There is a wide variety of sportfish to be caught in and near Monterey Bay these days. Despite two winter-like storms rolling through recently and the big groundswells that came with the weather, the fish are sticking around and providing food, fun and frolic for area anglers. Inshore fishing has remained very consistent, especially considering the time of year.
Rockfish, cabezon and lingcod can still be found on the shallower reefs of 30 to 60 feet, though the herd is thinning. For those groundfish, deeper reefs from 120-300 feet are much more productive these days, hosting more abundant and larger fish. Halibut commonly move to deeper waters this time of year. Perhaps it’s the abundant bait on the inside, but big flatties continue to be caught from fairly shallow sandflats of 50-70 feet of water inside the bay and by the pocket beaches north of Santa Cruz.
Bait is abundant both inshore and offshore at this time. On the inside, mackerel and smelt can be found almost anywhere, with particular concentrations near Capitola and Aptos Beaches on the north side of the bay, and near Sand City or Point Pinos on the south side. In Aptos, the bait balls have attracted a good school of tanker white sea bass. Ed Burrell from Capitola Boat and Bait caught another sea bass this week that weighed in at 42 pounds. Burrell has been hooking the big croakers using Lazer Minnows and Mega Baits for both trolling and jigging.
Offshore the bait is mostly anchovies. There are plenty of big baitballs, enough to keep this unprecedented bluefin tuna bite going well into its second month. The bluefin are big, averaging from 40 to 150 pounds, with some coming in over the 200-pound mark. While some bluefin are still reported in the Point Sur area, most recorded catches lately have come from the Davenport Finger canyons. Slow-trolling live mackerel is the best bet for hooking one of these monsters. Anglers are getting strikes from the surface down to around 150 feet using downriggers. Deploying the bait at least 150 feet behind the boat seems to be a requirement for getting bit.
This fishing is not easy. It requires long days and lots of fuel. More boats come back with a blank than come back with a bluefin. Proper equipment, deployment and teamwork are a necessity to land one of these giant tuna if and when you are lucky enough to get a bite.
Tom Joseph on Fish On Sportfishing’s Sara Bella is a very experienced tuna skipper and has had the fortune to land quite a few bluefin so far this season. This week Joseph reported, “One of my regulars Nathan Tramel boated a 147-pound bluefin today, his second one this year!”
Tramel added, “Many thanks to Tom for providing me the opportunity to catch such a big fish. We both have learned how to communicate once a few were hooked. Catching big bluefin tuna is both a mental and physical challenge.”
Well said, and well done Tom and Nathan!
Allen Bushnell also operates Santa Cruz Kayak Fishing and Surfcasting Guide Service. Please send any reports, pictures or questions to scruzfishing@yahoo.com
"fish" - Google News
November 26, 2021 at 03:15AM
https://ift.tt/3CTRXLH
Variety of sportfish providing food, fun and frolic for area anglers | Fish Rap - Santa Cruz Sentinel
"fish" - Google News
https://ift.tt/35JkYuc
https://ift.tt/3feFffJ
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Variety of sportfish providing food, fun and frolic for area anglers | Fish Rap - Santa Cruz Sentinel"
Post a Comment