Date: August 17, 2020
To: Pier Fishing In California
From: Ken Jones
Subject: Short Trip To Monterey Bay
What had been envisioned as a short trip to the bay with my grandson turned into a solo journey last Friday and Saturday in hopes of some decent fishing (and fish). I was largely disappointed but did manage a few fish.
Friday I headed out in the morning from Fresno with the first stop planned to be at the Santa Cruz Wharf where reports said the were “mackerel” were running. I was looking forward to the cooler clime along the coast since Fresno was projected to be around 107 degrees.
I headed up HY 99, took the left turn to Los Banos, stopped for a breakfast sandwich, and then headed out again. In a short time I made a quick stop at the Main Street Market in Santa Nella to pick up some pile worms (great quality worms but very expensive) and then headed on to Santa Cruz via Gilroy and the Watsonville turnoff.
I got to Santa Cruz but was surprised that the car thermometer was reading 90 degrees. Sure enough, it was hot on the wharf with the sun blazing down and being reflected off the water. Even worse, Tina at the Santa Cruz Boat Rental (on the wharf) said that unfortunately the mackerel run had stopped and the halibut bite had slowed down. But anchovies were available. I hadn’t traveled to Santa Cruz for anchovies!
As it turned out the usual small species were available but little else. Fishing in the wells out by the end did produce a number of white seaperch (which sort of saved the visit) and a number of small, juvenile rockfish including some blues (common) and a reddish species that I thought was probably a juvenile vermilion (but I wasn’t sure). Casting out from the pier with a variety of baits (but mainly worms) produced nothing but the Santa Cruz incidentals—speckled sanddab, staghorn sculpin, shinerperch, etc. Live bait on the bottom for halibut produced nothing, didn’t even get a bite on it. I finally gave up, had a bowl of chowder at Stagnaro’s and headed out to the next pier. And did I mention how hot it was? Not as bad as Fresno but still hot.
Santa Cruz Wharf — 12:00-2:30 p.m.
11 Speckled Sanddab
6 White Seaperch
3 Shinerperch
3 Northern Anchovy
2 blue rockfish
2 rockfish (either vermilion or sunset rockfish according to Milton Love at UCSB).
2 Staghorn Sculpin
All fish caught on a high /low with no. 6 hooks and a one-ounce torpedo sinker.
All fish released.
The next stop was the Capitola Wharf although I didn’t think for a while I would be fishing. The traffic was bad, creeping along, and I didn’t think I would be able to get a parking spot on the road up above the pier—but I did.
Once again the catch was rather pathetic although fish were present and once again the perch saved the day. I was fishing out at the end with the same rigging and mainly using pileworms for bait (although I tried mussels, cut mackerel and even some sardines from my recent LA trip). Casting out produced nothing but bullheads and shinerperch. Fishing under the pier produced some nice-sized walleye surfperch, a lone white seaperch and two mid-sized brown rockfish. But again it wasn’t what I had expected so I headed out after a couple of hours.
Capitola Wharf — 4:05-6:05 p.m.
7 Walleye Surfperch
6 Staghorn Sculpin
3 Shinerperch
2 Brown Rockfish
1 White Seaperch
Bait and rigging: high/low and mainly worms.
All fish released.
I would stay the night at Seaside and after checking in decided to head down to the Monterey Wharf #2. If fish were biting I would fish, if not I would probably fish it for a while in the morning.
The place was packed with fishermen and almost every bucket was totally empty, nothing was biting on top or the bottom, and almost all were using Sabikis. Even though it was dead, I was able to park out by the end and decided to see if anything was down around the pilings. I gave it one hour, caught a few small bocaccio (which were actually the only fish I saw caught) and decided that was enough. No visit would take place in the morning.
Monterey Wharf #2 — 8-9 p.m.
3 Bocaccio
All released.
I headed back to my hotel where I spent one of the worst nights as far as sleep that I can remember.
