Nice little spot at the end of the warf. Recently reopened after reconstruction from earlier storms. Limited bait and tackle. Nice boats and kayaks for rent. Decent selection of beers and snacks to enjoy at a nearby picnic table. read more

Capitola Boat & Bait - Boating Near Me - Capitola, California

One of the best experiences of a lifetime go out in the boat. The staff is top of the line couldn't ask for better people. I will be back. read more

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Lady known as "Ashley" had some incredibly racist remarks to say to other staff about an Man of Asian decent and his child when they came in to buy tackle and ask for advice after they had made a purchase and left. This warf used to be family when we would rent boats many times a year but Ashley has instantly solidified a reason for our families to not return to CBB or SBB read more

If y'all don't wanna rent the boats ( this is for the Santa cruz location ) then don't open your store

I live in here in Capitola and have for years. I called ahead to make sure they were open and we could rent 2 boats. The person who answered, said yes, and gave me pricing. When we arrived 20min later, an older, portly gentleman refused to rent to us stating- "I'll cost me more money to pay my employee than what I'm getting from you" -I don't know why he himself couldn't help us. - ok great. You don't want my money- see ya. That's bad business. read more

Amazing people!!! Saw tons of Dolphins!! Great clean boat!! $30 for a hour $125 for the day!!! I can't wait to go back!!!! Go around 9:00 water was still and wharf wasn't crowded read more

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I am struck by how incredibly kind the people in Capitola are, and the owner of this shop and his employees are no exceptions. My friends and I came quite unprepared to try our hands at fishing. Rather than take advantage of us loud and obviously inexperienced tourists, he took his time to teach us all on how to use the equipment properly despite the growing line of customers waiting to be served. He was very patient with our questions and repeated visits, which was greatly appreciated by myself and my group. One of our members, (who was eager for her first time fishing) managed to catch 4 fish in her first few hours of fishing with rod/reel combo and bait she had acquired from this shop! I caught absolutely nothing with my own equipment (not from shop), and had to return to the shop to buy some more reel line when the owner told me he had to give me a huge discount on the line I chose since it was mostly gone. He has my immense respect for his honesty. TLDR: Really great people, great equipment that works for a very reasonable price, and probably one of the best locations you can ask for a shop. Did I mention the people were great? Check this place out. PS: To the guy that gave my friend that 1 Oz weight for free before moving on with your day, I hope the best things come your way. read more

I didn't know what to think of this bait shop at first. They sell some really cool novelty items for very good prices, but the man running the register was kind of a jerk to one of the customers who came in. When we went up to pay for the items we had though, the guy was the nicest person in the world. He was very friendly, plus he gave a small discount on one of the items. It turns out that he was only a jerk, and I use that term loosely, because it was concerned for the man's safety. The man was going out on rented boat with his son, and the "jerk" was just warning him about the dangerous tides that day. So really, he's an anti-jerk. This place may be a tackle shop above all, but it's also a cool place to grab some souvenir items as well. read more

My favorite place to FISH. You will never know what you gonna pull up. Still trying to catch the big one. You can catch cod, lingcod, halibut, king salmon, sand dab, flounder, bat ray, diamond ray, leopard shark, sand shark, or a great white ! Also king fish, mackerel, smelt, anchovy, lizard fish, perch, octopus, n squid for baits. Or eat. But all depend on the timing. Always get good advice from the guys. Thanks Ed, Myron, n Mike for hotspot. Or... You can come out here for a ROMANTIC time. Whales watch and dolphins. One time a few whales sneak by my boat and scare the shit out me lol. I have seen a few crazy thing out there. Millions of birds covering the sky, or millions of anchovy flood the beaches, or millions of sail jellyfish covering the water. Is always exciting going there. read more

