It has been a great summer for surfers in Santa Cruz, with a succession of south swells rolling through the local breaks, providing waist-high and sometimes overhead waves on a fairly consistent basis. Those same swells serve to slow down the bite on a variety of species, and that is what's happening right now in our area. There are plenty of fish out there, though. Even with the pesky waves, the savvy angler can locate rockfish, halibut, salmon and more exotic species sufficient for dinner with the neighbors and more.

Captain Mike Baxter reported salmon fishing recently that was like the "old days." Working the area near Soldier's Club south of Moss Landing, Baxter and his host enjoyed multiple hookups and limits for the boat. This past week Baxter says the salmon fishing slowed somewhat. "Commercial boats did OK near the Soquel Hole, but sport boats found the bite slow over the weekend." Baxter adds the bite may be improving for the coming weekend.

Inshore fishing remains fairly strong for those who know where to go when there are waves. Charter Captains Jim Rubin and Gerry Brookes switched out the salmon gear for rockfish equipment by midweek and provided their six-pack clients with limit-style rockcod fishing. "Wednesday we had limits for four by nine in the morning," Rubin reports. "We are seeing big vermilion, blues and blacks." Brookes has almost identical reports for the week. "We put in early limits of blacks, blues, reds and olives. Hooked numerous lings but all were too short. Then, we fished the beaches and put in one nice halibut and lost a couple more."

Ed Burrell at Capitola Boat and Bait had a productive day off. "The skunk is finally off!" he reported as he returned to the wharf on Monday with a fat king salmon and a beautiful white sea bass. Burrell also reported quite a few halibut caught in the area, from the Mile Reef up to Soquel Point, mostly on live bait.

Last but not least, boats from Santa Cruz made the long trek toward the Davidson Sea Mount, some 40-60 miles off Point Pinos and found productive tuna water. Reports over the weekend featured private boats with scores of five to ten albacore each. Commercial fishermen in the same area had scores of up to 40 tuna over the weekend. The tuna bite slowed during the week, but hopes are high the warm offshore currents will move closer to Santa Cruz, and bite will resume.