I had heard the Monterey Coast Guard Pier would not open until 8 a.m. so I took my time had some coffee and a breakfast sandwich and got there about 7:40. Virtually every parking space was gone in the parking lot with dozens of trucks and boat trailers so fishing must have been good for the boaters. I finally found one spot, set up my pier cart and headed out to the locked gate. There a fellow angler announced that a golf cart had just come by with a man who announced they were not going to open the pier due to expected crowding. What? I wasn’t a happy camper at that time. Walked back to my car and reloaded the cart, rods and reels. I then headed over to the restroom to get rid of some coffee and lo and behold when I came out they had opened the gate. Back to my car, set up the pier cart again, and headed out. At that point there were only two of us at the pier.
I set up two rods. A heavier rod with larger hooks baited with mussels that I cast out by the kelp. The second outfit was my light outfit baited with one hook and a torpedo sinker.
It was still a fairly low tide when I started but the fish were biting— a couple of small blue rockfish, a cabezon, a painted greenling and then a kelp rockfish. I would drop my hook into every decent looking hole, and would manage a fair share of fish.
The tide was rising so more holes would eventually emerge. As for the weather, it was in the mid-80s but at least a breeze came up that made it comfortable.
Around one o’clock the waves picked up and it made it a little harder to fish with more rigs lost to the rocks. The fish bite also slowed with one exception—senorita. I had never caught one of the cigar-shaped fish at the pier before but evidently hit a spot and would wind up with a dozen.
Monterey Coast Guard Pier — 8:15 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
12 Senorita
5 Kelp Rockfish
3 Blue Rockfish
2 Cabezon
2 Kelpfish - probably spotted kelpfish
1 Painted Greenling
1 Striped Seaperch
1 Blacksmith
1 Gopher Rockfish
1 Black & Yellow Rockfish
1 Sculpin – probably a coralline sculpin
All fish released.
With the waves making it hard to fish the holes and the long drive approaching I finally decided to stop at two. I packed up and headed up HW 1 and was surprised to see the highway jammed and traffic stop and go for about five miles going into Monterey. There wasn’t much problem in my northerly direction. I soon cut over to HY 101 and again was surprised to see the traffic heading south. For at least a 20-mile stretch traffic was moving along at about a 20-30 mph clip. Not sure where everyone was headed unless Monterey or Los Angeles.
It had not been a great trip by any means but I had some action and though hot, mid-80s to 90, it was still far cooler than the 111 degrees when I arrived back in Fresno.
To: Pier Fishing In California
From: Ken Jones
Subject: Short Trip To Monterey Bay
What had been envisioned as a short trip to the bay with my grandson turned into a solo journey last Friday and Saturday in hopes of some decent fishing (and fish). I was largely disappointed but did manage a few fish.
Friday I headed out in the morning from Fresno with the first stop planned to be at the Santa Cruz Wharf where reports said the were “mackerel” were running. I was looking forward to the cooler clime along the coast since Fresno was projected to be around 107 degrees.
I headed up HY 99, took the left turn to Los Banos, stopped for a breakfast sandwich, and then headed out again. In a short time I made a quick stop at the Main Street Market in Santa Nella to pick up some pile worms (great quality worms but very expensive) and then headed on to Santa Cruz via Gilroy and the Watsonville turnoff.
I got to Santa Cruz but was surprised that the car thermometer was reading 90 degrees. Sure enough, it was hot on the wharf with the sun blazing down and being reflected off the water. Even worse, Tina at the Santa Cruz Boat Rental (on the wharf) said that unfortunately the mackerel run had stopped and the halibut bite had slowed down. But anchovies were available. I hadn’t traveled to Santa Cruz for anchovies!
As it turned out the usual small species were available but little else. Fishing in the wells out by the end did produce a number of white seaperch (which sort of saved the visit) and a number of small, juvenile rockfish including some blues (common) and a reddish species that I thought was probably a juvenile vermilion (but I wasn’t sure). Casting out from the pier with a variety of baits (but mainly worms) produced nothing but the Santa Cruz incidentals—speckled sanddab, staghorn sculpin, shinerperch, etc. Live bait on the bottom for halibut produced nothing, didn’t even get a bite on it. I finally gave up, had a bowl of chowder at Stagnaro’s and headed out to the next pier. And did I mention how hot it was? Not as bad as Fresno but still hot.
Santa Cruz Wharf — 12:00-2:30 p.m.
11 Speckled Sanddab
6 White Seaperch
3 Shinerperch
3 Northern Anchovy
2 blue rockfish
2 rockfish (either vermilion or sunset rockfish according to Milton Love at UCSB).