Capitola boat and bait is a small wooden shop way out on the Capitola Pier. They have roughly 10 or so four person motorized skiffs with life vests that you can rent by the hour or for $75 per day. You better make reservations a few days in advance, or a week in advance on holiday weekends though as they always sell out. Every time I go, I see a line of people who can't get a boat. They also rent fishing poles for $10 a day and will custom set it up for whatever type of fish you want to catch. The boats have to be back in by 3pm (because often the fog starts coming in) but you can exchange your deep ocean rods for pier rods and keep fishing on your same rental fee. They give you a loaner bag of tackle in case yours gets stuck on the rocky bottom. You can also get buckets, gaffs, nets, and bait for your trip. Don't forget the motion sickness pills which they also sell. Last time I took my marine GPS and they added 12 waypoints to it's memory through the NMEA 0183 serial port of good places to fish, and of course, to find my way back to the pier should the fog roll in too fast. Since they don't go out with you, I STRONGLY advise taking a GPS or at least a 911GPS enabled cell phone with you in case of emergencies. I like to rent a boat first thing in the morning, fish until I'm hungry, then come back and tie up at the pier and eat my lunch. Then I go back out until 3pm and come back. They don't have any problems with you leaving the boat at the pier while you take a break, eat, or buy more motion sickness pills. The staff can seem a bit gruff, but I think it's mainly frustration from people not listening to them. After you go there a few times and they recognize you, they warm up a lot. One word of advice though, is pay for everything when you return the boat. If you pay for anything before you go out, keep your receipts because sometimes it gets charged to your boat and you have to prove you already paid them. You can get updated fishing reports from the boaters coming back here: http://capitolaboatandbait.com/category/fishing-reports The game warden often hangs out on the pier to inspect boats coming back, so be certain of your fish and your regulations before starting to fish. read more

Capitola Boat & Bait - Brown rock cod caught from our boat - Boating Near Me - Capitola, California

I called a week before to make a reservation, and I was told to call 24hrs ahead of time before cancelling my reservation. I arrive there early to get my gear ready the day of at the pier and I get a phone call the time I am supposed to check in that the crane to lower the boats is out of service and that the weather was too rough. I have gone out on worse days before and I wish they would have given me a call the day before that their crane was broken so I wouldn't have wasted gas, money and time. Where is the communication? I might have to try going out from the Santa Cruz pier instead. read more

I have been here before and they are extremely friendly. A friend and I rented a boat for all day $130 a couple weeks ago. My friend got sea sick even though he took 2 dramamine (helps with motion sickness). We were out there for about an hour and a half. We returned and my friend did not want to go back out. The guy told me next time I should rent it by the hour and there were no partial refunds. We would have spend $30-$40 for the rental instead we spent $130. I was going to start coming here more frequently because I had such a fun time the first time. Now I won't be going back. If you do decide to go and you don't know if you will get sea sick rent by the hour so you don't waste your money. read more

UPDATE! They have renovated and the place looks great! JoJo is still on the walls. Pick your nose and fish here! They are cool with it. read more

Home away from home. If you love fishing this is the place. Cheap boat rentals and kayaks on the bay in the most beautiful setting you can imagine. Cold beers and salty old men turn sunset into into an event everyday. Bring your little ones by in the afternoon. You can buy or rent poles and the guys will set you up with bait and a bucket and maybe even some advise on where to fish off the wharf!! read more

I LOVE THIS PLACE!!! Great guys, great service, boats are good, they always have the gear I need whether going out on a boat or hanging there on the wharf! If you come out late spring to early fall, or any holidays... Make a reservation for a boat at least 1 to 2 weeks in advance! Thanks for everything guys!!! read more

Great place to chill and fish ..and the beautiful ocean scenery makes this pier complete. They do have a Bait shop at the middle of the pier to buy bait and food snacks. Hope to come back Real soon for another fun sun filled day of relaxation and fishing :) read more

Great staff Easy rental Good equipment Fair prices Great staff Easy rental Good equipment Fair prices read more

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I go here way too often - LOL! Anyway, the boat/bait shop, location, pier, weather is a wonderful atmosphere. I have not rented any crafts, so I can't speak to that. But the guys working the boat/bait shop are friendly and helpful. Jojo is a terrific resource and fun to talk to. And the general store is well stocked with pretty much everything a "pier rat" angler would need. Love it! read more

