A new south swell rolled into Monterey Bay this week. Combined with a larger west swell, the water roiled and nearshore fishing suffered. Salmon also scattered this week with catches reported all around the bay as well as off the north coast of Santa Cruz. Salmon are holding deep and were hard to find for many anglers. Chris’ Fishing Trips in Monterey had a good day of salmon fishing Friday. The Check Mate reported 14 fish for 14 anglers while mooching. All of Chris’ other trips for the week went for rockfish and reported back with the usual limits including ling cod up to 20 pounds.

The Moss Landing crowd of private boaters continued on the hunt for salmon, and some did quite well despite the south swell and scattered fish. Working the big canyon edges and fishing deep, quite a few limits were reported all through the week. A few skunks were in the mix as well. The Pajaro Pipeline area is holding some schools of rockfish and it is also and excellent habitat for halibut that have been moving in over the past couple weeks. The swell slowed catches of these fish considerably.

In Santa Cruz, salmon fishing blew hot and cold. Go Fish Santa Cruz reported full limits on Wednesday for six clients aboard the beautiful Miss Beth, but only landed one out of three on Saturday. On Friday and Sunday, their trips for rockfish were fantastic. Working the deeper reefs just north of Santa Cruz, Captain JT Thomas reported full limits for all aboard. “The clients had early limits of a variety of quality fish including vermillion, yellow tail and coppers,” said JT regarding Friday’s trip. On Sunday he said, “ The clients caught a variety of quality rock fish. The weather was a wet but everyone had fun!” Santa Cruz Coastal Charters recorded a similar experience for the week. Skipper Rodney Armstrong reported on Wednesday saying, “Today we were back at it for king salmon. The fishing was red hot again. We had the 12 for the clients and one for us. Could have easily had the other three for us but stacked the gear and got out of there.” On Saturday Armstrong went for rockfish. He reported, “We had to work hard but we ended up with six limits of rock fish. Only found one short lingcod and fished four different rock piles. It was good times hunting around.”

Surfcasters were challenged by the booming waves and massive amounts of kelp and seaweed in the water. Still, with the right tide and the right location, fish were there to be had. I fished New Brighton in the morning and found a few clear spots towards the middle of that long beach. Mostly I was pulling kelp in and breaking leaders. The reward was meager, only a few fish measuring up to ten inches. That evening, local Santa Cruz Surfcaster Ivan O’Sullivan headed down to the end of his street near Pleasure Point for an epic one-hour session into sunset. He reported, “Caught six perch from seven inches to what was probably my personal best- a female more than 12 inches and 1.5 pounds. She was so pregnant I didn’t want to measure or weigh her, just got her back in the water. All caught on Lucky 13 grubs coated with Lunker Oil (shrimp). It was amazing. Clear beautiful water with zero salad. It was surreal! I am loving perch fishing again!”