Santa Cruz, CA

[Erawk]

Hi friends,

I'm going to be in Santa Cruz for 5 days this month and i want to do some fishing while I'm there. I'm planning to take a charter for at least one trip and spending some time pier fishing as well.

I'm leaning toward a rock/ling cod trip even though salmon season is about to open. I've never caught salmon before but it seems like the cod trip would produce more fish.
Does anyone have any experiences with any Charters based in Monterrey Bay?
Has anyone done the afternoon "twilight" trips? Is the fishing any good in the afternoon/evening? I have a feeling I'm better off getting up for the morning trip.

Does anyone have any experience and/or advice for Pier fishing - or particularly off the Santa Cruz Wharf pier. I've only pier fished once in Ventura and didn't catch a thing. I'm figuring on bottom fishing chovies and squid.

Thanks in advance for any input [fishon]
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[TheWhizzle]

I've done most of my salt outings in the south, but it's hard to beat lingcod fishing.
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[Erawk]

I've fished the Channel Islands out of Ventura/Oxnard a couple years ago. It was quite a bit of fun. The ling I caught was the biggest fish I've ever had. I caught a little 30" shark as well, they sure make a mess out of your rig the way they roll.

I've found a couple of small (6 or less anglers) charters that I think I will go with.
I've decided on a full day morning trip and then I'll spend some time at the pier one evening.


Whizzle, do you have any go-to lures for lingcod?
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[syncityangler]

i used to target lingcod in washington and besides live bait 6-10 inch kelp greenling and rockfish, we used large soft plastics like storm wildeye shad 5-6inch, large twin tail grubs in white, or single tail grubs in white, motor oil, white/red with a 1-2oz lead head. heavy lead jigs like pt wilsons darts, buzz bombs, and crippled herring also took fish only losing those big jigs in the lingcods natural habitat (rocks) gets pretty expensive @ 5-8 bucks a piece, i would stay with soft plastics.[] good luck out there man you are gonna have a blast i love santa cruz [fishon]


sn:for some smaller fishes toss around 3-4 inch curly tail grubs in the same colors i've also done well with 3" yamamoto grubs in chartreuse on a 1/4 - 1/2 oz jig head.
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[Erawk]

Thanks for the input, Syn. I'll probably stick with live bait until I get a few fish in the boat and then try my luck with some lures. You're right about it getting expensive. I lost some lead on the last trip, those 1lb sinkers aren't cheap either. We were fishing 250' and deeper on that trip. It's a lot more work hauling that weight up than than in freshwater fishing, but the results are definitely worth it. Thanks for the well wishes.
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[TheWhizzle]

All of my biggest lings have been on whole, live small rockfish.

Four things to bank on -
Baby rockcod (if legal)

Foot-long octopus

Giant plastic curly-tails

Live sand-dabs
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