The Alaska storm track is open and active this winter. Christmas week included more big swells and blustery winds that kept fishing on the ocean difficult.

The best big fish bet for those that can make it out is the Humboldt squid bite. Todd Fraser at Bayside marine reported good catches of giant squid from the submarine canyons off Davenport last week in 800-1200 feet of water. Fraser adds the crab anglers continue to do very well in that area as well, setting their pots in the 180-200 foot depth range. Adventurous anglers leaving from Monterey Harbor are catching the 30-70-pound squid along the edge of the Carmel Canyon. Closer to home, the eastern edge of the Soquel Hole has been holding big Humboldts recently, but we received no reports this past week on that area.

Steelhead season opened for our local coastal streams on December 1 this year. Though we've experienced a few storms since then, the flows on the San Lorenzo and smaller creeks are still very low, and adult steelhead are scarce. Local steelhead guru Joe Baxter took the long hike down to the lower San Lorenzo gorge this weekend and worked a number of holes in that area. According to brother Mike, Baxter and his companion located a good pod of egg-eater juvenile steelhead, but the river at 50 cubic feet per second is still too low and clear for any adult steelhead action. Only barbless hooks may be used for steelhead on our streams and the bag limit is zero, no fish may be retained. Steelhead fishing on our local waters is allowed only on weekends and holidays.

Now is a very good time to prepare for next year and purchase your 2010 California fishing license. Steve Carson for the Penn Fishing University informs us that "besides traditional hook and line fishing, a California fishing license is required to take any kind of fish, mollusk, crustacean, invertebrate, amphibian or reptile. That means if you are trapping crawdads in a slough, or even just catching lizards in a vacant lot, you need a fishing license if you are age 16 or older. The only reptiles exempted from the license requirements are rattlesnakes."

Carson also reminds that additional report cards must be purchased from DFG for some specific fishing activities. "All of the report cards, including Steelhead, Klamath/Trinity, Sturgeon, Abalone, and Spiny Lobster are required for those activities, even if the person does not otherwise require a license. Examples include persons less than 16 years of age, fishing on a public ocean pier, or those fishing on the state's two annual 'License Free Days'."


Bushnell can also be heard with a live fishing report Friday mornings at 6:45am on KSCO radio 1080 AM. Send your photos, comments or questions to scruzfishing@yahoo.com