Local anglers enjoyed a good run of salmon fishing for a few days last week, though the halibut bite dropped off a bit due to a south swell rolling through. Fishing for rockish and lingcod remains very strong on all the reefy areas and looks to remain that way for the foreseable future.

Last weekend featured very good salmon fishing in relatively shallow waters. Anglers launching from Capitola and the Santa Cruz Harbor needed only to get out to 100 feet of water to start whacking them. Eugene Tsuji from Watsonville paddled his kayak out from the harbor on Sunday morning to the 100-foot mark and had a 17-pound king in the boat within an hour. Private power boaters were getting at least a fish per rod, and many boats returned early with full salmon limits.

This group of fish is still around, but a little harder to find. Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine notes "There are still some nice salmon being caught in front of the harbor up to Five-Mile Beach in 80-120 feet of water. There are small schools of salmon cruising the shallow water feeding on anchovies. The salmon are big so be sure to use heavier leaders and new line!"

A long-period south swell moved in on Sunday, which always puts halibut off the bite. A few were caught in Capitola, the Pleasure Point area and in front of the harbor, but not as often as reported the week before. As this swell subsides, we'll see the halibut bite pick back up. As we head towards the end of summer, the sandy stretches off West Cliff Drive and just outside the bul kelp on North Coast beaches are very good halibut hunting grounds. Rockfishing is still very productive on all the local reefs, and even better off the North Coast at this time.

Stagnaro's Sportfishing ventured up the coast recently. Ken Stagnaro reports "Cod fishing remains excellent. On Tuesday the 23rd the Velocity returned from a seven-hour trip with 30 limits of quality rockfish. We also had 10 lings up to 20 pounds. The fish were a mixture of medium to large yellowtail cod and brown rockfish. We also had over 20 jumbo copper cod to seven pounds. We were fishing the Davenport area in 150 feet of water."

Other big news from Stagnaro's is the addition of another boat to their fleet. Stagnaro plans to splash their new 40-foot aluminum charter boat, the Sea Stag Six this weekend. Powered by twin turbo diesels, the six-pack boat will be available for public and private fishing trips, whale watching and more exotic forays such as albacore fishing.

Pictured Above: Mark Walleen weighed in a fat 23-pound king salmon at Bayside Marine last Saturday morning.