The wheel keeps turning. You know you are in Northern California when a blistering heat wave one day turns into cold rain the next. It must be October. Fishing is changing, too, but we still have plenty of action available to us in the immediate future.

We will see some more nice days, and very soon. The coming weekend looks to be blessed with low winds and gentle seas. Sounds perfect for an offshore albacore mission. Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine keeps tabs on all the albacore anglers and had a good report last Saturday.

"I just spoke to some anglers who were out albacore fishing for a couple days near the Davidson. They had good action from 36'17/122'57 to 35'51/122'58. The first day they had 27 and a yellowtail and the second day they had 40-plus fish and were still catching as they cleaned fish on the way in. The water is still green on the inside so you have to make a 60-mile run. The anglers who ran up near the Pioneer and Gumdrop did not get into the fish!"

Skippers working a little further north found some good schools of albacore tuna, though getting them to bite was a challenge. Dennis Baxter on the New Captain Pete boxed 23 late-afternoon tuna for eight clients while working the inside area between the Guide and Pioneer Seamounts. "The past week or so it's all about being at the right spot in the afternoon when they decide to bite. The guys are seeing jumpers all day, but they won't bite, even on live bait. Then, around three in the afternoon, it's on! If you're five miles away, or went in early, you're outta luck."

We still have limit-style fishing close to home. Rockfishing remains very good from Capitola to Natural Bridges and beyond. Captain Jimmy Charters enjoyed glassy conditions all morning near Wilder's Ranch on Sunday. "We had great weather. Six anglers caught limits of big blues, yellowtail cod, blacks, vermilion, and six lingcod 12 to 16 pounds." Gerry Brookes from Reel Sportfishing was in the same area and posted almost an identical report "Early limits of great quality blues, blacks, reds, and olives, also some nice lingcod to 13 pounds."

Kenny Stagnaro on the Velocity reports similar numbers, but more variety of species. "Cod fishing has been great this week. Friday we had 13 lings, one big cabezone and a halibut, along with limits of nice blacks, blues and vermilion rockfish for 14 people. Sunday, 20 people caught 10 lings and several big reds along with limits of cod."

Although salmon season ended as of last Sunday, Dungeness crab season will start up soon in November. Halibut are becoming scarcer, though a few were reported caught last week, usually from deeper areas in 60-85 feet of water. Frank Ealy at Capitol Boat and Bait says, "We still have squid spawning- nice squid!" And, that means there's always a chance of big white sea bass. Most of the bass reported last week came from the North Coast area, near four-Mile Beach and on up to Davenport.