Salmon fishing has slowed considerably in our area, but has picked up just north of us, closer to half Moon Bay. Rockfishinig remains good and is getting better, and the halibut are finally starting to show up.

Locally, reports of bait are somewhat scarce. Schools of small anchovies have been spotted between Capitola and the Cement Ship, a scattering of larger smelt are lazing around just outside the kelp beds from Capitola to Natural Bridges, and there have been rumors of squid caught near the Santa Cruz Wharf this week. Certain areas here in Santa Cruz and in Monterey around the corner towards Big Sur are hosting an explosion of juvenile rockfish. These "short-belly" rockfish range from two to five inches and are providing feed for salmon, lingcod and other larger rockfish.

So far this season has been very good for rockfish and especially lingcod. Ed Burrell at Capitola Boat and Bait has tallied limits from the skiffs fishing Surfer's Reef, Adams Reef, Boomer's and the Mile Reef in Capitola. An occasional halibut from the 60-foot depths came in this week as well. Anglers have also found success working the small rock reefs near the Mile Buoy in Santa Cruz. Limits of rockfish are not uncommon from that area, and lingcod are biting on whole squid or swimbaits.

The West Cliff area is even more productive for bottom fishing right now, according to Jim Rubin from Captain Jimmy Sportfishing. "Monday was just a beautiful day on the Bay. Six anglers caught limits of big blues, blacks, olive and vermilion rockfish. We also kept two lingcod, weighing eight and 12 pounds."

The catch rate for our premier gamefish, king salmon, is slowing down. After a week of high winds and bumpy seas, the bite has become spotty. Gerry Brookes on the Doble says fishing is tough, but "we did manage to put in three nice fish to 15 pounds, and lost two more. I'm really concerned if these fish are going to stay in the bay. The krill are gone and there's no fin bait."

Salmon schools do move, it's in their nature. Hopefully a new school will come into the bay soon. In the meantime, you might consider hitching up the trailer and launching from Half Moon Bay. The salmon bite there is reported as "phenomenal" in the area between Pigeon Point and Half Moon Bay. The fish are big, hot and biting shallow, according to Dave Hurley from The Hurley Chronicles.

Fishing from the Salty Lady with Captain Roger Thomas, Hurley gave this stirring report- "Since I was on the stern of the boat, I consistently dropped down to between 70 and 80 feet in depth, just to try something different. Despite being much deeper than the rest of the boat, I hooked up seven times with another heavy hit that immediately released the sinker. The salmon were stuffed with short-belly rockfish, and although the water was brown with krill, the small baits were buried in their bellies."