It is almost official now. We have final information regarding our salmon season from the Pacific Fisheries Management Council. In meetings with West Coast State Fisheries Departments, the PFMC crunched all the numbers and released their announcement Monday. A final approval should come from the National Marine Fisheries Service by May 1, 2014.


Seasonal regulations for our area below Pigeon Point will be as anticipated earlier this month. While details were somewhat skimpy in the announcement, it clearly stares salmon season for our area will run from April 5 to "at least" October 5 in our area.


Currently, fishing for salmon in the Monterey Bay ranges from good to very good, depending on the day. Carol Jones, owner of Kahuna Sportfishing out of Moss Landing says "We got limits on the opener then the bite dropped off. It's coming back up now. I think a new batch of fish is coming in the bay right now. We're averaging a fish per rod to just about a limit per rod again." The Kahuna, skippered by Donnie Davi, has been fishing the canyon edges off Moss Landing almost exclusively since the opener.


Also concentrating on the big canyon in the middle of the bay, boats from Chris' Fishing Trips report similar results- big scores for the opener, a bit of a lull as fish scattered due to fishing pressure and a resurgence in numbers within the past few days. " We averaged about fish per rod earlier in the week, upping to one and a half per rod by Wednesday," said owner Chris Arcoleo.


On the Santa Cruz side of the bay, we are seeing more salmon caught from the Soquel Hole area. Captain Jimmy Charters has been fishing nearly every day. Jim Rubin reported good results on Wednesday. "We worked hard and were rewarded with eight nice king salmon for our six anglers. We had an open charter today, with three separate groups of people who all saw some action. We had two doubles, two triples and a single. We lost two, and also lost one to a bull sea lion."


Skipper Tom Joseph on the Sara Bella has been launching from Santa Cruz since the opener. A beautiful little Steiger Craft, the Sara Bella is a "four-pack" operation that Joseph can trailer to whichever port is hot at the moment. Lately he's been working away from the fleet, fishing off of Natural Bridges up towards the Three Trees area, and doing well. "Our party hooked 18 fish today putting six in the boat to 13 pounds," Joseph reported on Monday. Plenty of private boaters are returning to port with early limits, though a few skunks are still being reported.


Halibut fishing is heating up as well, with an increase of reports of flatties caught in the harbor area as well as Capitola. The halibut are migrating in slowly, with most reported caught in the 40-60 feet of water range. Live anchovies or anchovy-colored swimbaits are doing the trick for the big flatfish.


Bushnell can also be heard on The Let's Go Fishing Radio Show Thursdays at 8 p.m. on KSCO radio 1080 AM. Send your photos, comments or questions to scruzfishing@yahoo.com