Santa Cruz Party Boat Fishing Report

SANTA CRUZ

Captain Tom Joseph 408 348-4866

Captain Brad Miller 831 566-9407

April 27, 2012 Headlines Solid Start to Salmon Season!

Todd Arcoleo of Chris’s Landing in Monterey said, ”Things have been very slow the past two days with 2 fish on Wednesday, followed by a single fish on Thursday 4-26.” They ran north to Davenport on Wednesday for the 2 fish but stayed local on Thursday. The low pressure system has these fish on the move and off of the bite. This is just a temporary downturn and the bite should be back on very soon.
They are running full salmon trips over the weekend with their first rockfish trips of the season starting next Tuesday. They are planning in heading south to Point Sur whenever weather and enough interest makes it a possibility.

Santa Cruz Report from Allen Bushnell of the Santa Cruz Sentinel

Monterey Bay salmon fishing continues to be good, overall. A lot depends on being in the right place at the right time, as these fish are on the move and there’s plenty of feed along the coast to keep them happy. Weather and sea conditions could be better, but every day last week was fishable, though this weekend might be windy.

Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine summed up the fishing on Wednesday, saying, “The Salmon bite is still going well for some and slow for others. The best thing about today was the size of the salmon has grown. There were some nice 22-30 pound salmon weighed in today.”

Local charter boat skippers are posting good scores on a daily basis. Captain Jimmy Charters reported limits Sunday and Monday of salmon up to18 pounds. Staganaro’s Sportfishing mooched up limits for 17 anglers on Saturday, and landed 21 on Tuesday. Fish of the week honors go to Frank Jurik from Pleasanton who hauled in a 34-poundking salmon while fishing aboard Stagnaro’s Velocity. “The deckhands said it is one of the larger fish caught in Monterey Bay so far this season. Certainly the largest I have caught here, he was full of fight!”

The Soquel Hole is still producing fish, but a good number were also caught in the Three Trees area mid-week, and a few boats reported success straight out of the Harbor starting in 190 feet of water. Trolling with bait or hoochies behind a flasher is still working best, though the mooch bite seems to be improving, as savvy skippers zero in on the bait balls of krill. On the private boat Four Play, Barry Burt reported limits Saturday, including a 17-pound king caught by Jeff Goyert. “The bite was wide open early and the got quiet until the flood tide late in the morning; it took 'till noon to get our last two fish.”

Salmon fishing was particularly slow on Thursday, according to most reports. Hopes arehigh for a new wave of fish to sweep into the Monterey Bay, however. A big school is currently foraging off Avila Beach near San Luis Obispo, according to Carl Azevedo from Boccie Boy Bait, and those fish will be heading this way soon.

For those who don’t care for salmon, or can’t get out to fish for them, there is additional good news from Todd Fraser. He reports a few halibut caught near the Mile Buoy in 60-70 feet of water, and “some sea bass” came in from the Capitola area.

Bushnell can also be heard on The Let’s Go Fishing Radio Show Thursday nights at 8pm on KSCO radio 1080 AM. Send your photos, comments or questions to scruzfishing@yahoo.com

Monterey
Chris Arcoleo of Chris’s Landing in Monterey said, “The bite was a bite tougher on Tuesday 4-24 as we had to go all the way to Davenport to find them,” adding, “The consecutive days of south wind has cleared the water, and the result is slower action.” The Star of Monterey came back with 34 salmon for 38 anglers with the Checkmate boating 11 for 19 fishermen. On Monday, they averaged over a fish per

Todd Arcoleo of Chris’s Landing in Monterey said, ”Things have been very slow the past two days with 2 fish on Wednesday, followed by a single fish on Thursday 4-26.” They ran north to Davenport on Wednesday for the 2 fish but stayed local on Thursday. The low pressure system has these fish on the move and off of the bite. This is just a temporary downturn and the bite should be back on very soon.
They are running full salmon trips over the weekend with their first rockfish trips of the season starting next Tuesday. They are planning in heading south to Point Sur whenever weather and enough interest makes it a possibility.

Monterey
Chris Arcoleo of Chris’s Landing in Monterey said, “The bite was a bite tougher on Tuesday 4-24 as we had to go all the way to Davenport to find them,” adding, “The consecutive days of south wind has cleared the water, and the result is slower action.” The Star of Monterey came back with 34 salmon for 38 anglers with the Checkmate boating 11 for 19 fishermen. On Monday, they averaged over a fish per rod with the Star putting in 33 salmon for 23 passengers, and the Checkmate scoring 22 for 19 anglers. They are sold out from Friday through Sunday due to high demand in the Monterey Bay area.

