MUSSEL BEACH : MONSTER SURFPERCH TARGETED AT SANTA CRUZ ISLAND.

Byline: BRETT PAULY

Upon our return to Camarillo Airport from a morning surf-fishing excursion to Santa Cruz Island's desolate west end, a member of the landing crew inquired whether we caught any.

``As many as you wanted,'' was the reply.

The three of us must have appeared quite full of ourselves at that point. Landing plump barred surfperch, the likes of which aren't often seen on mainland coasts, on cast after cast will do that to fishermen.

Had the query been made a few hours earlier, however, we would have been saddled by frustration. For all its remoteness, the beachside fishery at the base of Christy Ranch can be a tough nut to crack for anglers who prefer casting artificials. Such was the case for us, until we discovered the magic of the mussel.

From the air, my partners - Tarzana kayak-fishing specialist Dennis Spike and radio personality Pete Gray, co-host of the fishing talk show ``Let's Talk Hook Up'' - and I quickly appreciated the west side's lack of fishing pressure. It was then the nine-passenger Britten-Norman Islander (every seat's a window seat) touched down in a bucolic and entirely overgrown pasture.

Grass blades were severed by the propellers. During the approach, I sincerely thought pilot Tom Driscoll would say, ``This is where we used to land . . . before the tarmac was built.''

If you can get over the notion of landing in a field, you can fish in a rugged locale that only recently reopened to the public after a five-year closure. Since February, Driscoll's outfit, Channel Islands Aviation, has been contracted with the Nature Conservancy - a nonprofit organization that owns 90 percent of Santa Cruz Island - to fly surf-anglers into historic Christy Ranch for day trips. No overnight stays are permitted.

Built during the Civil War, the ranch served as an outpost to the island's main facility located in its central valley. In recent times (up until the conservancy group took over in 1987), Christy Ranch was a hunting lodge and destination for island adventurers. Public access ceased earlier this decade.

For our first two hours at the site, the plastic lures on 4- and 6-weight setups were barely nibbled. We diligently changed weights (everything from small split shots to -3/4-ounce sliding-egg sinkers) and swapped patterns (from 2-inch dorado-hued grubs to curl-tail scented chartreuses). The work was extremely difficult and yielded just three perch.

Nothing is more frustrating than seeing fish chase bait in the surf and not hooking a thing.

Turns out our gear was too stout. At sizes 1/o and 2/o, the hooks were bigger than the perch were willing to swallow. Gray longed for a 1-inch grub with red flakes or a similar sand-crab imitation.

It's wasn't until Driscoll strolled to the rocky, southern end of the beach, returned with a handful of mussels and casually suggested we try them that the action took off . . . exponentially. I baited a size 1 hook with a healthy portion of the brilliant orange meat and, pow, was immediately onto two perch.

The light bulb finally lit up. We couldn't pry the mollusks from their craggy anchors fast enough.

Talk about hookups! In less than an hour we beached three dozen perch. My 4-pound spinning rig was routinely bent. These fish didn't give up easily, either. When the fight did draw to its conclusion, they rode the waves into shore like expert surfers. Their tenacity earned each a reprieve; all were returned to grow to maturity. If ever a bite was wide open, this was it.

It conjured memories of growing up in Oregon and fishing with my family on the coast. Dad would bait a gangion of hooks with mussels and couldn't reel the surfperch in fast enough. Often there would be two, three and even four fish on a line.

Surfperch are viviparous - bearers of live young; uncommon among marine fishes - and many times they would give birth as they were landed. Catch and release was not a popular concept in the late '60s, but us kids did our part. Pops would catch the mamas, and we'd release the babies.

At Christy Ranch, many of the catches were trophy sizes of 2-plus pounds.

``Most surfperch are much smaller than that; catch averages are palm-size,'' Spike said. ``These were slabs. They were fat, so fat. That's a potential beach where you could catch a record fish. (The all-tackle record for barred surfperch as recognized by the International Game Fish Association is 4 pounds, 2 ounces; they can grow to 17 inches.)

``Had we been out there all day, we would have wished we had a scale.''

Cal State Northridge biology professor Larry Allen explained that mainland specimens are less frequently caught to 2 pounds because fishing pressure is so great. Santa Cruz Island is a different story.

``I would assume that they are big there because they are rarely fished; the population grows to the maximum mature size and they are not taken,'' Allen said. ``That's the usual scenario when you enter an area that hasn't been fished for a long time.''

He noted that surfperch prefer open coast and sandy beaches. They swim in the breakers, where the bottom is ruffled and their favorite food - sand crabs, shrimp and other crustaceans - is released.

Fishing is a constant experiment. You work the water until you get it right, or you go home empty-handed. We were intent on casting for distance and discovered late in the day that the fish fin so close to shore - a classic case of working too hard.

``I learned that everything I've ever read is correct - that surfperch are in the (surf) zone and if you don't fish the zone you'll never find them. And sometimes the zone is at your feet,'' Spike said.

Once we scaled back the tosses, flipping the mussels just over the lip of the first trough, we caught as many as we wanted. The noon quitting time came way too soon.

``It was just like going back in time,'' Gray said.

If you go, bring a scale.

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Map

Photo: (color) Radio fishing-show personality Pete Gray casts a line near Christy Ranch on Santa Cruz Island.

Brett Pauly / Daily News

Map: (color) CHRISTY RANCH, SANTA CRUZ ISLAND