Ocean fishing always gets a little slower this time of year. But, we still have two weeks of rockfish and lingcod season open and the fish are still biting, even from some of the shallow spots in Monterey Bay.

Ed Burrell from Capitola Boat and Bait found success Tuesday near the Sponge Bob Buoy just east of the wharf. Using swim baits, Burrell caught a number of bolina rockfish. He also notes an abundance of bait still in that area including sardines, mackerel and jack smelt.

Chris Victorino, skipper of Stagnaro’s Legacy says they will be running full-day and half-day trips right up to the season’s end on December 31. Victorino recommends the full-day trips as they can be travel up the north coast as far as Franklin Point looking for concentrations of rockfish and of course, the big ling cod.

Tom Dolan from Santa Cruz Charters took full advantage of calm conditions. Dolan had this to say about Friday’s trip on the Mega-Bite, “Snapper trip again today and again the water was flat calm. Fish were hungry too. Got into the BIG red, olive, blue, black, copper pacific snapper to four pounds plus lingcod. The other five reds all went over three pounds. Nice haul today.”

Monterey boats are reflecting the rockfish slowdown as well. Chris’ Fishing trips reported only quarter-limits of rockfish on most trips last week, but anglers aboard the Check Mate and Caroline scored multiple lingcod each as well as bringing home a few Dungeness crab on each trip. Randy’s Fishing Trips sent the Chubasco out on two full-day trips with similar results. Sunday’s trip netted 172 rockfish, 27 crab and five lings, with Monday’s numbers much the same.

Beaches ringing the Monterey Bay are shaping up to an early start this year. A succession of very large swells has started the yearly migration of sand, sculpting holes and trenches that hold feeding perch and striped bass. Recent rains have caused most local streams and creeks to break through the sand berms, and connect to the ocean. This creates even more water movement and creates more structure. Flowing creeks also stir up more food, which attracts more and bigger fish.

A case in point is the huge barred surfperch caught Sunday evening by Shane Luke using mussels on a dropper-loop rig from one of the local beaches near Santa Cruz. The fish was not measured, but was in the 15-inch, three pound range for sure. We usually do not see such big perch until later in the year.