Weather and sea conditions were a bit quirky last week, but fishing for local species continued to be productive. Most appreciated was a new push of king salmon into Monterey Bay that provided some good action and hopefully bodes well for the coming weeks.

Most anglers are happy even to have a salmon season this year, after the past few years of closures. This season had a decent start in April with kings being caught near the Soquel Hole. Then, the bite dropped off for a few weeks. For the past month or so, salmon fishing has been consistent, but slow, with the occasional boat limits, skunks (no fish caught) occurring regularly and a general average of less than a fish per rod for those working the usual spots near the deep marine canyons.

In the past two weeks, Todd Fraser at Bayside has reported an increasing number of salmon caught much closer to the beach, even in water as shallow as 40 feet. A new school moved in early last week, with the best fishing between Moss Landing and Monterey. As the week progressed, salmon anglers also found good concentrations of fish off Point Pinos, near Pacific Grove.

"The salmon are back now," says Jim Rubin from Captain Jimmy Charters. Rubin took a boatload of clients to the Monterey side of the Bay on Tuesday, and managed a fish per rod for all aboard. The kings weighed in from six to 14 pounds each. Rubin adds that this new school of fish is bunching up well around big baitballs in the area. He was able to drift fish or "mooch" for the salmon rather than trolling, and didn't hook any of the shakers or silver salmon that have plagued the salmon fleet since opening day. Hopefully we will see this concentration of fish curve through Monterey Bay and spend some time closer to Santa Cruz as they make their way towards their eventual freshwater spawning grounds.

Meanwhile, rockfishing on local reefs and up to the North Coast areas remains very good. Staganro's Sportfishing found limits of rockfish for all aboard the Velocity on every trip last week, even the half-day outings. Fishing in 80 to 120 feet of water, Skipper Ken Stagnaro reported a good mix of browns, blacks and yellowtail rockcod, as well as the occasional lingcod for his clients.

Ed Burrell at Capitola Boat and Bait has kept busy launching the rental skiffs and some private boats from the Wharf all week. The inshore halibut bite slowed somewhat with the strong south swell, but the deeper areas are still producing. Burrell weighed in halibut up to 25 pounds last week, and saw plenty of flatties in the 10-18-pound range as well. Stripers are still hitting live sardines in the area, especially off the surfline at New Brighton and near the Cement Ship. Burrell adds there is an increasing amount of baitfish in the shallows as the south swell dies down. He also reminds us to "be prepared for anything this week," citing a couple salmon that were hooked by mistake in shallow water and successfully released, as the anglers were not using the proper salmon gear.