It’s that magic time for fishing all across the Monterey Bay. Late summer heading into fall. Halibut are slowly moving out towards deeper water, but enough remain in 40-80 feet of water to make targeting them a decent proposition. this is the time of year we see bigger flatties coming in from Santa Cruz North Coast areas. Anglers work the sandy flats outside the bull kelp at Wilder’s, Three and Four-Mile Beaches, Davenport and Scott’s Creek for late halibut. Using live bait is always the best, but if going with dead bait, we’d recommend squid. There’s always a chance for a tanker white sea bass in that area this time of year. Perch are getting bigger and more numerous from all our Monterey Bay beaches and there’s still enough stripers on the bite to make it worthwhile to chase those hard-fighting surf fish.

Adding to the positive gestalt, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife realized some of their quillback rockfish data was hooey, and subsequently relaxed the constricting and sometimes confusing depth area regulations, meaning we can fish nearshore or as deep as desired for the remainder of rockfish season which runs through December 31.

The big charter boats from Monterey continue to report limits of rockfish. Many trips from Monterey are making it as far south as the Big Sur area for quality rockfish, including some big canaries and vermilion. Chris’ Fishing Trips reported limits up to 150 rockfish this week and up to six lings as a bonus. J & M Sportfishing reported full rockfish limits as well including 15 and 16 lingcod for the Saturday trips aboard the New Horizon and the Kahuna, respectively. In Santa Cruz, Stagnaro’s Sportfishing counted around 1/2 limits of cod on their shorter forays including the twilight trips with six lings as a high mark for the week.

Todd Fraser from Bayside Marine tracks local tuna fishing closely. The tuna bite this year has been teasingly tantalizing. Both bluefin and albacore tuna are in the area, though they’re apparently not easy to find. On Wednesday Fraser said, "There were a few  bluefin caught today just short of the 601. The total I heard for the few boats out was two nice  bluefin. The  bluefin were caught on Mad Mack's and were in the 150-pound range. The anglers saw more  bluefin at Davenport Fingers where the water was 63 degrees. The anglers who ran below Monterey did not find any tuna that I heard of.” Albacore anglers are doing better the farther they head north. Bodega Bay fishermen reported catches of 10-20 fish about 40 miles offshore, and Ft. Bragg boats are doubling that average number a bit closer to shore. Crescent City and nearby areas off the Southern Oregon coast continue to enjoy a steady productive bite on the longfin tuna in the 30 to 50-pound range.