The December doldrums have descended upon us it seems, at least on this side of the Monterey Bay. Rockfishing is closed, crabbing is slow, and we have yet to settle into the wintertime routine of sandabs, mackerel and surf perching.

Stagnaro's Velocity and Captain Jimmy's Becky Ann were busy this week assisting the SRI research team test the newly placed Hyper Drive Wave Energy generator offshore from Santa Cruz. Captian Jim Rubin still needs to check his crab pots, however, and says the Dungeness crab remain scarce. He's been averaging 1-4 crabs per pot. With 20 pots out, that often means limits for Rubin's clients, but entails a whole lot of work.

Frank Ealy at Capitola Boat and Bait is waiting for the perch bite to improve from the Capitola Wharf. Diligent anglers in are managing to catch a few walleyes here and there, but the real wintertime bite has yet to materialize. Ditto for the surfperch. We have received individual reports of surfcasters finding fish at Rio Del Mar, Manresa and even the beaches just south of the Santa Cruz Harbor, but no consistent bite has taken hold. Mark Dingler at the Angler's Choice Tackle Shop in Capitola chimed in with a barred surfperch report last week, and recommends the GULP 2-inch sandworms as the best bait to throw right now. Other, individual reports confirm this is the bait working best at this time.

Chris' Sportfishing out of Monterey did well fishing for sandabs and mackerel this week. Todd Arcaleo says his clients are catching 40-50 mackerel and 40-50 sanddabs each trip. The schools must be thick on that side of the Bay. Arcaleo has been working the south side of the Monterey Bay marine Canyon in 600-800 feet of water for the giant Humboldt Squid. They use 4/0 reels spooled with Spectra for the behemoths that average 25-30 pounds each. Chris' will also run crab combo trips this winter.

If you are an angler that doesn't mind traveling a bit further, then San Francisco Bay would be a good bet right now. Captain jay Yokomizo from Emeryville Sportfishing says the stripers are beginning to filter into the bay, and are producing plenty of action for anglers up there. According to Yokomizo, the best bite is still near the Delta. Frank's Tract, the Carquinez Strait and the Mothball Fleet area have been producing tons of schoolie stripers and god catches of larger adults weighing from 20-40 pounds. These fish will distribute further south into San Pablo Bay and beyond in the next month. Sturgeon fishing is still spotty and will remain so until we get some rain (which is coming soon, according to the National Weather Service reports). A few good catches of sturgeon were reported near the Delta, as well as the shallows near Alameda and from the pier at Oyster Point.