Anglers continued to enjoy nice weather and great fishing all around the Monterey Bay this week. Wind and swells were mild, which made for long pleasant days on the water for boaters. High tides around dawn and dusk favored surfcasters in their pursuit of halibut, striped bass and surfperch from the beaches.

Charter operations in Monterey, Moss Landing and Santa Cruz continue to find limits of rockfish for their clients, Chris Fishing Trips reported daily limits of rockcod, and full limits of lings as well for Tuesday and Wednesday’s trips aboard the Check Mate.

The Kahuna, embarking from Moss Landing took advantage of calm seas to fish Point Lopez, near Big Sur. Owner Carol Jones reported, “With our fall good weather coming up we well see more days down the coast to Point Sur and Lopez Point. We went down the coast today with good weather and ended up with limits of both rockfish and lingcod. Down the coast fishing is heating up with fall weather coming up. Regular Steve Wilson came up with double lingcod, a 25- pounder and a 20-pounder!”

In Santa Cruz the six-pack vessel Miss Beth for Go Fish Santa Cruz Charters continues to post limits as well. Beth Thomas informed us on last weekend’s trip saying, “Today’s charter proves the rock cod fishing continues to be hot. Limits again for everyone. They caught blues, blacks and olives. The whales were out there and provided some entertainment.”

Mega Bite Skipper Tom Dolan has been working some deeper reefs just north of town, and doing quite well. Dolan reports, “Flat as a pancake water and the fish were biting like crazy! Caught some sand dabs for lingcod bait then ran over to the lingcod hot spot. BAM! Limits of lingcod then headed to the rockfish honey hole and WHAM! Limits of olive, canary, brown, and red pacific snapper to seven pounds! Came home with over 150 pounds of fish. Great day.”

The tail end of our last south swell brought anchovy schools to the shallows near the Cement Ship last week, along with plenty of striped bass in pursuit. Surfcasters working that area enjoyed a few days of multiple striper catches. The bite has dropped off since then, but could resume at any time. Perch fishing remains steady at most of the area beaches.

This summer has proven to be one of the best for catching halibut from the shoreline. When the waves are small, and in the protected areas inside the kelp line, shore anglers continue to hook up small halibut, with perhaps one in 10 making the legal size limit. As a reminder, please handle the undersized halibut gently and release quickly. Halibut are very sensitive, with a high mortality rate after being hooked and released. The 16-incher you release this year could be the barn door you catch a few years from now.