Salmon season ended last Sunday, and it went out with an interesting twist. Meanwhile, local anglers hunting the elusive ghost fish enjoyed plenty of big game fishing, and the nearshore catch remains steady.

The White Seabass Story
Incredibly, the notoriously fickle white sea bass bite went ballistic this week. For the past few months these fish have popped up and then disappeared constantly. The top spot usually is Monterey, in the bight from Seaside to Lover's Point. Occasionally, a school would materialize near Pajaro, and just as quickly disappear.

Tables were turned this week. The squid spawning near Pajaro attracted a big school of sea bass, and depending on the particular day, limits of the 40-50-pound croakers were commonplace. Ed Burrell from Capitola Boat and Bait took both his days off in that area. "Monday was a bust, I fished all day, for nothing. But on Tuesday, I got done early. I was going home by noon with a limit- 22, 37, and 48-pound white sea bass." Burrell weighed in a number of bass at the Capitola Wharf caught by others, including a 57-pounder by Larry Roland.

Burrell also took a report of an angler catching a sea bass while casting from the shore at Pleasure Point. Todd Fraser has bee weighing the big croakers all week at Bayside Marine, and confirms the report of white sea bass from the shore at Pleasure's, and adds there are "good signs" of sea bass near Capitola and Aptos but "no one is fishing for them there."

The best bait is live squid or fresh dead squid. Frozen squid has been working, however. Anglers are "flylining" their bait- letting out line with no weight attached, or using a small egg sinker to get down 15-20 feet for the bass. If you can find the squid schools on your sonar, you will find the sea bass. If squid are scarce, look for birds working, including gulls, murres, and shearwaters, which have been great indicators for the sea bass near Pajaro.

The Salmon Story
Sunday marked the last day of salmon season for our area. In retrospect, I'd have to say we had a very good season overall. Starting out slow, with trollers working the deep canyon edges, and with more undersized fish than keepers, this season matured into a steady pick of legal to medium-sized king salmon. Towards the end of the season, increasing numbers of kings were caught closer to shore. The shakers of spring grew out to keeper size and salmon fishing was very productive right up to the end.

At the tail end of the season, the bite moved to just offshore. Small but legal sized fish were about a mile out, just past the Mile Buoy, on a line from Lighthouse Point to Capitola. These were the fish released from net pens in the Santa Cruz Harbor a couple years ago, and returning to their perceived spawning grounds. A good number of salmon moved into the Harbor itself, providing some action for shore casters and bobber anglers. Anglers using anchovies, or casting Little Cleos, KastMsters, or small Krokodiles caught a good number of kings, even a few limits. While these salmon may remain in the Harbor for the next few weeks, be aware, it is no longer legal to fish for them.