Santa Cruz area?

[dockboy]

Wazup everybody! I'm looking at the Santa Cruz area for college. I had recent post about the Merced area too. Was able to check out the town and campus there two weeks ago, really liked it up there. So far, its up between UC Santa Cruz and Merced. What's the freshwater like around Santa Cruz area? Obviously you've got Morro and Santa Cruz itself with some of the best salt in the state (LOTS of rockfish and some massive sea bass, according to some of my friends). But I haven't heard much about the freshwater fishing up there. Anything?

[Dan Stahlman]

UCSC is one beautiful campus. I should know as I was Sr. Supt. of Buildings and Grounds there. Loved all 2000 acres of the main campus. As far as fishing for fresh water species. For Bass you have Loch Lomand Resivour which is run by the city. You also have Pinto Lake in Watsonville which is small but does have a good population of Bass. If you get to know somebody that belongs to the Pajaro Valley Rod and Gun club they might get you in to Kelly Lake which they stocked with Florida Strain some years back. Good Flippin Lake.Some of the farm ponds up the coast have bass in them but you have to know the owners. Other than that, in the Santa Clarra valley you have many lakes to choose from. Good Luck.
Dan

[buzzfish]

As Mr. Stahlman mentioned there is Loch Lomand; electric motors only, no float tubes or kick boats. And I think they added more restrictions due the the mussel thing. Pinto does have good bass in it but frankly it is a pretty skanky lake (sorry Pinto lovers.) The last couple of years it has had some real problems with algae.

In additon to those you have Lexington right over the hill and Calero, Anderson, Coyote, Uvas, etc are within an hour drive. There are also a few local ponds without launch facilities that have bass in them. You can get a car topper, float tube, or kickboat into them.

Hope this helps... I fish out of a kickboat so I kind of like the smaller lakes.

[big bass beckstrom]

Loch Lomond has dome toads. And there are two ponds that kick out good fish in santa cruz. Antonellis pond on the west side and westlake pond in westlake park which is about 3 minutes from UCSC. You also have Lexington reservoir near by.

[dockboy]

Thanks guys. Good to hear there's lots of stuff around there. SC really is the most beautiful of all the UCs I've been too. Davis was really cool too, and so it Merced, but I didn't get into Davis as I had hoped. I'm going up to SC next week, should be awesome.

[DeltaDan]

Did you consider UC Santa Rosa ?


Great fishing around there in the city -- Spring Lake... and Sonoma Lake a 15 mile drive North.....

[dockboy]

Dan, is there a UC Santa Rosa ? From what I know, its goes San Diego, Snata Cruz, Santa Barbara, Irvine, Riverside, Davis, Merced, and Berkley. There is also a UC in SF buts its a medical graduate school only. From what I know, Merced is the newset UC. Maybe I'm wrong I looked at some of the CSUs up there too, but almost none had my major. The only one I applied to CSUN down here in the south.

I forgot to mention I don't mind driving to a lake for a bit. I'm used to doing the hour plus from my house to Castaic or Silverwood, and fish Piru and Pyramid quite a bit. I drive close to an hour to school each day, so I'm used to the car. Heck, at least the roads up north are a bit easier than what I'm used to down here.

[DeltaDan]

LOL !! To much coffee at the start of the night shift at work.....


I "was thinking" Sonoma State Univ.



Please disreguard.

[Tin Can]

Loch Lomond has dome toads. And there are two ponds that kick out good fish in santa cruz. Antonellis pond on the west side and westlake pond in westlake park which is about 3 minutes from UCSC. You also have Lexington reservoir near by.

Antonelli's had a massive die off a few years back and you have to be under 16 years old to legally fish Westlake. Not only that but people over the years have taken out most of the bigger fish in westlake. It's amazing that people would even consider eating fish out a that pond, but they do!

You from the area?

Dock boy, you can PM me any time for places to fish. I'm close to that area and there are tons of places to go.

[jiggin_pimpin]

I am an UCSC alumni and loved it there. In addition to those places mentioned above, you can try to hit up Twin Lakes on the Eastside of SC by the Harbor mouth. I know that there are bass in there. There's also a hidden lake by Costco out there that is gin clear but also has bass but is very small and can only be fished on the bank.

Another thing, learn to surf if you don't know already. That's a big reason I chose UCSC over Davis and Santa Barbara.

Good luck in college.

[Tin Can]

That hidden lake by Costco is private property. You might want to ask permission before fishing it.

