Weather conditions were pleasant for Monterey Bay anglers this week, with calm foggy mornings and moderate afternoon winds. Fishing has remained consistently good and seems to be getting better as August rolls on. Kayak Connection at the Santa Cruz Harbor sponsored the very first kayak fishing derby in Northern California over 15 years ago. Now known as the “Roots” Derby, the annual event took place last Saturday. A thick fog gave local anglers a leg up on the competition with the top spots being captured by a trio of local kayak fishermen.

Austin Sprague from Aptos used fresh squid on the bottom in 60 feet of water to fool a 20-pound white sea bass. He took home the first place prize of a Old Town Predator fishing kayak and bragging rights for a year. Defending champion Travis Blymyer from Capitola, came up with not one but two halibut for the day. The bigger flatty weighed in at nine pounds and earned him second place plus a sweet Werner paddle. Joe DiMarzio was a close third, with an eight-pound, seven-ounce lingcod. Thanks go to the Kayak Connection and Ocean Kayaks for sponsoring this awesome community event.

As noted above, white sea bass and halibut are definite possibilities lately. Using fresh squid (often available at Bayside Marine) works wonders, and jigging up live squid is even better. These prestige fish are still mostly in deeper water, from 60-90 feet. In Santa Cruz, the SC3 Buoy, Mile Buoy, and Lighthouse Point have seen good catches of halibut and white sea bass. This week, Todd Fraser from Bayside Marine reported, “There have been a few halibut caught up the coast near Davenport. Some nice halibut and sea bass (were) caught on squid near Capitola and Rio del Mar.”

In Monterey, the halibut bite is heating up a bit as well. While obtaining exact locations is somewhat elusive, a really good bet is DelMonte Beach near the “Hotel” area in 60-70 feet of water, and around the corner up towards Tioga Road. Limit-style rockcod and ling fishing is still the rule on Monterey charter boats. Chris’ Fishing Trips listed ¾ to full limits for all clients this week both on rockfish and lingcod. In Santa Cruz, Stagnaro’s Velocity also reported lingcod limits from Sunday’s “full day” trip to Franklin Point.

One need not travel quite so far to fill your bag allowance. Go Fish Santa Cruz Charters Is finding non-stop action on nearby reefs off West Cliff and near Wilder’s Ranch. Miss Beth Skipper Jim Rubin says, “The bite remains hot. We caught three nice lingcod and have to report we lost five at the boat. That means they are out there to get bigger and caught again. There were limits of quality rock cod consisting of yellows, blues, blacks and vermilion. There were whale sightings all morning, which means there a lot of bait in the bay.”