2 Staghorn Sculpin
All fish caught on a high /low with no. 6 hooks and a one-ounce torpedo sinker.
All fish released.
The next stop was the Capitola Wharf although I didn’t think for a while I would be fishing. The traffic was bad, creeping along, and I didn’t think I would be able to get a parking spot on the road up above the pier—but I did.
Once again the catch was rather pathetic although fish were present and once again the perch saved the day. I was fishing out at the end with the same rigging and mainly using pileworms for bait (although I tried mussels, cut mackerel and even some sardines from my recent LA trip). Casting out produced nothing but bullheads and shinerperch. Fishing under the pier produced some nice-sized walleye surfperch, a lone white seaperch and two mid-sized brown rockfish. But again it wasn’t what I had expected so I headed out after a couple of hours.
Capitola Wharf — 4:05-6:05 p.m.
7 Walleye Surfperch
6 Staghorn Sculpin
3 Shinerperch
2 Brown Rockfish
1 White Seaperch
Bait and rigging: high/low and mainly worms.
All fish released.
I would stay the night at Seaside and after checking in decided to head down to the Monterey Wharf #2. If fish were biting I would fish, if not I would probably fish it for a while in the morning.
The place was packed with fishermen and almost every bucket was totally empty, nothing was biting on top or the bottom, and almost all were using Sabikis. Even though it was dead, I was able to park out by the end and decided to see if anything was down around the pilings. I gave it one hour, caught a few small bocaccio (which were actually the only fish I saw caught) and decided that was enough. No visit would take place in the morning.
Monterey Wharf #2 — 8-9 p.m.
3 Bocaccio
All released.
I headed back to my hotel where I spent one of the worst nights as far as sleep that I can remember.
I had heard the Monterey Coast Guard Pier would not open until 8 a.m. so I took my time had some coffee and a breakfast sandwich and got there about 7:40. Virtually every parking space was gone in the parking lot with dozens of trucks and boat trailers so fishing must have been good for the boaters. I finally found one spot, set up my pier cart and headed out to the locked gate. There a fellow angler announced that a golf cart had just come by with a man who announced they were not going to open the pier due to expected crowding. What? I wasn’t a happy camper at that time. Walked back to my car and reloaded the cart, rods and reels. I then headed over to the restroom to get rid of some coffee and lo and behold when I came out they had opened the gate. Back to my car, set up the pier cart again, and headed out. At that point there were only two of us at the pier.
I set up two rods. A heavier rod with larger hooks baited with mussels that I cast out by the kelp. The second outfit was my light outfit baited with one hook and a torpedo sinker.
It was still a fairly low tide when I started but the fish were biting— a couple of small blue rockfish, a cabezon, a painted greenling and then a kelp rockfish. I would drop my hook into every decent looking hole, and would manage a fair share of fish.
The tide was rising so more holes would eventually emerge. As for the weather, it was in the mid-80s but at least a breeze came up that made it comfortable.
Around one o’clock the waves picked up and it made it a little harder to fish with more rigs lost to the rocks. The fish bite also slowed with one exception—senorita. I had never caught one of the cigar-shaped fish at the pier before but evidently hit a spot and would wind up with a dozen.
Monterey Coast Guard Pier — 8:15 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
12 Senorita
5 Kelp Rockfish
3 Blue Rockfish
2 Cabezon
2 Kelpfish - probably spotted kelpfish
1 Painted Greenling
1 Striped Seaperch
1 Blacksmith
1 Gopher Rockfish
1 Black & Yellow Rockfish
1 Sculpin – probably a coralline sculpin
All fish released.
With the waves making it hard to fish the holes and the long drive approaching I finally decided to stop at two. I packed up and headed up HW 1 and was surprised to see the highway jammed and traffic stop and go for about five miles going into Monterey. There wasn’t much problem in my northerly direction. I soon cut over to HY 101 and again was surprised to see the traffic heading south. For at least a 20-mile stretch traffic was moving along at about a 20-30 mph clip. Not sure where everyone was headed unless Monterey or Los Angeles.
It had not been a great trip by any means but I had some action and though hot, mid-80s to 90, it was still far cooler than the 111 degrees when I arrived back in Fresno.