In addition to knocking down trees and cutting power for thousands in Santa Cruz, the windstorm this week made it very difficult, even dangerous for anglers who fished or pulled crabpots. For some who tried anyway, the windy conditions were near tragic. A trio of anglers launched from Monterey Harbor Wednesday afternoon while local winds were hitting 25 knots, according to the Monterey Coast Guard. The 13-foot dinghy flipped just outside the breakwater, leaving the occupants scrambling onto the breakwater. They were rescued by Coast Guard and Monterey Fire Department boats.

In a further cautionary mode, an unlucky kayak fisherman found himself launched out of his 12 foot Hobie Kayak on Tuesday while fishing just north of Pigeon Point. Harry Pali, newly arrived from Hawaii and living in San Francisco was fishing in choppy conditions "no deeper than 25 feet of water." He was struck directly below the cockpit of the kayak, which overturned. "The impact felt like being hit by a car." His companion witnessed the tail section of a large shark entering the water in a vertical attitude. The companion estimated he viewed "seven or eight feet" of the shark, though he did not see the dorsal fin. The duo made it to shore safely, and later measured bite marks at 18 inches across, and 23 inches from the top to the bottom curve of the jaw. Sean Van Sommeran from the Pelagic Shark Research Foundation has spent more than a decade documenting and tagging Great White Sharks in that portion of our coast. He suggests, and as an avid kayak fisherman I concur: Do NOT kayak fish the North Coast between October and March. Pali emerged unscathed so perhaps he is a lucky kayak fisherman after all.

Dungeness crab are still the headliner in our area. Limits of meaty crabs are being caught daily in 140-220 feet of water, with the best areas near the Soquel Hole or off the North Coast. Commercial season finally opened last week, so it can get crowded out there. Skippers need to use careful navigation to avoid numerous buoys and attached crab pot lines. Best bet is to find an area clear of other buoys to drop your posts. As Captain Jim Rubin says "The crabs are all over out there."

Ed Burrell at Capitola Boat and Bait enjoyed some of the tumultuous surf over the past week. "The perch bite really picked up. They like that oxygenated water just behind the surf zone." Burrell is setting customers up with sliding sinker rigs and using shrimp for bait. Customers are catching limits when the waves pound. He also is happy to report the white sea bass bite near Davenport continues unabated. Some of the fish are smaller now, and they are biting on whole squid near the bottom mostly, in 100-130 feet of water. Fishing near the bottom has resulted in a good number of halibut caught in that area as well, this week.