After a fairly decent salmon opener on Monterey Bay, mother nature decided to send some vexation to all those suffering from salmon fever. Kings were spread all across the bay last week with scores ranging from skunks to full limits of fish up to 30 pounds. Sadly, fishing conditions deteriorated as this week progressed. Heavy winds created wind swells up to 10 feet and made it impossible to fish. These poor conditions are expected to continue into the following week. Prior to the winds, catching salmon on the Monterey Bay was quite a decent proposition. Most boats mustered one or two fish, others caught a fish per rod and even limits for some.

 

Go Fish Santa Cruz boated client limits on Monday. Skipper JT Thomas reported, “We caught twelve nice ones weighing between 10 and 20 pounds. We were back and tied to the dock by noon.” Francesco Isolani was aboard the beautiful Miss Beth for Monday’s trip along with four others in his party including his son Luca and buddy Loren C. Isolani quipped, “Luca and Loren are 12 years old. When I was talking with Luca I said, ‘I am sorry I woke you up at five am to go fishing on your spring break.’ His answer was, ‘getting up at five to go fishing is still better than getting up at seven-thirty to go to school.’” The fish were harder to find by Wednesday with JT reporting, “Today we fished for salmon with repeat client Ryan and his crew from Beauregard Vineyards. We started out local and moved south. Right away Ryan landed a 26-pounder. Then they had two double hookups but lost one on each.” Hopes are high that a new school will move in as the weather calms later this week. The presence of king salmon in the Morro Bay area this week pretty much guarantees we’ll be seeing more salmon here soon. 

 

There’s plenty of feed in the bay, mostly anchovies but some schools of sardine as well. Bayside Marine’s Todd Frasier noted, “The area around the Soquel Hole is loaded with bait and whales so the salmon should move in soon.” Fraser noted that anglers fishing for rock cod are doing well up the coast near Wilder Ranch, and other sources indicate the deeper reefs off West Cliff Drive and the South Rock area provided great rockfishing this week also. The Capitola area is still holding lingcod on its deeper reefs and an increasing number of halibut were reported caught from 50-70 feet of water in that area. The Mile Buoy area in 60-70 feet of water is providing some halibut action as well. Live bait is very available for jigging from the shallows. Anchovies are here in force as well as small smelt, perfect halibut bait for the drifters. Bounce-balling with a dodger and hoochie is always a good bet for the big flatties as well.

 

Surfcasters are finding the perch bite improving on most beaches around the bay. Most perch reported are barred surf perch in the 8-14-inch range, but quite a few walleyes are also biting. The walleye perch are usually a bit smaller than the BSP’s, but seem to school more closely and grab the bait more readily than the BSP’s. Rumors are beginning to percolate about a number of small stripers caught surfcasting from the more central beaches of Monterey Bay.