A muscular south swell rolled through last week, putting fish off the bite in the shallower spots. The waves popped up then faded within a couple days with minimal effect. Winds stayed down for the most part and a couple days were especially pleasant with low winds, abundant sunshine and all-day fishing.

The bigger surf had an additional benefit of stirring up the beaches and getting some big currents and riptides going. This greatly improved conditions for surfcasters with a number of big scores of barred surf perch and an uptick in striped bass reports. The perch can be almost anywhere along the Monterey Bay, if one spot does not produce, move on to the next. Some stripers are still being caught from beaches in the cities of Monterey and Santa Cruz, but the main concentration and the bigger fish seem to be congregating more towards the middle shorelines of the bay, especially closer to the Pajaro and Salinas river mouths.

Rockfish and lingcod, as always, are the mainstay. Chris’ Fishing Trips out of Monterey Harbor continue to report half to full limits of lingcod on their daily trips aboard the Check Mate, Caroline and Star of Monterey. Rockfish scores are averaging half to three-quarter limits per trip for those boats. From Santa Cruz, Go Fish Santa Cruz Charters reported full limits of rockfish from Saturday’s trip. Beth Thomas relates, “Another fun day fishing the beautiful Monterey Bay. We fished locally where the water was beautiful and the fish were bountiful. (We) caught crew limits of rock fish consisting of quality blues, blacks and vermilion.”

Halibut are getting harder to find, but diligent anglers are still picking them up in 60-100 feet of water, near the Mile Buoy in Santa Cruz as well as up the coast near Three-Mile Beach and Davenport, according to Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine. Monterey halibut reports are scarce, but the 70-90 foot depths were producing best lately, both near the “Hotel” area as well as the Red Bell Buoy area. White Sea Bass are even more rare, though a few were caught near Pajaro this week.

The San Mateo County salmon scene reminds us a little of Pokémon Go. Some people just “Can’t stop, Gotta catch them all!” Half Moon Bay continues to enjoy their return of hatchery fish at Princeton Harbor. Released by the Coastside Fishing Club as smolts, the now mature salmon are returning to that area and providing quite a bit of enjoyment and excitement. According to kayak angler Jason Tanagon, a productive spot is just outside the harbor. Tanagon caught a quick limit on Tuesday and provided these details, “70 pulls, Deep 6, (trolling) anchovies at 2-2.5 mph between the Red and Green can. Find the big bait balls, find the chrome. Lost two nice ones before landing these two. Limit by 8:45am and got to work before noon - One dink, and a 20 pounder.”