Santa Cruz Fishing Report

Report Updated Aug. Dec. 13, 2012

WINTER MIXED BAG

Terry Williams-Tuesday’s white sea bass: 43 pounds in 56 feet of water near Adam’s Reef, Capitola.

According to our pal Allen Bushnell (co-host of The Let’s Go Fishing Radio Show, Thursdays 8-9pm on KSCO 1080, you had better get it while the getting is good! We have only until the end of this month for rockfish/lingcod season, so it behooves us to make the best of any pleasant days we might enjoy between now and then. Weather and ocean conditions seem to be the only hindering factor for local fishing. The bite is still “ON,” and for a wide variety of species.

The dedicated angler can muster up limits of rockfish and lingcod from our local reefs. Fishing deeper is the ticket, from 70-140 feet of water. As usual the fish are bigger and more numerous the further one travels up the coast with Ano Nuevo and Franklin Point especially productive, according to Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine. Fraser also notes some highliner opportunities closer to Santa Cruz. “Anglers are catching all the market squid they want in 70-130 feet of water near Three-Mile and Four-Mile Beach. There are some nice Humboldt squid in the mix as well. Some sea bass still being caught in the balls of squid near Four-Mile. The sea bass are being caught four cranks off the bottom. There have been a few halibut caught while looking for rockfish and sea bass.”

Six-pack skippers Gerry Brookes and Jim Rubin are getting spoiled this year. Both have enjoyed limit-style fishing for the entire season-first with salmon, then with rockfish, and now with the Dungeness crab and rockfish combo trips. Brookes fished just north of town on Sunday. “Another perfect day on the bay. Put in early limits of Dungeness crab, then limits of rockfish. Nice blues, blacks, olives, white bellies and Brownies. Plus one nice Ling.” Rubin earned the envy of his “S” Dock brethren by taking two weeks in Maui. He’s back in town now- tanned, fit, rested and he has already re-set his crab pots for the weekend’s combo trips.

Ed Burrell checked in with good reports from the Capitola area. He’s noticed an increase in anchovies close in by the Capitola Wharf this week, and the bait is bringing in some bigger fish. Burrell hooked into a decent thresher shark on Monday, and both Monday and Tuesday saw white sea bass in the 40-pound range caught in that locale.

Special thanks to the grassroots group “The Clean Team!!!” for their successful efforts in cleaning up local beaches and shore areas. This weekend the group effort will focus on the San Lorenzo River banks, from Paradise Park to the Water Street Bridge. Please try to lend your support by showing up with boots, gloves and hand tools if possible. Details are available on the Clean Team Facebook page.

Bushnell can also be heard with the Friday Morning Fish Report on KSCO radio 1080 AM.

Are you a professional guide or charter skipper? We’re looking for a couple quality individuals to partner up with. Send us a email if you’d like to be considered for the program.

DFG Fishing Regulations

Local Radio Report

Let’s Go Fishing Radio Show
Capt. Mike Baxter is a local legend in these parts (our words, not his) and he and trusty co-host Allen Bushnell break down all the local bites for ya…as well as plenty of inland stuff from steelies to kokanee…every Thursday from 7-8 PM on AM 1080. Check it out…these guys are dialed in!

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About Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz is best known for its surf, but it’s also got a lot of cool saltwater fishing opportunities — from albacore and the occasional bluefin tuna on the outside to salmon and rockfish (when in season) to inshore stuff like halibut and white seabass. And let’s not forget the surf fishing…you can catch summer stripers off the sand, along with year-round surf perch and even the occasional halibut.
Light Tackle Surf Perch Fishing
Shallow Water Rockfishing