Deepwater rockfish areas will close at the end of April, and only nearshore waters inside of the 20 fathom (120 feet) line will be open for rockfish, cabezon and lingcod. The halibut bite is slowly improving, and surfcasters are finding quality barred surf perch willing to bite on sandcrabs. Striped bass from the beach are a definite possibility right now as well.The stripers are in close, feasting on the same sandcrab buffet as the perch.

Launching from Monterey Harbor, Chris’ Sportfishing has been working deepwater spots and doing quite well, thank you. Chris reports rockfish limits for every trip aboard the Check Mate and the Caroline this week. A check in with the office at Chris’ revealed that the rockfish were a good mix of chilipeppers and yellows with daily limits of vermilion (two per angler per day). Last Wednesday, the Check Mate also posted ling cod limits for the boat. The big charter boats are heading around the corner of Point Pinos, fishing the rocky bottoms near Carmel and even Big Sur when conditions permit.

Moss landing private boaters are in a funk due to the salmon season closure. Moss is somewhat salmon-centric, and the serious fishermen are gearing up and scouting for bluefin tuna. It’s a long run from the center of Monterey Bay to reach federal waters for deepwater rockfish. Happily, the recent, formal approval of California RCG regulations allows those guys to hit the nearby canyon edges that host a variety of deepwater rockfish. The sand flats bordering those canyons also produce quite a few Petrale sole.  Big Petrale sole! Skippers from Moss have reported a number of sightings of bluefin recently, as close as five miles from shore. No one has reported bluefin catches since those near the Farallons earlier in the month, though.

Santa Cruz anglers and charters are concentrating on deepwater rockfish for now. Stagnaro’s Sportfishing reports limits of rockfish on all trips aboard the Legacy and Velocity. Anglers going out with Stagnaro picked up the occasional lingcod and up to 24 Petrale sole per trip. The six pack boats launching from Santa Cruz are busy. Despite the closure of salmon season, conditions have been favorable enough to get out for deepwater rockfish. Santa Cruz Coastal Fishing and Go Fish Santa Cruz Charters are making easy limits on all trips, and returning to port with an impressive array of canaries, yellows, vermilion and chilipepper rockfish.

Halibut as large as 30 pounds are biting best from the southern portion of the bay near Monterey and Pacific Grove. Best depths in that area were reported as 80-120 feet of water. Near Santa Cruz, the flatties are slowly filtering in from the winter deep, with local catches reported from 50-80 feet mostly. We’ve had no surfcast halibut reports yet this season, but anglers on the Santa Cruz Wharf are picking up legal flatties, with at least one reported to be in the 20-pound class.