Thanks to a stationary high pressure system hovering over the coast of California, fishing conditions have remained stable in Monterey Bay. Mornings featured fog and a slight wind before noon. Afternoons and evenings have been windy until just before dark. With no groundswell to speak of, this has made venturing out on the ocean a pleasant and productive experience this week.

We have lots of bait in the shallower waters of the bay. There are tons of anchovies close to the shoreline. The huge schools attract diving birds, sea lions, and other marine mammals as well as predatory sportfish. Sport anglers in Santa Cruz report increasing indications of squid near Lighthouse Point and the Pleasure Point area, but no huge spawning events as yet.

For surfcasters, the abundance of nearshore bait means fishing for striped bass. Reports are increasing from the beaches of Manresa up to Capitola of stripers in the surf. Evenings seem to be the best time to target these fish that travel up and down the shoreline in pods of 20 to 200 fish. Walk the beach and look for birds, bait or bass busting the surface and have your rig ready to cast.

Halibut have followed the anchovy bait back into the shallows. While not quite as productive as last month, there are still plenty of flatfish out there for the catching. Pier fishers in Santa Cruz and Capitola are using live caught anchovies as bait, and bringing legal flatties over the rail. The bigger fish are in deeper water, like the 28 pound halibut caught by kayaker Mark Stamp on Monday near Lighthouse Point, and the whopping 45-pounder caught by Steve Fishman from Santa Cruz.

Rock cod fishing remains very productive on both sides of the bay. Chris’ Fishing Trips continues to post daily limits of rockfish, plus averaging about one ling per rod. They are fishing locally, according to deckhand Troy Stokes who said, “We’ve been fishing inside the bay, mostly near Point Pinos because of the winds. Picked up a halibut here and there but none lately.” Stokes is also excited by the influx of both Spanish and Pacific mackerel on the south end of Monterey Bay.

Santa Cruz boats are finding plenty of rockfish as well. Stagnaro’s Sportfishing’s Wednesday report cited 126 rockies plus four lings for 15 anglers aboard. “Nice quality,” owner Ken Stagnaro included. From the Mega-Bite, Skipper Tom Dolan gave Wednesday results saying, “Got lucky again and after about 30 minutes of hunting found live anchovies for bait. The rockcod fishing was off the hook! Caught probably 100 fish but only kept the biggest 75 today. Fun fun fun!”

Not to be outdone, Go Fish Santa Cruz Charters worked the deeper reefs near Natural Bridges for early limits. Beth Thomas, as always, is enthusiastic saying, “The rock cod bite continues to be hot. Today we caught limits of a variety of quality fish including some nice ling cod. The fish are nice size and again vermillion were the prominent catch.”