This week’s local fishing included a good measure of the weird and the wonderful, as well as some notable catches in the Monterey Bay.

Beach goers and anglers alike have noticed a light green or turquois coloration of the inshore water lately. A Sentinel Sunday edition article by Jason Hoppin Sunday explained the phenomena is a result of an uncommon plankton bloom. The single-cell phytoplankton shed reflective limestone scales resulting in intense coloration of the water.

Sunday also featured uncommon weather conditions along our coast. A hot, muggy atmosphere blanketed our region. The conditions were a trailing effect of Hurricane Delores that spun its energy off the coast of Baja California earlier in the week. Beach goers and anglers were treated to the occasional rain squall plus a thunder and lightning show. Anglers in the Pacifica area reported torrential rain accompanied by multiple lightning strikes on the ocean surface. At least one fishing vessel in that area absorbed a lightning strike. Fortunately there were no injuries.

Fishing remains very productive for a variety of species in Monterey Bay. Rockfishing, which has been “limit-style” for a few months now, is getting even better. A heartening development is the preponderance of schoolie fish closer to the beach. Big clouds of blacks and yellows are hovering over the inshore reefs at 40-50 feet, while the larger groundfish can be hooked a bit deeper, from 80-120 feet. Chris Sportfishing submitted their usual reports, limits every day for every client aboard their three boats. Ditto for Randy’s Sportfishing in Monterey. Stagnaro’s in Santa Cruz is boasting full gunny sacks even on their half-day trips to local reefs in Santa Cruz. Kahuna Sportfishing obviously have been heading towards Pt. Sur, as their reports include full limits, half of which are vermilion, and include copper rockfish plus limits of lingcod.

Salmon fishing took an uptick this week, with anglers finding better concentration of kings near the Soquel Hole, fishing deep in 250 feet of water. A few net-pen kings are milling outside the Santa Cruz harbor. Anglers using Mad River pink worms are catching a few every day from the west jetty at the harbor.

Halibut catches are becoming more numerous, though most are still in deeper water, unusual for this time of summer. Most boats are working 60-80 feet of water, and the hot spots range from Pajaro up to Five-Mile Beach. Squid boats were gathered near Davenport over the weekend, and there are some tanker white sea bass cruising our area. Big fish honors this week go to long-time kayak fisherman “Kayak Rod.” Using a live mackerel, Rod hooked and landed a monstrous 55-pound sea bass near Pleasure Point on Thursday morning.