[buzzfish]

Last one I can think of is a small pond off Freedom Blvd. I think the name of the park is Scott Park. Last time I was there several years ago it was pretty choked with weeds but there were some good bass in there.

[Tin Can]

Last one I can think of is a small pond off Freedom Blvd. I think the name of the park is Scott Park. Last time I was there several years ago it was pretty choked with weeds but there were some good bass in there.

That place is done for. There isn't one squre foot of open water there. Completely covered in weeds and it's been that way for over a year now.

[lmartinez]

i fish freedom lake alot but last time i went to fish a ranger said that there was some water problems with high bacteria in the alge on the lake hate too see whats happening on the local lakes i fish like pinto and freedom iam from watsonville and bank fish alot freedom has been ruined by the heavy blooming plant that took over and both now with water issues len

[Tin Can]

i fish freedom lake alot but last time i went to fish a ranger said that there was some water problems with high bacteria in the alge on the lake hate too see whats happening on the local lakes i fish like pinto and freedom iam from watsonville and bank fish alot freedom has been ruined by the heavy blooming plant that took over and both now with water issues len

Freedom was a great little lake. Huge crappie in there too and some big bass. Not sure anything is alive in there anymore with the amount of plants growing out of it. It hasn't looked fishable for a long time now.

The water of pinto is nasty, but I still fish there, I'd never even consider keeping a fish out of there and I see people keeping the stocker trouts. Ewwww!

[lmartinez]

tin can caught a couple of 5 lbers out of freedom last spring but this year there is nowere to fish yeah people still eating fish out pinto?????not good i still fish fish pinto but always a little worried about the whole bad water deal len

[Tin Can]

tin can caught a couple of 5 lbers out of freedom last spring but this year there is nowere to fish yeah people still eating fish out pinto?????not good i still fish fish pinto but always a little worried about the whole bad water deal len

Yeah I see people with stringers of trout there still, the water there is stinky, but the bass don't seem to care.

[big bass beckstrom]

Hmm I havent fished westlake for a while but I would believe it. I got two fives the last time I was at antonellis, but that was in august both on a buzzbait . I live in santa cruz during the summer, thats why I know a few of the places up there.

You might want to try the scotts valley golf coarse ponds, there are some giants in there. Bring your rain gear and a headlamp and hit it at night. I dont know if it is legal though but alot of my friends do it.

[dockboy]

Thanks guys. Seems like a lot of stuff out that way. Like I said, I'm heading up at the end of the week, should be awesome.

jiggin; Well...lets just say I snowboard and that's it. I'd like to learn how to surf though. Depends if I go to SC or not. I wish I had the options of Davis AND Santa Barbara. It was weird this year. Biggest class of high school seniors applying to in-state colleges in Cali history, from what I heard. Ended up that a square half of the valedictorians at my school applied to Davis; MAYBE one will go there. My GPA is good and everything, when I visited last summer I was pretty much told that I should get in without too much trouble. From what it looked like, you had to play sports and attend after-school stuff since freshman year to get in this year. Which was impossible to do for me, with whole hour drive each morning.
And apparently you had to be completely decided on your major to get in SB, and most people had to have some type of scholarship lined up. Oh well...

But that's cool to hear about the local ponds and smaller stuff. I'd just like stuff to fish when its the school week and don't have the time to drive into the valley. Plus, I do plan on setting up my saltwater a bit more for SC style fishing if I go up there. I work at a sports store, so I get the discounts and all to setup with

[Tin Can]

Hmm I havent fished westlake for a while but I would believe it. I got two fives the last time I was at antonellis, but that was in august both on a buzzbait . I live in santa cruz during the summer, thats why I know a few of the places up there.

You might want to try the scotts valley golf coarse ponds, there are some giants in there. Bring your rain gear and a headlamp and hit it at night. I dont know if it is legal though but alot of my friends do it.

Would you stop giving away all my ponds!

[jiggin_pimpin]

jiggin; Well...lets just say I snowboard and that's it. I'd like to learn how to surf though. Depends if I go to SC or not. I wish I had the options of Davis AND Santa Barbara. It was weird this year. Biggest class of high school seniors applying to in-state colleges in Cali history, from what I heard. Ended up that a square half of the valedictorians at my school applied to Davis; MAYBE one will go there. My GPA is good and everything, when I visited last summer I was pretty much told that I should get in without too much trouble. From what it looked like, you had to play sports and attend after-school stuff since freshman year to get in this year. Which was impossible to do for me, with whole hour drive each morning.
And apparently you had to be completely decided on your major to get in SB, and most people had to have some type of scholarship lined up. Oh well...

