Fishing is good and getting better in the Santa Cruz area right now. Rockfish remains steady, halibut are returning to the shallows after last week's ocean swell, anglers in the right place at the right time enjoyed a wide open salmon bite and yes, the first albacore tuna are being caught by local boats.

Spurred by warm water temperatures and decent wind conditions offshore, a few local boats went tuna hunting this week, and found success. The tuna were located to the southwest, about 60-75 miles from the Santa Cruz harbor. Longtime local tuna hunter Jim Hart caught nine albacore as well as a very rare (for this area) Dorado. According to Bayside marine owner Todd Fraser, a small number of boats made it out with the high score being 13 tuna for one of the boats. Most were caught trolling Zuker Zucchini, Mexican Flags or Cedar Plugs. Fraser also notes a few halibut were taken in front of the Harbor in 40-60 feet of water as well as near Four Mile Beach in 60 feet of water.

Skiffs launched from the Capitola Wharf located a few halibut last week. Ed Burrell from Capitola Boat and Bait reports on 30-pound monster halibut caught by Eric McKee in 35 feet of water off Pleasure Point this week, though most of the flatties caught near Capitola ranged from 10-20 pounds each. Fishing from both Capitola and Santa Cruz Wharves has been good for striped bass this week, with numerous fish in the 10-15 pound range brought in over the railing. "The bait is in thick," says Burrell. "I'm netting hundreds of anchovies right next to the wharf."

Tuesday was the day to be fishing for salmon off Moss Landing. Spurred by reports from a party boat trip on Monday, Skipper Gerry Brooks took five clients to the area on Tuesday. "We caught and released 20 fish, and kept the 10 biggest salmon," Brookes says. "We were done by 11:30 with fish averaging 12-15 pounds each." Sadly, the bite did not last beyond Tuesday. Reports indicate the salmon bite was scratchy on Wednesday in that same area, with dogfish sharks being a nuisance. Hopefully these same fish will pop up at the Soquel hole later in the week.

Rockfishing is always a safe bet. As the water warms, even the North Coast Reefs are producing well these days. Jim Rubin aboard the Becky Ann fished the Ano Nuevo area on Monday for limits of rockfish and four lingcod. Rubin hit the Wilder Ranch area on Sunday for limits including big olive rockfish, and was in Monterey on Tuesday for limits of olives, blues and vermillion rockfish.