Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition 3808 Mar 29- Apr 12 2019 | Page 21

Contacts: Monterey County Convention & Visitors Bureau, 787 Munras Ave #110, Monterey, CA 93940, Visitor Information, 888-221-1010 (toll free), https://www.seemonterey.com/ Boat ramps: Most anglers target perch from piers and beaches, but anglers also catch them from boats. Public boat launching is available at Monterey Harbor, the U.S. Coast Guard Pier, Moss Landing and Santa Cruz Harbor. Fishing information: You can get perch tackle and information on fishing conditions in the bay at Bayside Marine, Santa Cruz, (831) 475-2173; Santa Cruz Boat Rentals, (831) 423-1739; Capitola Boat & Bait, (831) 462-2208 and J&D Auto Gone Fishing, Monterey, (831) 899-1111. Santa Cruz Wharf Capitola Santa Cruz Soquel Pier Small Craft Point Manresa Harbor St. Beach Monterey Bay Area Perch Monterey Fishing Notes • Barred Perch are found mainly off the beaches and at the end of piers near the surf line. Among the top places to pursue them are Natural Bridges, Twin Lakes, Capitola, New Brighton, Seacliff, Manresa, Sunset, Zmudowski, Moss Landing, Salinas River, Marina and Monterey state beaches. Redtail and Silver Perch also show occasionally in the catches off the beaches. Fishing plastic grubs such as the Berkley Gulp saltwater products on light 6 to 10 pound test spinning gear has become increasingly popular in recent years. Pileworms, bloodworms, mussels, grass shrimp and sand crabs are the top baits. • Rubberlip, Black, Rainbow, Striped, Splittail, Walleye, Pile and Shiner Perch are caught around pilings around wharves and around rocky stretches of shoreline. Among the many good areas to try include the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf, Capitola Wharf, Cement Ship at Seacliff State Beach, Elkhorn Slough and Monterey Fisherman’s Wharf #2. • Brown, blue, grass and kelp rockfish, cabezon and lingcod are also taken by anglers pursuing the perch, particularly in rocky areas with kelp. • Make sure that you check the DFG’s Ocean Sport Fishing regulations booklet on the web (www.dfgca.gov) before going fishing to review the latest seasons, bag limits and other regulations for these fish. Shore fishing for rockfish is open year round. Zmudowski St. Beach Moss Landing Pier & St. Beach Bay Natural Bridges State Park Santa Cruz Capitola Watsonville Moss Landing Salinas River St. Beach 156 Castroville S 183 Santa Cruz County Conference and Visitors Council, 303 Water Street #100, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, Phone: 831-425-1234 or 1-800-833-3494, Fax 831-425-1260, Email: comments@santacruz.org, www.santacruzca.org 1 Camping and Lodging: Plenty of motels, hotels and campgrounds are available in the cities of Santa Cruz, Capitola, Aptos, Watsonville, Marina, Seaside and Monterey, but you need to book lodging well in advance, especially during periods of good weather Davenport Capitola St. Beach New Brighton St. Beach Aptos Seacliff St. Beach Sunset 1 St. Beach Twin Lakes St. Beach Sand Crab Classic Information: Mike Baxter or Allen Bushnell, the Let’s Go Fishing Radio Show, ww.theletsgo- fishingradioshow.com. Call Mike Baxter at (831)685-0900. 1 Año Nuevo Point (New Years Island) To San Jose 17 Season: Monterey Bay and the adjacent ocean coast features some of the most diverse populations of surfperch (Embiotocidae family) found along the Pacific coast. The season is open year round. To San Francisco Año Nuevo State Reserve Monterey Bay Surfperch Fishing Facts 19 Mar 29 - Apr 12, 2019 MAP FEATURE VOL.38 • ISS. 8 Fisherman‘s Marina Fisherman‘s Wharf #2 St. Beach Marina Wharf Point Piños Presidio of G17 Monterey 1 CSUS Annex Monterey Cypress Point Salinas Seaside Pacific Grove Carmel Highway Monterey Pebble Beach Carmel Carmel River St. Beach 17 Mile Drive Carmel River 1 To San Luis Obispo Reiden Jaquequi placed second with a 2 lb. 5 oz. fish measuring 15 inches caught off Manresa Beach, while Alison Langley placed third with a 1 lb. 13.6 oz. barred perch hooked off New Brighton Beach. Samara Cortazzo won first place in the junior seaperch division with a 2-pound, 5.5 ounce pile perch going 15 ¾ inches. Max Joe Garcia of Watsonville holds up his barred perch that enabled him Periot placed second with his to win the Sand Crab Classic Perch Tournament in Santa Cruz on March 9. 