The weather forecast for Monterey Bay looks fantastic for this weekend's fishing. Virtually no swell and winds of five knots mean calm glassy conditions will prevail across the bay and adjoining coastlines. Fall is a fickle season though. Conditions can change abruptly, so now is the time to hit the beaches with your surfcasting rods, take the kids out on the wharf or book a trip with one of the local charter operations.


And, the charter boats have been doing very well lately. Chris' Fishing Trips out of Monterey harbor has back-to-back "limits" reports for every trip this week. Saturday saw 340 rockfish and 22 lings on the Star of Monterey, Sunday the Caroline hooked 250 rockies and 12 lings, while the Monday and Tuesday trips garnered limits of lingcod and rockfish for all clients aboard the Checkmate. Moss Landing's Kahuna Sportfishing fished the same general area, for the same general results.


Owner Carol Jones reports "Sunday was yet another awesome day down at Pt. Sur with the lingcod and rock fish on the munch. Anglers on the Kahuna had wide-open action and returned to the dock at 1 o'clock with their limits. They even had to take breaks as the action was so fast and furious." The Kahuna will roll the dice this Saturday with an exploratory albacore trip. Locally, albacore fishing has been spotty when they are here at all. We wish the Kahuna crew good luck with the courageous gamble.


In Santa Cruz, rockfishing remains good on the deeper Capitola reefs with a mixture of browns, blacks and the occasional vermilion caught from Surfers Reef, Boomers, and Adams Reef, along with a few lingcod in the mix. Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine also reports decent rockfishing in 100 feet of water off Lighthouse Point, and up the coast towards Davenport. A few halibut are still available from the North Coast beaches as well, according to Fraser.


Micah Woolworth from Rivers Edge Fishing Guide Adventures in Arcata has been keeping busy with early season river salmon fishing. "Fishing on the Klamath and Trinity Rivers the past month has been excellent! The average size of salmon is larger than normal. There is an abundance of half pounders, adult steelhead and king salmon. The sport fishing quota on the Lower Klamath River has been met so we can only keep two jack salmon and two hatchery steelhead. The quota on the Trinity River is still open for bag limits. It has been especially exciting year for me as a guide. Usually, side drifting is the best technique to use. This year everything is productive! Back bouncing, spinners, plugging, as well as float fishing are producing the same numbers of fish."


Sounds like a good time to plan a quick trip up north!

Send your photos, comments or questions to scruzfishing@yahoo.com