Wind and swell kept boats closer to home last week. Charter boats did well, reporting limits of rockfish on virtually every trip, plus five to 15 lings per outing. Near Monterey, halibut are still available near the Pt. Pinos Bell Buoy, the shell beds off of Cannery Row and further up DelMonte beach past Sand City. The flatties are deeper now as they slowly move toward their water refuge in the abyss. Try 70-100 feet and the bounce ball to cover bottom territory.

Moss Landing anglers are itching to get back offshore in search of bluefin tuna. Who knows how long these behemoths will stick around. Warm water of 65 degrees is forming nice temperature breaks some 30 to 60 miles offshore. The Davenport Fingers channel warm water towards the shoreline, and are only 12-16 miles from the beach. Todd Fraser from Bayside Marine is hopeful of an uptick in local catches of bluefin tuna. Earlier in the week, Fraser reported, "The wind has been calm and the swell is small. There was one boat out trolling Mad Macks near the Davenport Fingers. The anglers did not see much due to the south wind that was blowing 10 knots. The anglers did catch a nice bluefin trolling home about 16 miles from Santa Cruz. The tuna are out there! There was another  bluefin caught today (Wednesday) trolling Mad Macks. The 70-pound tuna was caught at 36'33/122'27. There were other anglers who went to the 601 and to the Fingers but did not see much life. There was one boat who hooked three bluefin on the furthest Finger off Davenport. The anglers lost the bluefin due to light line and high speed Mad Macks." 

Deepwater rockfish remain abundant and on the larger size for boats launching out of Santa Cruz. Skippers reported nice limits of vermilion, canaries, chiipeppers, yellow and bocaccio rockfish while fishing the 250 to 350 foot reefs. Wind kept many boats inside over the weekend, when counts took longer and fish were smaller. Nevertheless, great bags of blacks, blues, gopher and yellowtail cod came over the rails, with limits being a norm for the week despite the wind. 

Surfcasting was also hampered last week by a strong south swell that persisted through most of the weekdays. As the waves subsided, they left giant deposits of ripped-up kelp, seaweed and seagrass that made fishing impossible for most beaches. By Sunday evening, the water was clearing up and the bite resumed for barred surf perch near Monterey Bay, and BSP’s plus some nice redtail perch further north near Half Moon Bay and Pacifica. Wild beaches like Pompano and San Gregorio remain a very good bet for striper fishing, and the bass bite is still fairly consistent northwards to the Golden Gate. Rumor has it of some epic striper fishing for the nighttime warriors on the central Monterey beaches.