Soquel Hole Salmon Fishing is Hot

That’s right, its time to get your salmon gear together and make your way down to Santa Cruz or Monterey California to get your 2 daily salmon limit.  The fishing has been the best its been all year for several days now, and its not too far of a crawl to get to the fishing grounds.

Most of the anglers are choosing to fish salmon at the Soquel Hole which is just a 30 minute run for most boats from the Santa Cruz harbor.  If you are planning on coming from Monterey it will be a bit longer run to the fishing grounds.  And of course if you are making the trip by boat from Half Moon Bay harbor, it will be even longer again. The Soquel Hole is known for great salmon fishing because it is a collection pot for all types of bait fish with the massive depth changes it has.

The sea conditions the past few days have been relatively nice and calm compared to several weeks ago.  There has been a really nice calm feel out there early in the morning, and of course the afternoon winds have kicked up every single day so far this week, so get your fishing done early.

As the fish are now being caught closer to the surface, mostly between 30-80 feet of water, more and more people are stopping the trolling and opting to save some gas and energy with their mooching gear.  Of course, you won’t escape the numerous troll fisherman who are have tons of success with rigs like pulling a anchovy around or pretty much any other lure these days.

Most of the fish that are showing up at the docs in Santa Cruz have been in the 8-14 pound range, with 20 pound fish coming in daily as well.  Good luck, and if you are going out for the whole day and don’t catch anything, we’ll, better luck fishing next time.

Salmon Season Opening

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Been a long time coming, but the Salmon Season is arriving this weekend on April 3rd, 2010!

Going to be going out on a 17 foot Boston Whaler out of Santa Cruz, California early on Saturday morning in hopes of hooking up with a few of the red meat fish.  It has been a few years for so many people to have the chance to go and do this once again, hopefully the weather will cooperate.

The latest reports from local friends along the Monterey Bay and Half Moon Bay parts of California is that the salmon are out there, so you bet my crew will already have the bait and gas ready when it comes time to go to bed on Friday night.  Our current plan is to head down to water a few miles off Moss Beach and to do some mooching with dead anchovies.  Mooching is fishing with the engine turned off with bait on a hook, and some weight to get the bait down to the desired depth.  This method is my favorite for salmon in the ocean as it allows you to feel the bite and set the hook on your own.  Also, it allows you to catch some sleep if you like with the hope of getting woken up by the sound of a fish pulling line against the drag.  Some people like using sardines for bait, and yet a very select few will use dead squid for bait when hunting for salmon.  I personally have never used the squid, but a few fishing buddies swear by it.

As for the fishing regulations, right now the rules for most of California are 2 salmon per person per day, and the minimum size is 20 inches.  Coho need to be thrown back to get those growing in numbers once again.

My hope is to be able to bring you all kinds of reports of how the action is and how things go down on the fishing side of things, if you have any great news to report on your end, feel free to comment it below.

Good Luck Fishing,

Fishing Feeds

Lake Mead, Nevada Fishing Report

The fishing has been relatively slow lately out of Lake Mead, Nevada
Everybody is waiting for the catfish action to heat up, but it has surely been slow for a few weeks now. There is also much anticipation for the trout to starting coming out of the woodwork especially after the planting has taken place, but as well, this is slow to come right now. It is just going to take some more time before this stuff starts heating up.
Some of the locals are using cut anchovies for bait, or shrimp to catch the bass that have been hiding out down low lately. Some crocodile lures are also turning some decent numbers. There was one bass landed last week by a young kid which weighed in just under 8 pounds!! That was rather impressive.

Q: I remember viewing some posts a while back so I thought it would be appropriate to ask if anyone knew of any shore spots here? I’ve lived in Vegas the past 6 mos. and have yet to check it out. Man I miss fishing SD, but if I can get on some bucketmouths I’ll be happy for a bit. I’m over the cement ponds here that stock 7-10 in. trout. MGM may be filing Ch.11 soon which means I’ll lose my job, but at least I can move back home and fish my familiar “ponds”. Until then, Lake Mead is my only option. Thanks for your help.

