekend.
The good news is if we must remain inshore, fishing is still very good
in our local waters. Ed Burrell at Capitola Boat and Bait weighed in
a good number of striped bass caught from the Cement Ship area, as
well as a steady influx of halibut ranging from six to 20 pounds.
Burrell also reports pier anglers are having a blast catching dozens
of jumbo sardines from the wharf (very good cooked whole on the BBQ).
Bayside Marine weighed in a number of halibut this week, with a few
approaching or exceeding the 30-pound mark. Gerry Brookes from Reel
Sportfishing took a charter out on the Doble Wednesday and returned
with four nice halibut to 25 pounds and a couple bonus lings.
Rockfish and lingcod are on the bite if you can find the right spot on
the right day. We are seeing an increase in lingcod numbers as their
spawning season approaches. Sarah Graham from Stagnaro's Sportfishing
reports that fishing was pretty good on our local reefs last Tuesday.
Ken Stagnaro took a group out on the Velocity to fish the local reefs
near town. They returned with full bag limits of mixed rockfish,
mostly browns, reds and yellowtails.
Bushnell can also be heard on The Let\'s Go Fishing Radio Show,
Thursdays at 7 p.m. on KSCO radio on 1080 AM. Send your photos,
comments or questions to scruzfishing@yahoo.com
< Previous Report Next Report >
Website Hosting and Design provided by TECK.net