Weather continues to be a limiting fishing factor for anglers on Monterey Bay. Daily high winds have cut some trips short, though limits of rockfish were not uncommon for the folks who got out early and fished the right spots. For rock cod, the adage is true on both ends of the bay, “The farther you go, the bigger the fish and quicker the limits.” Problem is, when the wind comes up, the ocean gets choppy, making longer trips slower, more uncomfortable and sometimes even dangerous. Monterey anglers find the best fishing on nearshore reefs around the corner of Point Pinos, heading south towards Big Sur. Santa Cruz boats head north, towards Davenport, Ano Nuevo and Franklin Point. Both Monterey and Santa Cruz areas have plenty of nearshore rock cod fishing closer to the harbors, with an array of reefs, rocky points and, near Monterey, a large swath of shell bed close to DelMonte Beach.

Charter boats reported limits or near-limits this week despite the weather. Chris’ Fishing Trips out of Monterey had a good trip on Wednesday, counting 105 rockfish and 14 ling cod for anglers aboard the Check Mate. To the north, six-pack provider Santa Cruz Coastal Charters saw similar results on Monday. Skipper Rodney Armstrong reported, “"Today’s trip went awesome. We had ‘almost’ limits of nice quality rock fishing with three lingcod keepers and a big cab driver.”

Skiff renters from Capitola Boat and Bait and Santa Cruz Boat Rental on the S.C. Wharf reported a fine array of rockfish, lings and halibut up to 20 pounds.

The big halibut are moving in well. Catches were reported as shallow as 25 feet of water and as deep as 80 this week. Anglers are finding success drifting or slow-trolling bait, or using swimbaits or white flukes in the shallower spots.

Surfcasters were put off a bit by the winds this week. Most mornings and some evenings saw calmer conditions, and fish were on the bite. We received reports of good to very good perch fishing from beaches all around the bay. The best spots seem to be the bigger beaches towards the the center of the bay, from Pajaro down to Marina State Beach. Those beaches are also the central focus for striped bass hunters, who are doing quite well as the schoolie stripers are getting longer and chunkier. Size estimates from striped bass anglers this week ranged from barely legal 18-inchers to big mamas in the 30-35-inch range. Bass were caught on a variety of lures including stick baits, bucktails and poppers, as well as on conventional perch rigs using grubs, GULP! worms or sandcrabs. The best striper bite is still at “Oh Dark Thirty,” before the sun comes up in the morning, in the pitch dark with very calm winds.