Strong winds continue to vex Monterey Bay anglers. In an unusual pattern, the winds often blow all night, making for bumpy seas in the mornings. Still, boats are getting out whenever they can and an increasing number of fish are coming over the rail.

Santa Cruz rockfishing is really picking up. The fish are moving closer to shore as the water warms. Good catches can be counted in the 40-70 foot depths right now. Deep-water spots also continue to produce. Go Fish Santa Cruz Charters has been working the deeper reefs near Natural Bridges this week for great returns. Skipper John Thomas reports, “The charter fished deep water and caught limits of a variety of nine different species of rock fish including canaries, olives, gophers. browns, blacks and bocaccios.”

Tuesday morning featured light winds that enabled Darren Schrum to paddle out with Santa Cruz Kayak Fishing and bring home a limit of rockfish working the 40-50 foot depths near the Mile Buoy. His catch included bolinas, gophers and blacks. Three legal lingcod were also retained on the trip, out of eight lings hooked.

As the recent groundswell diminished, we are seeing a welcome uptick in reported halibut catches. Capitola Boat and Bait reported halibut caught nearly every day from the rental skiffs. Owner Frank Ealy says, “Skiffs were killing it at Mile Reef on Sunday. One boat brought in four fish, a six pounder, a 13, a 20 and a huge 35-pound halli from the Mile Reef area.” But, the big fish honors this week must go to fisherwoman Shawn Larson who pulled in a massive flatty weighing 40 pounds, fishing that same area on Monday.

Todd Fraser from Bayside Marine is tracking Santa Cruz private boaters success at halibut hunting. “Halibut fishing has been the best bet near the Mile Buoy and down near the Cement Ship. The anglers are drifting and trolling anchovies, herring and squid. There were some keeper halibut caught in the shallow water near the Santa Cruz wharf,” Fraser reports.

More good news. The Kahuna, chartering out of Moss Landing is up and running trips again. Owner Carol Jones is happy to report their famous Big Sur “long-range” trips are back on the calendar. And, they’re catching lots of big fish. “The anglers on this Memorial Day had some great action on the lingcod. We caught limits of both nice rockfish and lingcod. Nice vermilion and coppers.”

Monterey anglers who book with Chris’ Fishing trips continue to be rewarded with lingcod limits as well. Using live squid, the Check Mate and Caroline reported full ling limits and ½ to full rockfish limits for every trip last week. A few salmon were reported caught in shallow water near Monterey this week, and halibut fishing is improving, especially off DelMonte Beach, and up towards Sand City in 60-70 feet of water.