High winds presented some problems for boaters on the Monterey Bay earlier this week, but last weekend featured fine weather, and the coming weekend looks decent, at least in the mornings.

Salmon fishing is still on the top of everyone's list and most anglers got at least one fish for their efforts last week, though limits were scarce. Gerry Brookes on the Doble enjoyed Sunday the best. "It was beautiful and flat calm all day. My anglers put in four nice salmon to 15 pounds, and of course lost three or four more. I'll be out again tomorrow for salmon." The Kings are still feeding on krill, and early mornings feature the best bite on the surface. These fish are hot with plenty of energy that often results in heartbreak when they break off or spit the hook.

Captain Jim Rubin had similar reports for the weekend. "Awesome day on the Bay! Six Anglers hooked 15 Salmon and landed seven big fish from 15 to 18 pounds. Great weather all day!" Monday's weather was not quite as nice, and Tuesday was far worse, forcing many boats off the water before noon. On Wednesday, the six-pack boats had to cancel trips due to poor conditions.

The weather settled down on Thursday with calm winds in the morning, and the forecast for this weekend looks okay so far. The National Weather Service calls for "moderate" swells, and moderate to strong winds on Saturday and Sunday. Get out early and fish hard!

Considering the marginal weather report, inshore fishing might be the best bet. Rock cod is looking very good on all the usual spots around Santa Cruz. Natural Bridges and the West Cliff reefs from 50-80 feet of water are producing well, the scattered reefs from South Rock to Pleasure Point are holding hordes of smaller schoolie rockfish and Capitola Boat and Bait collected reports of limits and near limits of rockfish from O'Neill's house at Pleasure Point, Adam's Reef, Surfer's Reef, Sponge Bob buoy and the Capitola Mile Reef. One halibut was caught in the Pleasure Point area.

Myron Larsen at Capitola weighed in lingcod of 13 and 15-pounds caught in the kelp beds east of the wharf this week. Larsen is also stoked by the large balls of bait in the area. "They are just pinhead anchovies, but in huge schools. Big old balls of bait, like 100 by 100 feet across!" This may bode well for our summertime bait situation.

Watching the sea surface temperature charts last week, we noticed an anomalous warm water "bubble" some 60 miles off Big Sur, and the 62-degree temperatures naturally brought up hopes of early albacore. No confirmation yet, but Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine did receive rumor/reports of albacore caught just 30 miles from Monterey earlier in the week.

Pictured: Guerro Garcia with his salmon limit in Capitola. Fifteen and eighteen pounds.