Wow. If you have used all your vacation time already this summer, then it's time to call in sick. Saltwater fishing from Santa Cruz and in the Monterey Bay area is incredibly good right now, and the next few weeks should be the same.

Fishing for rock cod is still wide open, and has been so all season. Even the more obscure and tiny reefs in our area continue to host piles of rockfish, and they are usually eager to bite. Charter boats don't travel very far these days, often the best bite is within a few miles of the harbor entrance, or just past the Mile Buoy as it was this week.

Jim Rubin on the Becky Ann got six limits of rockfish for six anglers on Saturday. "We landed 60 big rockfish. All were quality blacks, blues, yellowtail and vermilions. We landed two lingcod as well to eight pounds. We also caught a bonus a 30-pound thresher shark, for a 75 fish total." Stagnaro's Sportfishing brought home limits of rockfish for 30 anglers aboard the Velocity on Saturday, as well as 10 nice lingcod.

Calm seas are bringing more halibut in towards the beaches. Ed Burrell at Capitola Boat and Bait reports multiple halibut up to 20 pounds weighed in on the Capitola Pier this week. Most were caught near the Mile Reef and Surfer's Reef outside the kelp, though a few were hooked near the SC3 buoy. Burrell himself brought in six halibut over the past three days, using the bounce-ball trolling technique near the Cement Ship.

Gerry Brookes from Reel Sportfishing concentrated on salmon over the weekend. "Conditions change daily. Today we put in our gear and hooked up within five minutes. And, within a half hour we put in three nice salmon." King salmon are being caught just outside the harbor, and up the coast to Four Mile Beach by trollers. A good number of kings are congregating inside the harbor this week. Anglers can legally fish for them at the very north end of the upper harbor, but are warned against fishing from docks or other areas. Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine reports "There are some big salmon cruising through, up to 30 pounds. Anglers have been drifting salmon sliding floats and anchovies, KastMasters, pink worms, and Little Cleos."

And finally, we may have an albacore season this year. The weather was cooperative this week and a good number of boats made it out to the tuna grounds, some 40 miles from Santa Cruz. The best bite seems to be near the "Weenie," southwest of Santa Cruz or the Dogbone, according to Fraser. "Albacore fishing was good for the anglers who worked the area down near the Dogbone. The scores ranged from nine-26 fish. The fish were caught at 36'17/122'34, 36'20/122'30, 36'20/122'34." Fraser made it out on Wednesday for tuna.

"I fished with Brad on the Irish. We ended up with 28 big Albacore. The water is flat calm."

Pictured Above: Roxna Holguin from Stockton hit the jackpot in Capitola this week, hooking and landing a 20-pound halibut using squid near Surfer's Reef.