News Flash: the “tuna water” has moved onshore near Sana Cruz over the past couple days and on Thursday, boats running out of Santa Cruz harbor only 15-17 miles found nice conditions and scores of 20-30+ fish.
There is a nice weather window Friday and Saturday and then the weather is forecasted to kick back up…
For an in-depth look at all that’s happening out of this port, check out out SC Fishing Report
79-lb. White Sea Bass is a pending California State Record!
Wow!
Barbecue at Justin Barry’s house! While fishing Monterey Bay with Kevin Seeger last week, Barry hoked and landed this 79-pound, 4-ounce white sea bass near Pajaro, which should be the next California State Record for the species.
Barry’s catch was weighed on a certified scale and bested the current mark, a 78 pounder caught by David Sternberg in Monterey in 2002.The paperwork is already in to the Department of Fish and Game and Barry should be in the record books soon!
Santa Cruz anglers get salmon on opener
Anglers fishing the salmon opener along the California coast were generally met with some tough conditions — wind and a big swell — and a scratch bite. However, there were some fish caught out of Bodega and San Francisco…but the best bite was down south in Santa Cruz (just like I predicted).
The fish were all pretty deep (100+ feet down) and were typical early season 6 to 12 pounders, though a few kings to 25 pounds were taken. For the breakdown in Santa Cruz, check out Bayside Marine.
Beach Popper Tips??
Hi JD, I am new your site and wanted to ask you about the surf fishing for striped bass in or around Santa Cruz/ New Brighton Beach. I noticed on your site you said to uses poppers in the morning and swim baits later in the day. If you think the surf fishing is still good at these locations, can you expand on what the poppers are and how to use them for this area.
–Jim T.
Jim,
I’ll do a complete post on popper fishing later this fall on the site, but for now I’ll run the Cliff’s Notes by ya….
You’ll need a 9+ foot rod (spinning or casting) with 30-pound braided line on it. Grab some poppers like Cordell Pencil Poppers and head for the surf. Cast to holes between the breaks.
With your rod tip held high (to keep the line off the water) twitch the tip with your rod hand and reel with your other. You want the popper to pop and spit. When a fish blows up on it, let him take it down…wait until you feel the whole weight of the fish before you set the hook.
Good luck!