Weather conditions this week were stable enough to provide plenty of fishing opportunities around the Monterey Bay. In the south, Chris Arcoleo continues to send his boats out for limit-style groundfish action. Wednesday and Thursday trips aboard the Check Mate returned with full limits for all aboard of both rockfish and lingcod.

There are some scattered squid around in Santa Cruz. Pier anglers using squid rigs were catching market squid from the deep end of the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf this week. San Jose angler Ed Edwards used live caught squid off a Santa Cruz Boat Rental skiff to catch big vermilion and canary rockfish and lingcod fishing 120 feet of water off Natural Bridges. Edwards reported, “First, we made a little run to the north put out sum (rock crab) pots to soak. We had many little ‘hatchlings’ yes little ones but that's just Santa Cruz. Did manage to get one 25.3-incher. Five or so pounds.”

Fishing in Capitola remains steady. Skiff anglers there caught mostly rockfish this week, with the Mile Reef area producing good bags of bolina rockfish and lingcod. Meanwhile, the pier anglers were happy with a steady diet of mackerel, jacksmelt , walleye and barred surf perch while casting from the Capitola Wharf.

Looks like the beaches may be shaping up early for wintertime surfcasting this year. We’ve already had a couple long-period northwest swells hit the area and another big northwest is hitting this weekend. A large volume of sand is being moved around right now. It’s worth it to take a look at how the local beaches are being restructured.

Santa Cruz surfcaster Johnny Poff worked the Seabright/Main Beach area Thursday morning. It was an incoming tide. Poff brought home an impressive stringer of barred surfperch for dinner despite the big waves rolling in. Poff reports, “There’s a lot of sand building up on the beach now. It’s really steep. The water is deep right behind the breakers. We cast camo sand worms in between the sets. The fish were hitting hard and a few of them were hogs.”

A reminder to have safe and be fun: Steep beaches and big waves can be very dangerous, even for experienced anglers. Remember, never turn your back on the ocean, and always know what’s behind you so you don’t trip and fall as you’re backing up the beach after casting.

If you don’t mind traveling a bit, bank angers from Rio Vista in the Delta on up to Sacramento are catching good numbers of traveling salmon. The American and Feather Rivers are producing as well. Most fish are getting dark but still suitable for smoking. Catching a female earns the bonus prize of fresh roe. Cured up, this is an essential element for steelhead fishing in a month or two.