A: John they are still planting trout at Mead. www.ndow.org will tell you where and when and give you some current info on fishing for Bass, Catfish and Stripers. In the past I have had good sucess fishing from the shore near Echo Bay & Overton Marinas for Stripers and Catfish. Also Willow Beach from shore isn’t bad for Trout but you really need a boat to go for the big Stripers the area is known for.

I’d say that between the Sugoi Splash topwater popper and the soft plastic Senko, you should be all set for some fun Sep/Oct action in the shallows there at Mead. The two topwater patterns that have served me well there are both shad-related. Early mornings I like to “milk run” the cuts in the Big Gyps and Little Gyps area, throwing either the Splash or a buzzbait, and covering a lot of water. BUT, and here’s the payday, you need to have a follow-up bait ready at ALL times, because those early morning cruisers will often swipe at, and miss, the buzzbait or Splash. If you can get that Senko in to the area immediately (rigged weightless, Tex-posed) it’s almost a guaranteed hook-up.

Through the sun and heat of the day, I often retraced the morning’s steps in cuts that have flooded grass beds – it’s a quick-paced deal, the bass will cruise into those cuts (looking for shad) at various times through the day, and you should, too! But, if you don’t get some activity in 10-20 minutes, move to the next cut. You need to move until you’re at the right place, at the right time. Keep throwing that Splash, with the follow-up at the ready.

When the sun’s up and blazing, the bass will often park in the middle of the heaviest brush in the back of those cuts – like the ones in the T-Bar area, Monkey Box, etc. That’s a great time to rig up with really heavy tackle and pitch that big shad-patterned Senko OVER the brush, onto the bank (not to spook the fish) and then twitch it into the shallow, open water behind the brushline, or right into the midst of the
heaviest cover.

One last tip – if the midday shallow water bite just won’t produce for you, try C-rigging that #177 Senko on long-running points and submerged ridges at 25-40 feet deep – same hold true for Hula Grubs also. And, whatever you do, DO NOT dip 1/2″ of the tail of that #177 Senko in chartreuse dye – you’re likely to GET YOUR ARM BROKE!”

Tuna Fishing in San Diego

What is the best way to catch tuna in San Diego?

There is all kinds of options so you better get your rod and reel ready.  You can use lures, bait, mooch, troll, spinners, jigs, you can even spear fish for them if you are really quick.

  • Bait- This is the method that the majority of the fish are taken with.  Many of the long long range fishing boats load up on this stuff, or catch more of it when they are out to sea.  Live bait is usually a big bonus, and time and time again produces the best numbers.  If you have a live bait well in your boat, definitely stock it up with some sardines or small mackrel, and the tuna will thank you for that.
  • Lures- For the people who want to cover a large distance during the day of fishing, lures provide great value, although they will hit your gas tank when trolled at high speeds compared to sitting still and mooching.  But there is a time and a place for everything.  Lures allow you to troll around and cover more ground if you are not certain where the tuna schools are located.  Also, this will allow you to test out different colors throughout the day until you setttle on one lure that works well, or several that work well.  There is nothing more exciting than trolling lures behind a boat and connecting with 3 or 4 tuna at one time.  its VERY possible too, so be on guard
  • Jigs and other Casting Lures- these work well when you located a school of tuna.  Tuna can be a bit picky on the jig that is thrown to them when they are jumping and nailing live bait, but they are very aggressive none the less.  There have been many people who have had the most success with jigs being cast into schools of tuna.  This can lead to less time spent re-baiting live bait which has the ability to either come off the line, or being stolen by a tuna fish.

IF YOU HAVE LIVE BAIT:

Once you make your way to a school of tuna, this is a critical time.  You want to make sure the fish don’t go too far without having given yourself the chance to catch at least a few of them.  So make it easy on yourself. Show up with some livebait.  This way, you can try to keep the fish near your boat by throwing over some sardines for example every few minutes.  Yeah of course you will be giving away some of your precious bait that has no hope of catching you a fish, but this will keep the fish near you.  And in the long run, this will allow you to catch more fish from either bait on hooks, jigs, or any other way you plan on catching the tuna.

All too often people show up to a school of tuna where the fish are jumping like crazy, but they scratch their heads when the fish take off, and are off and lost for good.  This has a great chance of being avoided if you just keep throwing over a few fish or bait in the water next to your boat at 3 or 5 minute intervals.