SANTA CRUZ SALMON LIMITS ON TAP – Paris from San Jose with her limit of salmon to 27 pounds landed aboard the Miss Beth out of Santa Cruz.
Capitola Boat and Bait reported on Friday, saying, “The water conditions have been beautiful in the mornings with slight wind picking up in the afternoons.” We’ve seen a steady stream of halibut picked up around Capitola both New Brighton side of the big kelp beds as well as to the west towards Pleasure Point. Halibut are on the inside all the way to shallow water near the beach. Calm protected areas with clean water are perfect for surfcasting flatties at low tide using a Kastmaster, stickbait, or smaller white swimbaits. You might have to weed through multiple short halibut before hooking a keeper, but it’s all fun action. Treat the shorts gently and release quickly to keep the mortality rate down. Halibut that have been hooked can develop infections when their body is scraped against sand or rocks. Using a fine mesh rubber net will avoid splitting the halibut tails, another common source of infections for released halibut.”
Don’t overlook the very valid halibut fishery from the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf. Santa Cruz Boat Rental reported some good flatty fishing on Thursday saying, “Bait is back at the wharf! The halibut are as well, we witnessed seven keepers landed on the wharf. The largest one was 36 inches!” Anglers there are using swimbaits or jigging up live anchovies used to hook the wharf halibut.