This is for the Capitola location. I've been going for years and never asked for much but the last two times have been lack luster to infuriating. The first occurrence my cousin was visiting from out of town and we caught limits that he wanted a quick photo next to our boat but the young guy who was very rude said "later we need to clean the boat". Even though we told him it would take no more a few seconds and he replied that he would after the boat was cleaned. So we waited and.....never happend. My cousin and I ended up asking a stranger to help us take a picture next to one of the parked boats instead. Basically we were completely ignored. Because we caught limits I wanted to go back out again and ignore this idiots response writing it off as a one time thing. So we went out the following week. We didn't catch much but headed back to be on time for last call. We waited in the water patiently for our turn which took awhile. Some guy actually cut us off and went in at the same time was really pleasing after waiting 20 minutes to park the boat. We finally parked and walked up the ramp and waited another 30 minutes. As it turned out they kept bringing up other boats and not ours. Hmm I was kinda tired so my crew asked me to go say something so we can go. So I asked one the men pulling up the boats about it explaining we landed before the last 4 people did and why our boat was still not up yet and they were done already. He laughed and said "sorry we are sooo busy so...". As he was saying this they help some other guy who just brought his boat in and lift it up for him again ahead of me. Must be some VIP thing our ethnic pride thing but I leave it that. I then went down to the guy getting the boats hooked up to bring it back stating how long we waited and we were ahead of everyone else and got a "sorry we are just that busy" again. :/ I felt compelled to go and complain to the cashier and the main older guy which seemed like it fell on def ears to both as all I heard was sorry we are busy. I think after this I will stick to charter boat fishing now that the main guy is no longer there. It's sad to see them come down to this and hire such garbage staff but I've learned my lesson of throwing good money to them for last 5 years. I hope this will be read and they improve on themselves as I once loved this place but no more and I am not about to waist hundreds of dollars yearly to people who could give a rats ass about me and treat someone like garbage. Good luck Capitola Boat and Bait and try not to piss off all of your customers. read more

5 stars for the kayaking experience, 3 stars for the service. When we first arrived here, it took about 10 minutes of standing around the counter for anyone to even acknowledge our presence. Finally, the woman who worked the counter got us going. Once we filled out the paperwork, we waited around another 5 minutes for her to come back from helping someone else. We told her that we needed to grab something from the car and would be back in like 10 minutes. However, she wrote our "start time" down for the time we turned in the paperwork, not from when we started boarding the boats. This matters because they charge per hour. The staff that handles the boats were generally unhelpful and treated us like annoying tourists (which we aren't). The kayaking itself was amazing. I would recommend going in the morning since I heard that the winds pick up in the afternoon and can make the water somewhat choppy. We saw an otter and a sea lion while out there, and encountered little to no large boat traffic. The place is extremely cheap too. Just $10/hr. per boat. So for four of us who rented tandem kayaks for just an hour, the total came to $20. Not bad at all. In the summers at least, they open nice and early at 6am. I haven't used the Boat and Bait shop for anything other than kayaking, so I can't attest to their other services. read more

Great customer service from a great bunch of people, they were very nice and helpful! $10 to rent a fishing pole all day and they had no problem with me returning the pole the next morning for no additional cost to me! Will be coming back again for sure!! read more

Excellent management team, if you have any problems ask to see the owner. He is a fisherman himself with quite the stories to tell! Most of the employees also have a passion for fishing and know local secrets if you're willing to spend the time to get to know them. read more

Great honest business!!! My family went out on a rental boat last weekend. My father unfortunately forgot his wallet in the boat. We called back 2 days later as we were looking for his wallet. The staff already mailed his wallet back via priority mail. My father received his wallet on the next day. Thank you so much! read more

What a great, chillen pier and store! As a dude who likes to fish, but isn't a fisherman, this is a great place to grab some bait, a float, a beer or two (on a pier that doesn't "allow" alcohol:) and sit back to catch some rays (sunray's that is) A bit overpriced, but not so unexpected. read more

Great place to get tackle and bait. I was able to find a crab trap, which is actually hard to find. That alone will give them 5 stars in my book. The selection is small but exactly what one needs for ocean fishing. The staff is friendly and helpful. Checkout their website for the fish that are being caught. read more

The employees here are very sweet, came here 2 weeks ago to rent a boat over the weekend. They even let us stay out a little longer because the weather was so nice and we didn't get there till 1pm because the pier and downtown area was packed! Have been here twice already and would definitely come back again! read more

Love this place! Every time we visit Capitola we are greeted by the same smiling, helpful, friendly staff. They let you rent the fishing poles and keep them for as long as you're there. Even if I'm not fishing, I got to go in and see the places. One of my favorite places in Capitola. read more

Cool set up they have going on here! They're very helpful with local spots that hold fish, prices are reasonable, service is usually very good. The only reason I didn't give them 5 stars this time is because one of the guys when we returned our boat chewed out my friend for stepping on the life jackets. He said the life jackets are meant to be worn and if you're just going to step all over them well we just won't give you any next time. Then grabbed them threw them on the floor and started spraying them down with the hose in a sort of mini rage. Besides that everything was great. Oh funny thing we rented 2 boats for the full day this time and it was my friends first time. I doubt he's going to repeat. read more

