It doesn’t get much better than this! Well, I suppose we could have a hot albacore bite and giant tanker white sea bass to make things better. But, let us not be greedy.

Monterey Bay anglers are grateful for the number and variety of saltwater fish on the bite right now. And, things are looking better and better. We may very well see the big sea bass soon as the big squid boats are working nightly close to shore in Santa Cruz right now. Warm water currents and temperature breaks that can hold albacore tuna are forming nicely offshore, though only a few of the speedy tuna have been caught so far.

In Monterey, Chris’ Fishing Trips continues to post limits of rockfish and near limits of lingcod for most of their trips aboard the Check Mate and the Caroline. Halibut fishing is good and getting better all along DelMonte Beach. Even surfcasters are getting into the flatty action while pitching white HairRaisers or white flukes on half to one-ounce leadhead jigs. Kayakers are also cashing in, catching numerous halibut in eight-20 feet of water between the kelp and the beach on DelMonte. Most these fish are small. If you are not sure it’s legal size try to release it in the water without netting or lip-gripping. Gaff the halibut only if it’s obviously legal sized. Bigger flatties continue to be caught in the 40-70 foot depths from Fisherman’s Wharf to the Hotel area in Marina. Rumor also has it the area near the Coast Guard Pier is hosting some calico bass right now.

In Santa Cruz Todd Fraser reports “The rock fishing was good near Natural Bridges. The anglers are drifting and trolling squid, herring, and anchovies. Halibut have been caught from the West Side to Pajaro, you just have to put in the time.” Staff and management at Capitola Boat and Bait put in the time on Monday. Myron Larson, Trenten Black and Ed Burrell fished the Mile Reef area and returned with a bonanza. Burrell weighed in a 26-pound flatty, Larson had one at 20 pounds, and Black caught his limit of three halibut, the largest going around 17 pounds.

Salmon fishing is closed in our area now, but is on fire from Half Moon Bay to the Marin Headlands. Skipper Tom Joseph is running the Sara Bella/Fish On Sportfishing from Princeton Harbor for early limits of big fish. On Sunday Joseph reported, “Another great day our party of four boated limits and the captain got his limits by 8:15am today, with the biggest fish going 28 pounds.” On Tuesday, Joseph had this to say,” Today we were heading back to the harbor at 8:30 am our charter boated limits of salmon and the captain got his limit also. Doesn't get any better. With the salmon bite so good I'm going to run a second trip for those who don't like to get up early.”