Get it while the getting is good! We have only until the end of this month for rockfish/lingcod season, so it behooves us to make the best of any pleasant days we might enjoy between now and then. Weather and ocean conditions seem to be the only hindering factor for local fishing. The bite is still "ON," and for a wide variety of species.

The dedicated angler can muster up limits of rockfish and lingcod from our local reefs. Fishing deeper is the ticket, from 70-140 feet of water. As usual the fish are bigger and more numerous the further one travels up the coast with Ano Nuevo and Franklin Point especially productive, according to Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine. Fraser also notes some highliner opportunities closer to Santa Cruz. "Anglers are catching all the market squid they want in 70-130 feet of water near Three-Mile and Four-Mile Beach. There are some nice Humboldt squid in the mix as well. Some sea bass still being caught in the balls of squid near Four-Mile. The sea bass are being caught four cranks off the bottom. There have been a few halibut caught while looking for rockfish and sea bass."

Six-pack skippers Gerry Brookes and Jim Rubin are getting spoiled this year. Both have enjoyed limit-style fishing for the entire season-first with salmon, then with rockfish, and now with the Dungeness crab and rockfish combo trips. Brookes fished just north of town on Sunday. "Another perfect day on the bay. Put in early limits of Dungeness crab, then limits of rockfish. Nice blues, blacks, olives, white bellies and Brownies. Plus one nice Ling." Rubin earned the envy of his "S" Dock brethren by taking two weeks in Maui. He's back in town now-tanned, fit, rested and he has already re-set his crab pots for the weekend's combo trips.

Ed Burrell checked in with good reports from the Capitola area. He's noticed an increase in anchovies close in by the Capitola Wharf this week, and the bait is bringing in some bigger fish. Burrell hooked into a decent thresher shark on Monday, and both Monday and Tuesday saw white sea bass in the 40-pound range caught in that locale.

Special thanks to the grassroots group "The Clean Team!!!" for their successful efforts in cleaning up local beaches and shore areas. This weekend the group effort will focus on the San Lorenzo River banks, from Paradise Park to the Water Street Bridge. Please try to lend your support by showing up with boots, gloves and hand tools if possible. Details are available on the Clean Team Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/events/120757711421468