quote:Originally posted by brad
I am going to the area for the first time this year. Mid August We have a boat that will go offshore. How far is the highway and is there good bottom fishing close to shore??
Brad, if you aren’t catching your salmon limits in the first half of August, hiring Jim would be a very good idea! “Offshore” finding the “Highway” and fish is the easy part – knowing how to catch, is a tad bit harder! A few years back (2007) my group was bringing in our limits everyday… I watched another not bring in a fish for three days. His setup was “all” wrong for the area – as we were talking he didn’t understand why we were catching fish and he wasn’t. I offered some advice and his comment to me was he had fished springs for years and knew what he was doing, it wasn’t his setup? I watched him blank for the rest of the week.
Go get the chart CA3604. On that chart, it will show and you will see “white” and “blue” water… the Highway is where the “white” and “blue” come together “IN” to the surf line! In 2005/2006/2007 the fish were closer to 3-5 miles off the whistle buoy, in 2008 they came in closer to 2-3 miles. Look for your tide lines (scum lines/trash lines– whatever you want to call it), feeding birds, floating kelp, sea weed trash, logs, etc, all that, is good… find that and you “will” find the fish. Don’t fish for salmon in the white areas… they don’t like that nice clear water!
I agree with Jim, inside... leave the bottom fish alone - they get hit hard, plus by August - Not much size anyway, better offshore. Halibut in August, I would be looking for those humps. They can be picked up all over, but if you really want to target them, I would be heading for Tatchu Point area.