15.1 oz. calico Photo by DAN BACHER, Fish Sniffer Staff. perch measuring 11-3/4 inches, Corvette Sundberg placed second while Mila Shake placed third with her with a 1 lb. 9.9 oz. perch caught off 14.3 oz. redtail perch measuring 11 ¾ New Brighton Beach, while Amanda inches. Snodgrass placed third with a 1 lb. 8.3 Finally, Evan Praskin placed first in oz. perch measuring 12 15/16 inches the fly fishing division with his 15-inch caught off Zuma. barred perch. Justin Ice placed second Melanie Gilbert placed first in the with his 13 1/8 inch barred perch caught womens sea perch division with off San Gregorio, while Richard Gilliam her 1-pound, 7-ounce calico perch finished third with his 12 3/4 inch measuring 12 1-1/2 inches caught off barred perch landed off Carmel. New Brighton Beach. The winners all received trophies. As Kristin Lesyna placed second with usual, the Sand Crab Classic was a fun her 1 lb. 1.5 oz. redtail perch measuring grassroots community event featuring 12 inches landed off Pescadero in San many raffle prizes, wonderful food and Mateo County. lots of good times for all. Information: Madison Jaurequi won first in the https://www.sandcrabclassic.com/index. junior barred perch division with a php. 2-pound, 7-ounce fish measuring 15 Clara Ricabal, the field representative inches landed off Zuma. for Jackson Fishing Kayaks, targets various species of fish and game from Division. He has been trying for ling cod to salmon to largemouth bass, many years, and despite recent health and was very enthusiastic about the setbacks, he finally came out on top,” event. she concluded. “As a resident of Santa Cruz County I love fishing for perch – and got and a steelhead angler on the San my start fishing for these light tackle Lorenzo River, I am a huge supporter scrappers in Monterey Bay back when of the event, and I looked forward to I was living and working in San Jose. participating this year by pre-fishing Felix Alvarez, now living in Modesto, the week on a beach south of Moss and I often had fun fishing the rocks and Landing,” she said. “My game plan piers from Santa Cruz to Moss Landing, prior to derby day was live bait of sand with my largest rubberlipped perch, crab or pile worms along with plenty caught in the early 80s, weighing around of warm clothing and rain gear, but 4 pounds. It’s always astounded me that my true colors came out as, despite so relatively few rubberlipped perch are bringing everything under the sun in my weighed in the event each year. tackle kit including my sand crab rake, For more information about the Sand I stuck with a tried-and-true producer, a Crab Classic, go to: https://www.sand- 2-ounce Kastmaster with white bucktail crabclassic.com sprayed with Worden’s Rooster Tail Spray. “It was windy and rain, and in spite of numerous casts, I had only one bite, but it was a good one, creating a few moments of excite- ment. However, I got too excited as the fish put on quite a fight and I was able to get the it close to the surf before I walked forward when I should have backed up. There were around five other fishermen on our beach, and they also seemed to struggle,” she said. “My happiest moment was watching my friend, Bryan Servel, take the first Ako and Zahara Culver of Santa Cruz successfully battled these hefty barred perch while fishing on Monterey Bay. spot in the SeaPerch Photo by DAN BACHER, Fish Sniffer Staff.