Once again, weather played the leading role in the story of Monterey Bay fishing this week. A large swell didn’t help things, but mostly it was the extreme winds that kept anglers at the dock and the fish hunkered down.

Prior to the weekend windstorm, salmon anglers found a few fish here and there, mostly in the deep canyon areas. The Soquel Hole produced averages of zero to five fish per boat, and a few boats caught fish near Pajaro and off of Moss Landing. In general, the salmon bite is slow. It is well worth a few trips though, to get a fish or two for the table or the smoker. Most salmon reported caught this year are wild fish, and this early in the season is the best time to get them. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced sport salmon fishing in our area will close on July 15 this year, due to low return counts and disappointing ocean salmon abundance reports.

Big waves tend to keep halibut scattered in deeper waters. We received no reports of halibut caught this week. High winds also have the effect of lowering water temperature, another negative factor for halibut fishing. With a few weeks of calmer waters and lower winds we can expect halibut to move in to shallower waters and begin to congregate in the near shore flat sandy areas.

Rockfishng and lingcod are still on the bite however, and it will only get better from here on out for this staple fishery in Monterey Bay. Chris’ Fishing Trips in Monterey reported ¾ limits of rockfish and up to 30 lingcod per trip for multiple days on multiple boats last week. Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine tracks the private boaters operating from the Santa Cruz harbor and says, “. The rock fishing was good near Natural Bridges in 80-100 feet of water. There were some nice lingcod caught at South Rock.”

Surfcasters are still doing very well all around the bay for surfperch as well as striped bass. Most of the bass caught are “schoolie-sized,” measuring under 18 inches but we are seeing an increasing number of legal fish caught as the season progresses. The stripers might be found on any beach, with reports of fish caught from Seabright Beach in Santa Cruz, and Del Monte Beach in Monterey over the past few weeks. The best areas are more central beaches on Monterey Bay, from Rio Del Mar down to Sand City. Local angler Ryse Jauregui sent in a photo of a legal striper he caught south of Rio Del Mar on his first surfcasting trip this year. “First day fishing for them. First one of the season. You got to get out there (they are) starting to get bigger. All I've been using is a pencil popper. I'm three for three right now,” Jauregui reports. Surface poppers, SP Minnow, Krokodile and KastMaster lures have all been successful for catching these stripers in the surf. GULP baits rigged for perch are hooking a few as well as the classic live sandcrab presentation.