While it's a scenic drive along the Coast Highway, this coast is even prettier from the water when you're fishing for rockfish, lingcod, halibut and salmon. As you fish for bottomfish, you can see the surf break on the rocks of the rugged coastline, above which are artichoke and other fields, silhouetted by redwood-covered mountains in the distance.

The area of coast from Natural Bridges to Ano Nuevo Island is fished by both party and private boats who find excellent rockfish and lingcod action here during the summer and fall, when the fish move into the shallows to feed on anchovies, squid and other forage. The area appears to be recovering from heavy commercial fishing pressure by gill nets in the 1980's and long lines in the 1990's, with good numbers of shaker lingcod being released on trips throughout this season so far.

I try to fish the Santa Cruz Coast at least several times per year, but I hadn't fished it for over two years. Both my cousin, Tom Mulderrig, and I were aching to do a bottomfishing trip. On a trip on July 30 aboard the Wild Wave, the anglers found wide-open action, taking early limits of rockfish and a few legal lingcod. With a forecast of seas of only 4 to 6 feet and variable winds of up to 15 knots, Thursday, August 2 looked like a perfect day to go fishing.

Before we departed the harbor, Mike Baxter, captain of the Wild Wave, and deckhand, Dillon Buckingham, revealed the plan for the day. "We'll try to catch a few halibut off the beach and then we'll go fishing for rockfish and lingcod off Davenport or New Year's Island," said Baxter.

We started the day live bait drifting off Four Mile Beach in 60 feet of water. Here George McCarthur of San Jose hooked and landed the only halibut of the day, a 10 pounder. Tom Mulderrig then caught the second "keeper" fish of the day, a 3 pound sand sole. After several more drifts, Baxter told us we would be going for the rockfish off Davenport.

When we got to the first reef off Davenport, the fishing was pretty good at first. Under the advice of Buckingham, most of the people on the boat, including myself, began fishing with white Super Flies. "The bolina rockfish like to feed on squid and white-colored baits, so these lures have been best when we fish this area," said Buckingham.

Bill Rawson, manager of Shamrock Charters, Frank Menacho of Santa Cruz and I each caught several rockfish after we put down our shrimp flies. The fish were 50 percent bolina (brown) rockfish in the 1-1/2 to 3 pound range, with the rest a mixture of canaries, olives, blues and gophers. The fishing was by no means hot like it had been on Monday, but it was a solid pick through the morning.

Nobody used bars or Fish Traps, which are often the hottest baits to use off the Santa Cruz coast. "If the water is crystal clear, you put the bars on. If it's murky brown water like it is today, you want to use shrimp flies and bait strips or live bait," advised Rawson.

The brown water means good conditions for salmon. Mulderrig, after landing a hefty canary rockfish, hooked into a big fish that ripped his 20 pound test line off his reel. "It's fighting like a salmon," said Buckingham. When I looked over the side of the boat after Mulderrig had fought the chinook for 5 minutes, Buckingham was carefully releasing a big chinook estimated to be 17 to 18 pounds.

It had to be released because it was hooked on a barbed rockcod hook with a grub; Mulderrig wished he was trolling or mooching for salmon when he hooked the large fish.

Meanwhile, we moved to a couple more spots down the coast after the rockfish bite tapered off. The wind and swell were kicking up by this time. We went down to Natural Bridges, where the lingcod fishing picked up.

George McCarthur of San Jose, who had caught the day's only halibut, also landed two lingcod. Frank Menacho of Santa Cruz caught two lingcod on a blue rockfish and live sanddab. After a couple of shakers, Bill Rawson also bagged a 6 pound lingcod.

Seeing the increasing lingcod activity, I put down a small blue rockfish on my two hook Super Fly rig and felt the strong surge of a heavy fish as soon as it hit the bottom. My drag was nearly locked down but this fish tore the line off the reel like it was a light trout spinning reel. I have hooked into some quality lingcod in my time, but this was definitely the largest lingcod that I had ever hooked into.

Finally about 20 feet below the surface I felt the line suddenly go slack and reeled in a hook with no bait. "That was a really big fish," said Rawson. "That was your chance to be somebody."

I went in the cabin as Baxter repositioned the boat to do another drift. I hooked and released a shaker and a couple of more bolina rockfish, but no legal lingcod.

Baxter decided to finish the day off at South Rock, a famous rockcod spot south of the harbor. "We worked hard for fish all day, but it's getting late, so we'll make one more drift," stated Baxter.

As Rawson was reeling his live sardine up, he hooked into a lingcod that let go of his live bait. I immediately put my bait back down and I hooked into my second big lingcod as I reeled the bait toward the boat. "I think it's the bottom," said Buckingham." "It's a big fish," I emphasized. When I got it to the top, it was a 11.1 pound lingcod, the largest of the day.

The 16 anglers aboard the boat ended up with 12 lingcod, 1 halibut, one sand sole and 8 rockfish per rod. Although we didn't quite catch limits, we took home a good, solid variety of fish.

For more information about trips aboard the Wild Wave, call Shamrock Charters in Santa Cruz, (831) 476-2648. Other boats booking bottomfish adventures include Sea Stag Sportfishing, (831) 427-0230; Park Place Excursions, (831) 479-0213; ; Santa Cruz Sportfishing, (831) 426-4690; and Chartle Sportfishing, (831) 336-2244. For rental boats, call Capitola Boat & Bait, (831) 462-2208, or Santa Cruz Boat Rentals, (831) 423-1739. Private boaters can call Bayside Marine, (831) 475-2173.

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