Capitola and Santa Cruz Boat Rentals

One other little detail - when Kurtis got back he was all breathless cuz he had a mako shark on - somewhere in the 200-250 pound range (it was a good 8 feet long). They saw it finning, and they chased it around until Kurtis hooked it. It was on for 30 seconds before it broke the line (it was only 25 pound test). He’s going to target them tomorrow (which will be his 63rd consecutive fishing day) - hopfully we’ll see a monster mako in here tomorrow afternoon.

Anyway - they caught the thresher on a swim bait off O’Neil’s - same for the halibut. They also lost a nice lingcod and a halibut in the same area - the halibut got off at the boat (doubtless that was the chip’s fault).

Perch fishing on the wharf is still very good - we saw lots of walleyes and shiners and some jacksmelt coming up on various bait jigs and surf leaders with small hooks and little pieces of shrimp. And all this despite the fact that the swell is way down today - usually the perch and such get a little less active when the break goes away but they’re still hungry - good news for wharf fishing.

Bait wise, Ed saw a bunch of pinhead anchovies popping all around the wharf early in the morning. Some of these were caught on bait jigs this morning (they went into hiding later in the day). We’re still waiting for the regular influx of anchovies - it really hasn’t happened yet. When they do, we should see more stripers and halibut around - chovies are tastier (or something). Paradoxically, some boats were having trouble jigging up bait today, but there was a good bait ball off New Brighton - it was a matter of being in the right spot. If the swell continues its downward trend, there should be no problem getting bait.

Anyhow, here’s Myron the Mariner with his catch for the day - a 26 inch halibut and a grass cod. He caught them this morning off Capitola reef using frozen chovies on a halibut rig. We only had four boats out today - Myron the Mariner was not the highliner today as you’re about to see. But he was very happy with his catch - he’s definitely getting the hang of this fishing thing. Congratulations Myron.

This was his first time out fishing on a boat. He caught this fish with Anchovies just past the lighthouse. What a story he has for his first fishing trip. Way to go little man!! As for today,

Jeff and Al brought in there limits in Rockcod, and a Lingcod 25 inches 5 1/2lbs. out at South Rock with

fish traps, whole squid, and live Anchovies around 8:30am this morning.

Also Mark caught a 26inch Lingcod on whole squid over by light house. Good fishing guys!!!

Sorry the pics didn’t make it we had camera problems.

We only had one rental out today - they fished Capitola reef and a few other spots and came in with a few rock fish. It is difficult to extrapolate from that, so I will not try

The forecast continues to show a very small intermittent SW component to the wind in the outside forecast, but that’s supposed to be gone by Saturday. The reality of it is this: the swell appears to be subsiding substantially, and the gloominess seems to be leaving us. All nice trends if they continue.

Remember tomorrow is the last day for boat bucks this week - if you wanna play hookie and get some fish tomorrow’s the day!

It was a good day for perch and kingfish off wharf today - pretty much anyone who was fishing the wharf was catching stuff.

Despite all that however Jenna, Pete, Dan, and Steve fished South Rock today as the swell there wasn’t as bad, and they managed to wrangle up a very nice variety of quality rock fish and lings. They started the day by jigging up sardines down by Rio del Mar then headed up to slightly calmer waters. Very nice catch!

In Capitola we only had three boats out today. One got two rock cod and one got (and kept) a whole lot of bait - jacksmelt, sardines, and mackerel.

And here’s the part where we will say absolutely nothing remotely resembling a prediction of when these seas well calm down. They’ll do what they’re gonna do. We’re not here. Pay no attention!

Elsewhere on the wharf the swell was up big time today, and while that made getting perch to bite a bit easier, it also kicked up a lot of kelp that was pretty easy to get tangled up in. So it was kind of a tossup. You’re doing ok if you could get your fish up past the various hazards.