Weather conditions continue to vex local anglers. Early mornings are usually fishable, but the winds have come up strong in the afternoons, and it is blowing hard on the offshore tuna grounds. Another south swell rolled through over the weekend that also put fish off the bite.

The coming weekend should provide better fishing for inshore species, according to Mike Schell at Bayside Marine. "Things really slowed down over the weekend with the swell. I think the rockfish and the halibut head to deeper water when the swell comes up." Schell reports a few scattered halibut are being caught, especially off the North Coast pocket beaches. Thought the counts are low, the fish tend to be of the larger variety. "I weighed in a halibut today at 40 pounds," Schell said on Thursday. The big fish was caught somewhere between Natural Bridges and Davenport. This is the time of year for big flatties off the North Coast. Look for flat sandy areas along the kelp bed edges, in water from 40-70 feet deep. Live bait is always preferable when fishing for halibut, though whole squid, frozen anchovies or herring and even lures like swimbaits or megabaits can fool that trophy fish.

The swell affected fishing near Capitola as well. Rockfish counts are down from the reefs near Pleasure Point. Hopefully the numbers will go back up as the ocean settles through the coming weekend. There were a number of success stories from the Capitola Wharf this week, however. A few small, but legal halibut were caught from the wharf in the past few days, and striped bass continue to come over the rail as anglers soak live sardines from the wharf. One bonus this week is the large pod of bottlenose dolphins visiting our nearshore area. The large cetaceans really put on a show of splashing and leaping from the water as they feed on our abundant schools of sardines.

Albacore hunters are pleased to see the warm water currents inching closer to port. The warm water is now about 25 miles offshore. High winds offshore are keeping most boats at the dock, but when anglers can sneak out, they should find fish. The warm water currents are very stable, and boats from Morro Bay up to Ft. Bragg are getting albacore whenever conditions permit. When the current weather pattern stabilizes, we expect to see some high scores and outstanding tuna fishing relatively close to home.

Kudos to Ernie Nunez from Nor Cal Kayak Anglers for his North Coast Derby win last Sunday. Nunez paddled his Ocean Kayak Scupper Pro from Davenport Landing to the Scott's Creek area. Fishing 70 feet of water, Nunez beat the odds and hooked a 30-inch halibut, which proved to be the largest fish caught for the day by any of the 20 kayak anglers participating in the Derby.

Bushnell can also be heard on The Let's Go Fishing Radio Show, Thursdays at 7pm on KSCO Radio 1080AM. Send your photos, comments or questions to scruzfishing@yahoo.com