Capitola and Santa Cruz Boat Rentals

So you have noticed, no doubt, the blatant lack of boat caught fish pictures today thus far. We would like very very much to blame it on the swell, and we’d like to blame it on the fact that we had a “no time for pictures” traffic jam at the end of the day (which we did), but the truth is that not a lot of big stuff came in today.

Most rental boats caught one or two rock cod. We saw one boat that caught eight small mixed rockfish - grass, black and yellow, and a copper, and some rock crab all off Capitola reef. Even Darn Glenn had a tough day - he had eight rock cod, one real good sized one, the rest medium sized. One private boat brought in a barely legal halibut that he caught off the Capitola reef using a live sardine. He also released an undersized one. And finally, we heard of some more stripers caught and released off New Brighton later in the morning. But overall not a stellar day. It’s the swell plus the cooler water that moved in with it. This too shall pass.

There are still lots of birds working bait outside the marina, and the swell is starting to lay down. Ed’s weekend starts tomorrow - he plans to go ghost hunting.

He caught this 7.5 pounder in the middle of the wharf using a shiner on a bobber. A bigger one was lost earlier today a little closer to the surf. It tried to make a run underneath the wharf - the guy who was working it tried to stop the run, but it ended up breaking off. Darn.

Other than that, there were lots of perch and not so many mackerel. Fishing was more difficult off the wharf with all the loose kelp and swell, but the fish themselves are doing fine.

We have really good bait signs right now - there are tons of shearwaters hanging around outside the marina, and bait was popping out of the water most of the day.

If you are going fishing tomorrow, please plan on getting here very early in the morning as the Wharf to Wharf race will be coming in between 8:30 and 9:00am and will probably take an hour or two once runners start coming in. They’ll have streets and parking blocked off at some point, so really (and hang on to your hats here) 4:00am is a good time. To add to that, we probably won’t start launching boats til 6:00am - so plan on jigging for bait or perch on the wharf while you wait.

Most boats didn’t have much today - the highliner had two ice chests of jacksmelt. No ling, no halibut - just a few rock cod. It’s pretty easy to lay the blame here: swell. LOOOTS of swell. Swells were breaking in around the 4 foot range most of the day and continue to do so right now, coming in sets. The period right now is more frequent than it was earlier today too, so near shore is notsogood at the moment.

However, if you were torn between the amusement park and fishing, you kinda got a bit of both today if you chose fishing - win WIN!!

Larry said small schoolies were knocking bait off the hook and then the ranger came down and shut them down - hence the small Sheriff Larry fish (Larry does not catch small fish).

The Monkster brought in a legal halibut that he caught using a live sardine off the mile reef. It was really just legal, and he didn’t feel like giving it too much credit with a photo. But - dinner is dinner (yum yum).

On the wharf today, there were still lots of kids having lots of fun catching baitfish all over the place today. They were catching perch, walleyes, shiners, mackerel, and the occasional sardine. Really very active wharf fishing despite the ground swell that’s been moving in.

Bait wise, sardines are still plentiful out in the middle of the marina, and some pinhead anchovies can be be had (if you want them) in the shallows. It’s the middle of summer - really the heart of the fishing season now, so pretty much there’s going to be something being caught somewhere all the time.

Josh found a couple that Brandon did not yet haul into his magic kayak. He actually caught four - he released the first two. Same thing - New Brighton, live sardines. How, you wonder? Imagine if you will that Josh can cast REALLY far. That is one scenario where Josh could have caught these beauties.

Kurtis can also cast real far. He caught one, same area, same bait, a bit smaller than Josh’s biggest one, but larger than the smaller one. He also saw a 12 foot great white shark while he was fishing around there - it might have been the one that has been around here for a while that they call Matilda. He didn’t get close enough to ask though.

Obviously, the story has been: Striped Bass. A lot of striped bass.

Anyway, here’s Dan with a nice striper he caught yesterday using a live sardine, a plastic slider, a 2 oz weight, a 3 foot lead, and a 3/0 hook about midrange on the wharf - just a bit closer to the beach. You’ll note that this catch begins a theme which will continue…