In general, rockfishing is slowing down as the season end nears, but depending on where and when you fish, limits can still be had. This week also featured some more exotic and unexpected catches by local anglers.

Taking top billing for the week is the "Hail Mary" albacore bite that developed offshore this weekend. Locals have been tracking the warm water currents offshore lately, but only one tuna was caught in the past few weeks. That changed on Sunday when the vessel Sara Bella hooked up four fish while hunting tuna offshore.

Gerry Brookes from Reel Sportfishing says ?ج???it seems a little late in the season, but the Japan warm currents are still pushing fresh tuna into the Bay. The numbers are picking up daily.?ج??? Todd Fraser from Bayside Marine is always ready to fish for albacore. He managed to catch five fish on Monday, and at least five again on Wednesday. According to Fraser, most boats averaged four to five tuna on their excursions 28-35 miles offshore, using both jigs and bait. Brookes will join the fleet Thursday and plans on using live bait to attract the schools to his boat,the Doble.

Rockfish has been hit or miss this week. The recent swell and a strong "red tide" kept the numbers down mostly. Being in the right place at the right time helps. Stagnaro's Velocity found limits of blacks, coppers, reds and one lingcod for 37 anglers on Sunday, fishing near Davenport. Captain Jimmy Sportfishing caught limits of rockfish in the same area on Monday, and half-limits of rockfish along with 20 Dungeness crab on Sunday. Skipper Jim Rubin found crabbing rather slow this weekend, working 200 feet of water near Davenport.

Veteran surf flycaster Tom Baker is getting stoked about the upcoming surfperch season. "The beaches are starting to come alive for the fall winter barred surf perch mating cycle. Some structure is starting to form and will get better as we get some nice big swells from some storms." Ed Burrell at Capitola Boat and Bait concurs. Burrell saw a few barred surfperch up to 12 inches come over the rail at the Capitola Wharf this week.

In other exotic fish news, Santa Cruz Boat Rental manager Steve Thompson caught and released a beautiful juvenile salmon shark from the wharf this weekend. The salmon shark is a close relative of the Mako and Great White, and is an unusual catch for our area. Sean Van Sommeran from the Pelagic Shark Research Foundation collects one or two juveniles each year from local beaches when they wash up to shore, and requests notification to psrf@pelagic.org in the case of any stranding,wash-ups or significant shark catches by anglers as part of his ongoing research projects.