Santa Cruziish Area

[koffler]

We will be in slightly south of Santa Cruz for the last week in May and 1st week in June next year. I have fished in salt but the typical haunts (i.e. flats in the bahamas/ south florida), etc. Any ideas if surf perch, stripers, or any other quarry will be near at that time of the year?

If so, any suggestions re: what tides I should target, etc? For all the species above I did some research about flies and have done sone fishing farther north so they should work (if I'm out of bounds let me know) but most concerned about beaches, fishes near the surf at that time of year, and mostly how tides affect fishing. More of a trout/stream guy.

I have two weeks to kill and will fish regardless but any helpful info is most appreciated.

Thanks-

Jason

[Darian]

Lots of written info on this subject. Almost any of the books by Ken Hanley. Ken, also, does surf, fly fishing clinics in the Monterey Bay area at specific intervals. Check out Ken's website at:

http://www.pacificextremes.com

A website for the Monterey Bay area is for Zen Fly Fishing. This website is no longer active but still has a lot of great info on it. Check it out at:

http://www.zenflyfishing.com

Another website that has a lot of great info on it is by Mark Won. Unfortunately, the last URL i had for Marks website is no longer valid. If you Google surf fishing in Monterey Bay, you'll bring up a bunch of sites about that area.

Since you've already fished up north, the info on which tides are best, is probably the same for Monterey Bay. In general, low tides are good for locating structure. Rising tides bring in fish to structure. Slack tides are the worst for fishing. Look for currents such as rips and/or holes (deeper water near shore). Read the surf and stay safe.

[Jimmie]

Jason,

You might want to hook up with Lance Gray and his "Surf Tour". Last year it focused on the beaches around Watsonville. An awesome amount of information in 3 days. Here's the link: http://lancegrayandcompany.com/fly-f...shing_the_surf

We were fortunate to have Ken Hanley as part of the tour. Don't know if he will participate this year.

Good Luck!!

Jimmie
Chicago Park, CA