A lot depends on being in the right place at the right time, as these fish are on the move and there's plenty of feed along the coast to keep them happy. Weather and sea conditions could be better, but every day last week was fishable, though this weekend might be windy.

Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine summed up the fishing on Wednesday, saying, "The Salmon bite is still going well for some and slow for others. The best thing about today was the size of the salmon has grown. There were some nice 22-30 pound salmon weighed in today."

Local charter boat skippers are posting good scores on a daily basis. Captain Jimmy Charters reported limits Sunday and Monday of salmon up to 18 pounds. Staganaro's Sportfishing mooched up limits for 17 anglers on Saturday, and landed 21 on Tuesday. Fish of the week honors go to Frank Jurik from Pleasanton who hauled in a 34-pound king salmon while fishing aboard Stagnaro's Velocity. "The deckhands said it is one of the larger fish caught in Monterey Bay so far this season. Certainly the largest I have caught here, he was full of fight!"

The Soquel Hole is still producing fish, but a good number were also caught in the Three Trees area mid-week, and a few boats reported success straight out of the Harbor starting in 190 feet of water. Trolling with bait or hoochies behind a flasher is still working best, though the mooch bite seems to be improving, as savvy skippers zero in on the bait balls of krill. On the private boat Fourplay, Barry Burt reported limits Saturday, including a 17-pound king caught by Jeff Goyert. "The bite was wide open early and the got quiet until the flood tide late in the morning; it took 'till noon to get our last two fish."

Salmon fishing was particularly slow on Thursday, according to most reports. Hopes are high for a new wave of fish to sweep into the Monterey Bay, however. A big school is currently foraging off Avila Beach near San Luis Obispo, according to Carl Azevedo from Boccie Boy Bait, and those fish will be heading this way soon.

For those who don't care for salmon, or can't get out to fish for them, there is additional good news from Todd Fraser. He reports a few halibut caught near the Mile Buoy in 60-70 feet of water, and "some sea bass" came in from the Capitola area.