Winter doldrums are nearly over, now that we have reached March of 2017. Monterey Bay anglers have kept themselves occupied with surfcasting for perch and the occasional striped bass, dropping pots for crab and searching for steelhead trout in the swollen streams and creeks.

Todd Fraser from Bayside Marine in Santa Cruz is feeling positive about the upcoming season of fishing. He reported on Wednesday, “The weather is finally improving and there is a little more room to get out of the harbor. The tides are playing a role so make sure you check the soundings on the harbor web site. The Sand Crab Classic is coming up in March 11. We will have a nice supply of pile worms and shrimp for the tournament. Rock fishing opens April 1, 2017. The meeting for the State salmon season will be at the end of March and the Feds will meet the first week in April. The crab fishing has gotten better!”

Typically salmon season opens at the beginning of April, but low return counts in the Sacramento River over the past few years may result in a very short season this year, or staggered openings as the season progresses through to fall. Far Northern California areas are in even more dire straits, as the salmon counts for the Klamath River system were precipitously low last year.

Chris’ Fishing Trips out of Monterey continue to get boats out as often as possible. Last week’s weather was decent enough to allow for two trips. Saturday, nine anglers on the Caroline caught 360 sand dabs and 35 Dungeness crab. Wednesday’s trip on the Check Mate did a little better, netting 700 ‘dabs, 59 Dungeness crab and six bonus Petrale sole for the nine anglers on that trip.

Surfcasting reports were scarce last week, most likely due to not many people fishing. In Monterey County, Marina Beach and Ft. Ord State Park have great structure and consistent fishing. The Salinas river mouth area is always a good bet for big perch and striped bass, as are the beaches near the Pajaro River. A few stripers were caught from the beaches below Santa Cruz last week. Most are undersized and cannot be kept, but are still very exciting to hook up on with light perching gear.

When making your surfcasting plans, the common wisdom is that fishing will be best two hours before and two hours after high tide. Lately, experienced anglers have actually reported better fishing on the lower tides. “It’s easier to find the holes at low tide,” reported Austin Sprague from Aptos. Sprague has enjoyed a few good fishing days lately, catching and releasing over 10 perch per session as well as a couple striped bass.