Weather and sea conditions played a major factor again this week with fishing for most species on the slow side. The Monterey Bay experienced blustery winds, but mostly it was a powerful south swell that kept bottom fish hunkered down and off the bite.

Salmon seem to be scattered around the bay. They are here, but hard to find and harder to hook. According to Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine in Santa Cruz, private boaters caught the occasional salmon near Soquel Hole on Saturday while trolling, but by Sunday that area had too many jellyfish. Fraser reported, “The salmon were hard to find but a few anglers did catch one or two while trolling. The purple haze hoochies and the watermelon Krippled Anchovies worked the best.” Fraser added that fishing for rockfish and lingcod was productive for boats traveling up the coast towards Davenport, and a few salmon were caught in that area as well.

Monterey anglers faced similar challenges and reported similar results. Wednesday’s trip on the Check Mate from Chris’ Fishing Trips netted limits of rockfish and eight lings for 11 anglers aboard. Chris’ Caroline was skunked for salmon on Wednesday, but they reported five salmon on the previous day’s salmon trip aboard the Check Mate. Randy’s Sportfishing in Monterey also keeps plugging along despite the weather, reporting, “Cloudy, gray, cold and windy conditions made today's fishing a challenge. After hearing of these challenges we cancelled today's whale watching trip. The 10 fisherman aboard Chubasco toughed it out and returned with Limits (100) of cod and eight lingcod.”

Monterey Bay Kayaks hosted their annual MBK Kayak Fishing Derby last Saturday with 60 kayak anglers competing for biggest fish honors. Generally, fishing was slower than usual for the Del Monte Beach area, though a number of lingcod in the four to nine-pound range were weighed in. Ocean Kayaks provided a brand-new Old Town Predator 13 fishing kayak as first prize. The Predator was taken home by Santiago Ramirez from Aromas who took first place in the derby with his 11-pound five-ounce lingcod, caught using mackerel as bait. Second place was captured by John Rice from Placerville with a 10-pound three-ounce ling, and third place by Brian Gardner of Lodi with his 9-pound 15-ounce lingcod. Rice won a new Werner paddle, and Gardner a custom NRS kayak tackle kit. Monterey Bay Kayaks has sponsored the annual derby for over ten years, and all proceeds are contributed to the Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project.