Ocean conditions have calmed down after last week’s significant northwest swell. Rockfish and lingcod are back on the bite, and the Dungeness crab are still big and meaty. Surfcasting for perch and striper fishing are improving also.

Charter operations around the bay are running combo trips, mostly. Rockfish season will close on December 31, so now is the time to capitalize on the multi-species forays out on the Bay.

Skipper Tom Dolan from Santa Cruz Charters told a tale of success and adventure from his trip on Saturday. “Water settled down a bit which helped our fishing a lot. Started out running crab pots and we had about 70 pounds of jumbo crab and five pounds of shrimp! Then headed up the coast for six limits of quality blue, yellowtail and canary pacific snapper AND a once-in-a-lifetime great white shark show. A ten-foot great white shark decided to take a rock cod off two of our poles and the tug-of-war battle was on! It finally decided to let go. Shark won,” Dolan reported.

Great whites were on the mind of Sonoma native Matt Tichenal last week as well. Tichenal is a dedicated free diver performing graduate studies at Stanford right now. On his latest kayak dive trip he had his pick of big blues and blacks but mostly collected vermilion rockfish along with one nice lingcod and a hefty sheepshead. Fishing near Carmel, Tichenal recounts, “Epic day last week! Took advantage of the flat seas and explored a new area on my kayak. Glad I did. Scored big with my first NorCal and also personal best sheephead (22 pounds). Also got my first copper (19.25 inches), 3 reds (biggest 20.5 inches, also a PB), a ling, and a nice blue. With all those sea lions around, sharks were definitely on my mind.”

Chris’ fishing Trips in Monterey continues to post limits of rockfish and lingcod for clients aboard the Check Mate and Caroline most days, as well as near-limits of Dungeness on their combo trips. The six-pack charter Go Fish Santa Cruz has been reporting similar numbers from the northern part of Monterey Bay. Owner Beth Thomas reported on Saturday’s success saying, “Our repeat customer Steve fished with some of his friends today. Captain JT took the charter up to the Davenport area where it was wide open. The water was a little bumpy in the morning but glass in the afternoon. They caught limits of a variety of rockfish. They stopped and pulled crab pots and got limits again. Crabs are big this year.”

As long as the winds stay down and the swell stays small, we should continue to enjoy good fishing on the Monterey Bay for the remainder of the month. Time is limited for getting your Christmas Crab though. Luckily, cooked and cleaned crab freezes well. Take a combo trip this week and defrost crabcakes for your Christmas feast!