It's been some time since we enjoyed the Who's Your Daddy Lingcod Contest on the Monterey Bay. Brainchild of local anglers Walter Nash and Art Higueras, the derby was put on hold for a few years but is now resurrected as the "Iron Man Fishing Derby." The second annual Iron Man was held Sunday aboard the Kahuna out of Moss Landing. The tricky part of this contest is that no bait is allowed. Fish must be caught on artificial lures only. Biggest fish wins.

Nash and Higueras charted the Kahuna to fish the wild waters south of Pt. Sur. As a group, limits of lingcod came quickly. First-place winner Travis Blymer, pictured above took the trophy with a 17-pound cod, using a chrome hex bar in 120 feet of water. "We motored out of Moss Landing and headed for Big Sur, where the ling cod bite is on! So many nice lings were caught it was ridiculous. Things started off slow for me, but my 17-pound ling won the $380 pot and the trophy." Congrats Travis, big fish honors go to you this week!

Lings are on the bite closer to home as well. Ed Burrell at Capitola Boat and Bait is seeing some good lingcod coming in on the rental boats from Capitola Boat and Bait. Lings and assorted rockfish, even some limits are being caught from Boomers, Adams, and the Mile Reef in that area.

Off of West Cliff Drive and up the coast, Stagnaro's Sportfishing is still doing quite well, according to Ken Stagnaro. "Cod fishing remains excellent on the local reefs. Velocity has been getting a few nice hitchhiker lingcod on most trips. The Sea Stag and Velocity are limiting out on mainly black, blue and yellowtail rockfish. Our last evening twilight trip for the year will be this Saturday the 26th. Our morning cod trips will continue through December and sanddab season starts in January."

Though late in the season, halibut are still in the mix. Todd Fraser from Bayside Marine received reports of "some nice halibut caught near Pajaro and up near Natural Bridges." Fraser always has his eye on the tuna situation as well. "The albacore bite was been slow over the weekend and most anglers only found a few fish. The anglers were fishing around the Davidson (Seamount) and they are seeing jumpers but they won't bite." Captain Carol Jones from Kahuna Sportfishing chipped in a similar report for Monday's tuna hunters. "Our day on the tuna grounds started off pretty good. In the morning we hooked up a single, a single, a 45-pound opah on iron, a double, a double, a single...that's all she wrote. Fish went down and we never hooked another. Good water, plenty of bait in the area and fish are there. It's just a matter of when they decide to come up."