Santa Cruz
Tom on the Fish On has been on fire all week. He called in with five early limits on Tuesday with several fish in the 12 to 16 pound class. Tom was trolling in 270 feet of water three miles north of Three trees. He says the salmon are pushing north and conditions look great north of the Bay and the weather has been greasy calm. Tom is running morning trip and offering second trips on those days that they limit out early. Anglers just need to sign up, be available by phone and if they limit early be able to get down to Santa Cruz harbor with a 2 hour window.
Brad Miller with Ultimate Charters reports it's been mostly limits all week including two trips on Saturday where they got 9 limits on two trips. On Tuesday 4-24 he had four for 4 anglers with fish to 20 pounds trolling north of Soquel Hole. Brad is offering double trips on weekend when the fishing is good and he is confident he can get his clients into a successful trip.

rod with the Star putting in 33 salmon for 23 passengers, and the Checkmate scoring 22 for 19 anglers. They are sold out from Friday through Sunday due to high demand in the Monterey Bay area.

Santa Cruz
Tom on the Fish On has been on fire all week. He called in with five early limits on Tuesday with several fish in the 12 to 16 pound class. Tom was trolling in 270 feet of water three miles north of Three trees. He says the salmon are pushing north and conditions look great north of the Bay and the weather has been greasy calm. Tom is running morning trip and offering second trips on those days that they limit out early. Anglers just need to sign up, be available by phone and if they limit early be able to get down to Santa Cruz harbor with a 2 hour window.
Brad Miller with Ultimate Charters reports it's been mostly limits all week including two trips on Saturday where they got 9 limits on two trips. On Tuesday 4-24 he had four for 4 anglers with fish to 20 pounds trolling north of Soquel Hole. Brad is offering double trips on weekend when the fishing is good and he is confident he can get his clients into a successful trip.

Monterey
The salmon season saw one it's best beginnings in years with good action reported off the Soldier's Club, Mulligan Hill and decent action found at Soquel hole on the north end of the bay. Sonny Arcoleo gave a final report with over a fish per rod to near limits on all three boats with the Checkmate putting in 27 salmon for 17 anglers, the Caroline with 16 for 14, and the Star of Monterey with 27 salmon. They were mooching in the area of the Soldier’s Club and reported 100 to 150 boats packed along the edge of the canyon. They are full on Easter Sunday and close to full on Monday.
Dennis Phanner of Sacramento Pro Tackle booked Captain Brad Miller of Ultimate Charters out of Moss Landing for the weekend, and they had a spectacular start to their weekend with 4 limits of salmon by 10:00 a.m. He said, “We slaughtered, crippled, and mutilated them,” adding, “We went the first 45 minutes without a strike but a move to the edge of the canyon paid off and we immediately got hooked up.” Within minutes, they had doubles and triples on, trolling hootchies or metal Silver Horde spoons at depths from 90 to 125 feet on the wire. Phanner added, “Once the sun came out, the fish actually came up higher from 70 to 80 feet with a larger grade.” They ended up with only a couple of shakers released, and their fish ranged from 6 to 14-pounds with two in the 13/14-pound range. Brad has room this week.
Tom on the Fish ON! put his four anglers into limits by 12:PM trolling North of the Soldier's Club in 275 feet of water. They fished for two extra hours for the "captain's table" and managed one more. All of their fish were cookie cutter 6 to 8 pounders but Tom did say that he saw a few bigger fish landed around him. Tom said the e-chip was their best lure today trolled at 40 to 60 feet. The released over 20 shakers in the 12 to 16 inch range and he added that the morning bite was best but once the pressure came on the bite did slow a tad. The weather inside the bay was flat and nearly glassy and it looks great for Easter Sunday. Tom only has a couple of spots open this coming week and lots of space the following week.

This writer will be taking the next few days off to concentrate on family. My wife lost her mom and we are going to be spending the next few days doing the family thing. This is a great time to check out the Hotsheet which is now published by Dave Hurley. We will be posting reports here next Friday.

Tom is following the lead of Brad Miller and is setting up and email list for the upcoming tuna season. When the weather looks cooperative and the fish are within range he will be sending out an email 12 to 48 hours in advance. With trips limited to four anglers the early bird will get the spot on the rail. Tom is a diehard tuna angler and has posted some very impressive counts the past few years. To sign up for Tom's tuna list you can email him at tom@fishonsportfishing.com

Brad with Ultimate Charters is giving anglers the oppertunity to get on board when the conditions and fishing is best. When the tune are biting and the weather is cooperative Brad will be sending an email alert to those you sign up. Once the alert goes out the first people to respond will get the four spots available. He is going to work hard to pick the best weather days and fishing days so those who respond first will be on board. To sign up email Brad at ultimatefishcharters@yahoo.com

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