Mother Nature presented us with mixed conditions this week. Luckily there were a few days with no rain, moderate swells and manageable winds. Anglers who timed it right were rewarded with a bounty of crab in this first week of Dungeness season, though rockfish counts dropped a bit. "The big swell last week pushed rockfish into deeper water," said Gerry Brookes from Reel Sportfishing. "We fished near Ano Nuevo for about four hours on Saturday and got nice bags of fish but not quite limits." Brookes had splashed his crab pots on the way north, and picked them up again on his return trip. "I only used five pots, and soaked them for 4 and a half hours. We pulled up 41 Dungeness, all legal sized, with no females and no softies. The best depth right now looks like 185 to 200 feet of water." Not a bad start to the season, when your first drop brings up limits. "It's on fire," Brookes chortled. Brookes also reminds us this weekend is our last chance for rockfish and lingcod. The season will close on November 15.

Captain Jimmy Charters hosted trips on the Becky Ann Saturday and again on Monday. Both days garnered three quarter limits of rockfish for his clients. Rubin fished near Davenport, and found plenty of Dungies in that area as well. "We put our pots in 180 feet of water off Davenport, and got nice limits for everyone on board, including crew." Rubin and Brookes will continue to offer crab combo trips after November 15, targeting the giant Humboldt squid that are starting to show up in the submarine canyons nearby. A few nice lingcod were reported caught last week, from the local reefs. Bayside Marine weighed in a 16-pound ling caught near the Mile Buoy, and Capitola Boat and Bait reported similar success. The Capitola fisherman had a great day, catching a 26 and a 34-inch ling, as well as a five-foot soupfin shark and a ten-pound king salmon (both released). Other skiffs from Capitola "did very well" fishing the kelp beds for rockfish, according to Ed Burrell.

It's not too late to try for white sea bass in Monterey. Conditions were brutal this weekend, and the fish have gone deep. Successful anglers are few and far between, but a number of 30-50-pound sea bass were caught this weekend on squid fished from 80-100 feet down, in 200 feet of water. Catch Bushnell's live fishing report on KSCO 1080AM Friday mornings at 6:45am. Send comments, questions and photos to scruzfishing@yahoo.com

Caption: Mark Davis hit the jackpot last week with two quality lings off Capitola. He also caught and released a soupfin shark and a king salmon.