Capitola and Santa Cruz Boat Rentals

All told we had two rentals and two private boats (including Ed’s) out today on the ocean. And with the exception of John’s halibut, the fish are allll gone.

Ed in particular is getting pretty sick and tiredof the skunk monkey that’s been riding his back most of the summer - he’s named it and everything. We need to get the SPCA on that or something. Anyway, Ed drove around and around in and out up and down, he saw lots of sea lions and lots of scattered small frightened bait balls consiting of sardines. Twenty Four miles actually. He has a very nice tan.

On the wharf today, someone lost one of those lonely halibut like the one from yesterday, and we continue to see sardines fleeing the water in droves (one or two at a time on a sabiki).

Weather however, is beautiful. The south swell only lasted a day or so - it’s back to pretty flat now, and it’s pleasantly warm and breezy.

Ed is going to venture out of rental bounds (and seiner territory) tomorrow to see what else is out there. We all wish him luck.

As predicted, sardines did come around the wharf today. They were not as plentiful as they were last week, but people were still catching them - mostly one or two at a time. Most fish were coming from the end of the wharf to the gate (which they continue to do at this moment).

On the ocean, Darn Glenn lit it up with 4 rock cod - 2 blacks and 2 browns. He was targeting halibut but having a hard time of it. Several boats hooked up on bat rays - Ed saw one of those taken.

Again though the real bright spot was the seiner catch. They’ve consistently (and increasingly) outshown local sport and commercial catches in a truly spectacular way since they resumed fishing around here.

A couple rock cod. That is it. They were caught off rentals fishing Sponge Bob. That, and the bait stayed clear of the wharf most of the day yesterday - it was hovering just outside the marina. Had it not been for the fact that just being near the ocean was so unbelievably nice given the heat, it would have been a pretty disappointing day. But - it was nice.

And, it’s not all bad news. The seiners have been doing ***GREAT***!! Sheriff Larry and others have reported witnessing what can only be described as UNBELIEABLY HUGE BOUNTIES OF FISH coming up in their nets. As in - nets the size of our marina. Loaded with fish. Congrtulations seiners!!

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And now on to today.

Here’s Eric with a very nice surprise to kick off the day - a 14.5 pound striper. He caught this beauty on a bait jig while trying to jig up bait (it got fouled)! He was fishing off the end of the wharf kinda behind the restaurant.

Bait is back into the middle of the marina and Ed’s thinking it’s likely to approach the wharf more solidly than it did yesterday. That’s based on the fact that the swell has come down considerably from yesterday.

Other than that, only one other party came in with fish, and that would be Darn Glenn. Darn Glenn fished Capitola Reef and one other super secret spot and ended up with a mess of browns and this black. But then that’s Darn Glenn - he could coax fish out of a glass of water.

Which is the sort of talent you’d be needing around here these days, as it continues to be the case that they’re allllll gone. Cept for these stragglers we’ve been talking about. And the bait. Which continues to cower in the shadow of the wharf while the seiners anxiously await the day when they make protein rich soylent green of our watery wonderland.

Needless to say, bait off the wharf is still plentiful, as is the bait in and around the marina. Mostly sardines, ranging from 4-12 inches - there are a few 6-12 inch mackerel mixed in as well.

If you zoom in on this one, you’ll see that there are lots of folks reeling in sardines at the very moment this picture was snapped. Coincidence?? Nooo - there are still a lot of sardines around the wharf. They are hiding from the seiners. Relative to the seiners, the sea lions and pelicans and cormorants and dolphins and people fishing on boats and on the wharf and all the other critters up and down the water column are no match at all.

There was *lots* of wildlive action on the area of the marina today dolphins galore and many of them were getting air jumping out of the water. It was really something to behold.

The only other site was an ominous one - the hovering seiner boats have now officially graduated to “lurking”. We would like to imagine that the fact that they can’t set their nets in the marina gives OUR sardines some protection, but these guys have pretty big nets and lots and lots of time. So we’re just left with hoping they leave something for us.