We enjoyed some fine weather and ocean conditions this week on Monterey Bay. A few afternoons were gusty but most mornings showed calm and glassy seas. Surfcasters had some swell to contend with, but surfperch like a little tumult in the water don’t they?

There aren’t a whole lot of boats going out to the fishing grounds right now. Most of the six-pack charters are on vacation until April. The bigger charter companies are doing well, looking for sand dabs and crabs for the most part. Chris Arcoleo at Chris’ Fishing Trips in Monterey posted good numbers for multiple trips this week, including scores of up to 27 Dungeness crab, 800 sanddabs and 105 Petrale sole on the Check Mate and Caroline.

There’s not much point in trying to predict how a fishing season is going to shape up, but we are already seeing some signs that this year might be weird. If we’re lucky it will be wonderfully weird. One angler took advantage of a huge bonito feeding frenzy off Santa Cruz a couple weeks ago, and we received reports of feeding bonito again this week. Which brings up the big tuna question. Are the bluefin still around? If not, might they come back again this year? Will we finally have a year for albacore fishing like in “the old days?” The bluefin tuna actually might well be here still, just nobody is fishing for them. There is a huge amount of bait in the bay including anchovies and mackerel, which is probably holding those bonito close by and hopefully keeping the bluefin in the area as well.

The plentiful bait is making a noticeable difference for inshore anglers. Halibut look to be starting their annual migration back to the shallows already, a month or so earlier than usual. We received reports of halibut caught from the Santa Cruz Mile Buoy and the 60-80 foot depths near Capitola as recently as Super Bowl Sunday. It would be well worth anyone’s while to get out and bounce ball hoochies, stickbaits or even frozen bait right now. Usually March is the earliest we see these halibut scouts coming in, while April and May bring bigger returns on the flatties. Don’t be surprised if that whole scheme of things shifts to a month earlier than usual.

Like last year, surfcasters are not seeing much striped bass action from Monterey Bay beaches. But, surfcasting for perch is decent and getting better. Much of the beach structure from December’s storms has flattened out. Good parallel troughs seem to be the best structure to target at this time. Surfcasters below Moss Landing are catching more and bigger fish, though the Santa Cruz County beaches are starting to catch up. A few anglers have reported good results while traveling north of Santa Cruz to the wilder north county beaches and select spots below Half Moon Bay