Weather was a factor for local fishing last week. Luckily we enjoyed a few days of decent ocean conditions, and a couple that were excellent. Wednesday and Thursday featured flat calm seas and low winds, which encouraged boaters to try their luck on the local reefs for rockfish. While full limits may take a while, there are still plenty of fish willing to bite near the Mile Buoy, South Rock and the deeper reefs off West Cliff Drive. We are seeing mostly browns and blues from our local area, with an occasional vermillion rockfish and even a halibut once in a while. Stagnaro's Sportfishing bagged "near-limits" on Saturday fishing the local reefs. Skipper Ken Stagnaro fished the 100-foot reefs off natural Bridges this weekend "Even with less than ideal conditions, we still averaged six to seven fish per person. The catch featured an excellent mix of reds and blues with a few browns," Staganaro says.

Captain Jimmy Charters beat the rainstorm on Saturday with a run up the coast to the Ano Nuevo area. Jim Rubin had a similar fishcount as Stagnaro, with reds, blues and "big fat" black rockfish in the mix. They also managed one legal lingcod for the boat. Bayside Marine reports the bigger halibut are still on the chew off the kelp beds north of town. "There has been some nice halibut coming in from 50-65 feet of water from 5 Mile to Davenport," owner Todd Fraser says. Bayside weighed in one flatty at over 30-pounds this week from that area.

Best news, perhaps, is the white sea bass bite in Monterey. After a slow week, those fish are swarming again. Anglers report the fish are holding deeper now, around 80 feet instead of on the surface. For best results, work the water column until you get a bite. The commercial squid boats are still purse seining in the area and have a tendency to shoulder smaller boats out of the way, so be careful. While the main mass of sea bass has hovered in that area between Seaside and Lover's Point, we have hard of a few strays caught locally, off the north coast and most recently a 20-pound fish just outside of Capitola. It's a good time to get out on the water and get fish for your freezer. Halibut will be slowing down as winter approaches, and rockfish season ends on November 15 this year. Dungeness crab season opens November 6, which takes a little of the sting out of the situation, and hopefully the sea bass will hang around into November. Capitola skiff fisherman "Tuk" proves one need not travel all the way to Monterey to get a white sea bass.