But that's cool to hear about the local ponds and smaller stuff. I'd just like stuff to fish when its the school week and don't have the time to drive into the valley. Plus, I do plan on setting up my saltwater a bit more for SC style fishing if I go up there. I work at a sports store, so I get the discounts and all to setup with [/quote]

Dockboy,

Yeah, getting into school nowadays are a bit more restrictive. I got into those schools because I could play water polo (couldn't tell by looking at me now) and I had pretty good grades.

I chose SC because of it's proximity to the beach and mountains. Plus, there are some sick single tracks for mountain biking on campus. It is by far the prettiest (nature not girls) school in the UC system, you just have to deal with a lot of idealist and hippies.

Surfing in SC, I would recommend learning at Cowell's (westside)and Shark's (41st Ave) before you try to hit up the Lane. (maybe by junior year) I was fortunate enough to have a good crew to surf with that had been surfing there for years prior to school.

I wish you the best of luck on your choices, all the US's are quality schools.

T

[Joedaddy]

First Id like to congratulate u on getting into some good schools-college is a great time- and you should probably be looking at factors other than bass fishin to determine which college you will go to-frankly there are bass lakes everywhere in california-
Myself i turned down going to San Diego not once but twice to go to a better university-first berkley then santa clara for law school-yeah i was a dumb as s and should have gone to san diego where id probably still be living-anyways I lived in the santa cruz mountains for a year and went to santa cruz as much as possible--i fished calero a few times-it has good bank access if you park on the south lot by the horse stables-
My advise to you however is to go to uc santa cruz-there is a lot more to do there than you will ever find in merced-its a really laid back town your very close to capitola- a great place for live music and hot girls-plus you are close to san jose and san francisco/penninsula if you need to get a higher paying job to help you through school- good luck

[dockboy]

Thanks guys. Just got back from the campus today. Awesome, just awesome. We also decided to get on 101 and head down the cost the way we did the last time we were there. Got lost and took 17 to San Jose and headed down from there. Passed by Coyote and that area, looked good. Also got to see Cachuma, all I can can say is wow, it looked good.
It was pretty (oh yeah, the campus too I think I can deal with idealist/hippie crap, thats just college. At any rate, thanks guys. LOtsw of good stuff you gave me

[Peacheater81]

I stumbled upon this thread looking for bass fishing in the Santa Cruz area. I grew up in TN bass fishing, but haven’t really given it any serious thought until hiking at Loch Lomond…wow what a beautiful place. All my CA friends only talk about trout fishing and I don’t care for using bait or trolling. They said Loch Lomond was a trout lake that wasn’t that good. That is before I learned about swimbaits.

Anyway, just wanted to revive the thread to see any other comments on the topic, maybe things have changed since the OP.

[CN]

Secret spot on the Central Coast are the Pond's down at Hunter Liggett. Just make sure you check in at the Base before you go ANYWHERE there. Get a Map and fish General's, Hugh's and El Peijo you will have a blast. Just leave the fish there.

Mike Nance

Edit: Dont overlook the Surf action around here it can be real good.

[dockboy]

+1 on the surf, we have very solid perching here. Just gotta time the tides, hit a big high tide or worst yet big swells, and you might as well not even try. But, after perchin' in SoCal, I've caught less but larger perch here in SC
Thanks for the tip off on the base lakes Mike...I forgot about them, and have yet to check them out. They seem like a cool deal. Loch Lomond was a great trout lake when the weather cooperated, and the water was in condition. Lots of fish stocked. Now it has no stocks, because the CBD lawsuit against stocking killed it

[CN]

+1 on the surf, we have very solid perching here. Just gotta time the tides, hit a big high tide or worst yet big swells, and you might as well not even try. But, after perchin' in SoCal, I've caught less but larger perch here in SC
Thanks for the tip off on the base lakes Mike...I forgot about them, and have yet to check them out. They seem like a cool deal. Loch Lomond was a great trout lake when the weather cooperated, and the water was in condition. Lots of fish stocked. Now it has no stocks, because the CBD lawsuit against stocking killed it

Perch are fun but two tip's. Striped Bass and fish for them at night from June thru September. Throw Red and White Pencil Popper's, Fish Trap's and Krokodile Spoon's in Silver and Red. Dont worry about throwing out a mile and go with gear you can throw for five trip's without a bite becouse these are a fish of a thousand cast's but when there in it's fun to catch them in the Surf and you dont need a Boat.