Weather conditions are settling in to what we consider a more “normal” summertime pattern. We’re getting a slight breeze around sunrise that dies down for a few hours of calm and glassy seas before picking up again from the west or northwest. How hard it blows after that determines how long we can stay out fishing. We had a few days this week that were nice until noon or later. The weekend forecast looks even better with maximum winds expected to be no more than ten knots or so, over an almost negligible swell.

Halibut fishing remains strong on Monterey Bay. Halibut are biting from 30 feet of water out to 70 feet these days. Any flat sandy area of the bay can produce. The Capitola area is slowing down for halibut, while West Cliff and North Coast areas are picking up near Santa Cruz.

For a guaranteed catch, rockfishing is the best bet right now. Private boats and charter operations are hauling in limits from the medium and deeper reefs. Shallow reefs should produce as the annoying south swell continues to slowly die out. Six-pack charter Go Fish Santa Cruz has been working the north coast spots lately, near Davenport. The fish are bigger there and limits are quicker. Skipper JT Thomas reported Monday and Tuesday trips caught limits of a great variety of rockfish including vermillion, browns, blues, yellowtail, blacks and coppers. The best news comes from Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine who is tracking catches of the elusive white seabass. Fraser reports that anglers found halibut and a few seabass while drifting squid near Three Mile Beach north of Santa Cruz. 

Stagnaro’s Sportfishing operates two bigger boats from the Santa Cruz Harbor, and often does multiple trips per day. Owner Ken Stagnaro gave his overview for the week saying, “The Velocity was coming home with half to 3/4 limits with a few ling cod starting to show up. Over the weekend, anglers on Legacy caught limits of rockfish on seven-hour trips and 3/4 limits on the afternoon twilight trips. On Tuesday they caught early limits of rockfish for 8 anglers aboard.”

Chris’ Fishing trips in Monterey reports steady catches of rockfish on the Check Mate and Caroline this week. On Wednesday, the Check Mate counted 195 rockfish and 11 lingcod for the boat. As a bonus factor, they also pulled in 75 ocean whitefish, which is more a Southern California species, but not unusual for these warm summer months in the southern part of Monterey Bay. We would expect more reports soon of “exotic” species from the Monterey area soon, which could include calico bass, barracuda and more ocean whitefish. It’s just about time for the giant bluefin tuna to start showing up offshore again, if the pattern holds true from the past few years.