Conditions were not ideal for fishing on the Monterey Bay last week but boats did manage to get out, and the coming weekend looks promising.


Salmon scores have been hit or miss, but the general trend is heading in the right direction. Tom Joseph on the Sara Bella is willing to take chances and fish away from the fleet. Joseph reported, "Weather finally cooperated today and we were back out on the salmon grounds. With the bite up and down off Moss we ran north above Davenport to see what we could find. Weather was blowing out of the southeast 15 knots making it tough to fish in the morning. Winds came down around noon our party hooked five fish getting one in the box and released two shakers. Our score would of been better once we figured out the fish were in the top 50 feet of water, plus if we did not have the southeast wind."


Private boaters who joined the crowd near Moss posted slightly higher scores. Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine had decent reports at the beginning of this week. "The salmon bite was not bad today near Moss Landing. The salmon are being caught 30-100 feet down near Moss Landing. The wind did stay down all morning but it did come up in the afternoon."


Last week's wind served a good purpose of upwelling cool and nutrient rich water towards the ocean surface. The coming weekend's fishing will likely spread out, and action could be fast and furious once anglers get the location and depth dialed in for the roving schools of salmon.


There will be plenty of fishing closer to the beach this weekend as well. Rockfish season opened on Thursday May 1. We should see a lot of limits coming in from weekend anglers who work the local reefs and rocky areas of Pt. Pinos, Monterey, Capitola, Santa Cruz and the wilder coasts north and south of Monterey Bay.


Regulations for the RCG Complex (rockfish, cabezone, and all greenling family) are the same as last year. The season runs from May 1 through December 31. Our California Department of Fish and Wildlife published the following regulations for 2014 in our area. Rockfish may be taken or possessed in waters less than 240 feet. Daily bag is limited to 10 fish in combination except cabezone-three fish per person or bocaccio- three fish per person. Cabezone have a minimum size limit of 15 inches and greenlings a minimum of 12 inches. Lingcod must be 22 inches minimum, and only two fish per person are allowed, separate from the aggregate 10-fish rockfish limit. Gear is restricted to one line and two hooks. The hooks can be single or treble hooks, and barbs are OK for these fish.


Caution must be taken to identify rockfish carefully, as a few fish are strictly "no-take." Those are the canary, bronzespotted, cowcod and yelloweye rockfish. Of these banned fish, the canary is prevalent in Monterey Bay, and often confused with the desirable Vermilion or red rockfish. If in doubt, toss it out.


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