We have a week's worth of nice weather ahead of us, and a number of good local fishing opportunities. Big game hunters can scratch that itch with a short hop over the hill to San Francisco Bay.

Surfcasters are looking forward to chasing the perch this week. Last week's storms built some extraordinary structure along our beaches. It's just a matter of locating the concentrations of perch. In the surf, the prey is mostly barred surfperch. Savvy anglers learn to target rip currents, deep onshore holes and trenches where feeding perch congregate.

Pier fishing for perch is getting much better as well, according to Ed Burrell at Capitola Boat and Bait. Burrell saw a good number of perch with a variety of species landed last weekend. "They were getting black perch, barred surf perch, calicos and I even saw a couple striped perch on Sunday," Burrell said. The barred perch were measuring in around 12-13 inches. Burrell also received reports of more striped bass caught near Moss Landing by surfcasters, and has observed steelhead staging outside the surf line in front of Soquel Creek.

Santa Cruz Port District Director Brian Foss has good news regarding the harbor mouth this week. After the massive swells from our last big storm, the harbor entrance has been virtually closed to traffic. Foss says the dredge has removed nearly 25,000 cubic yards of material this week alone, and expects limited use by today and full use by Friday.

For those who prefer exercising heavier gear, sturgeon fishing is getting hot in San Francisco Bay. This week saw fish caught near the Dumbarton Bridge area and good reports from San Pablo Bay near the Pumphouse. The best area by far was the bay waters near Oakland Airport. Numerous fish were hooked in that spot this week, including quite a few oversize sturgeon that were released. Fish smaller than 46 inches or larger than 66 inches must be released. Sturgeon fishing requires an additional Department of Fish and Game stamp for your license. The take limit is one fish per day and three fish per year. Ghost shrimp and grass shrimp seemed to be the preferred bait this week, though fish were also caught using eel or anchovies.