Excellent bait store and a Capitola gem! Great prices and products. Ed was extremely helpful setting up our pole and showing us how to bait the hook. Even let us use a bucket for bait. I'll be back often. read more

Absolutely best place to get on the water for cheap and catch some fish near Capitola shore. Ed is a fantastic fisherman and he and his guys are working hard to accommodate everyone's needs, get them on and off the water safe. They will tell you stories about fish caught, and what's biting, and where the good places are -- in fact you can ask them for GPS coordinates of the local reefs if you are after cod or lings. People on the boats that allowed to go couple miles out catch a variety of fish from cod to sharks, with halibut, salmon and sea bass in between. Make sure you reserve the boat well in advance, and get there by 6 am, this when the best bite and the most clam waters are, and enjoy the day of fishing for 4 for $80, you can't beat it. And before you go, check out the photos on Ed's web site under fishing report, they will tell you how good a bite is on ;-) read more

While owner frank ealy and his deckhand Ed Burrel are both amungst the top fishermen in the monterey bay this business is in dire straits as the fishing industry is dying around them. Each year the fish counts are less and less with no salmon fishing by federal and state law and the rock cod season lasts only six months and can close at any time by law. The boats for rent are 75 bucks a day which have to be back early afternoon so you do not have a shot at the afternoon bite. You are also confined to a limited area that is stripped of fish by the second week of the fishing season and 1 out of every10 rental catches something to justify the $75 price tag. Most rentals catch a couple rock cod,and worthless fish like jack smelt, or bait like mackerel and sardines. The striped bass are easier to catch of the wharf itself,the halibut are difficult to catch unless your really knowledgeable about the area and how to fish,and white sea bass rarely come in on the rentals any more. This is a dying fishery trying to survive with very limited fish and strict rules to catching them. The bait shop has been refitted and is complete now with all the tackle one might need but for what? Rock cod the primary fish can be caught on a simple hook and weight and does not need much else than a piece of squid or anchovey so all the fancy gear for big game is pointless. If you do have a private boat you want to launch here the price is about double that of Santa Cruz harbor to launch and you have to find a place to park your trailer which is impossible when the bite is on! Their is a periodic bite on halibut from June to august with halibut sparatically showing up as early as may and staying as late as september but august is the month typically the best time to try right in the middle of the worst traffic,congestion,tourists, and city events going on. 90 percent of the nicer fish are caught by locals who fish here in some cases daily and all others catch 10 percent of what fish are caught. There are rentals off the Santa Cruz Wharf which score much more rockfish and halibut with an occasional seabass or thresher shark and more options for the rest of the family at the boardwalk for those that do not want to fish. Capitola is pretty and nessled in a unique location where there are lots of seals which just screws your fishing up as they steal fish but their are dolphins galore when the bait is in thus the one star for that. Anna the shop keeper is very freindly and Ed Burrel the deckhand has been their forever with tons of knowlege and will do his best to help you catch a fish but the simple truth is that this place had its hayday for fish which has come and gone years ago. Save the money and go to san francisco instead and book on any of the areas fleet of sport fishing boats for a cheaper price and awesome halibut fishery. the whole fleet is averaging about 1to 2 halibut out of the three limit per angler per trip plus many bonus fish like striped bass,rock cod ,ling cod, sevengill sharks, to name but a few. Capitola has other rentals like kayaks and boards but if its fish you want this not the place to come unless you really know the fishery very well and have each of the ental zones reefs locked into memory. Would i recommend this place to have a shot at catching dinner? personally I think you have just as good a chance fishing off the wharf here. Spend the $75 bucks in the gift shop for a cool souvenir or dinner in the Wharf house restaurant at the end of the pier but no more than $25 per person max! the food is average but the secenary at night is kind of cool! The fishing portion of this operation is trying to encourage kids to get involved in fishing so thats a plus to their credit but the kids get frustrated easily never catching anything other than bait and a few small rock cod or barely legal halibut. read more

Always great service. It is the best place in Monterey Bay to anchor out.

cant beat the price of the boat rental.... very good prices and schedule, just a little hard to get on weekends with good weather for obvious reasons. read more