Sport fishing in the Monterey Bay remained productive this past week. Rockfish and lingcod catches are holding steady, halibut catches are becoming more numerous, lucky surfcasters are still pulling striped bass in from the beaches and it sounds like salmon fishing is improving as well.

The entire picture may change for the better in the next few weeks. We have received reports of market squid netted in the southern portion of Monterey Bay, and rumor has it more squid are on their way. Pat Kuhl from Nor Cal Kayak Anglers keeps a close watch on conditions and shared the news on Wednesday. “Massive schools of squid are making their way up the Big Sur coast. They were below Point Sur last weekend (one seiner reported 100 tons in 2 days), but now they're off Garrapata. However, there are still a few squid boats working the area between Cannery Row & Lovers Point too. Fingers are crossed for white sea bass and halibut!”

A few sea bass have already been reported caught on the Santa Cruz side of the bay. Todd Fraser from Bayside Marine reported, “There have been some sea bass caught near the Lighthouse and near Four-Mile Beach. The sea bass are being caught on fresh squid and mackerel.” If a giant concentration of squid arrives, big sea bass are likely to come along with them. While frozen squid and live mackerel might elicit a bite from tanker sea bass, using live squid is like offering candy to a baby.

Fraser also notes that an uptick in salmon catches. “The fishing continues to improve here in Santa Cruz. The salmon are being caught down deep at the tip of the Soquel Hole and in front of Moss Landing. The fish are hanging out in 250-300 feet on the edge of the canyons. There have been some nice salmon caught on the harbor jetty with Mad River pink worms.” Exciting news indeed!

Both Randy’s Sportfishing and Chris’ Fishing Trips out of Monterey are reporting limit-style rockfishing, as they have all season. Working the outside area from Point Pinos to Point Sur, their boats are reporting limits of rockfish and lingcod nearly every day. Moss Landing’s Kahuna chartered a halibut trip on Monday. The Kahuna returned with only one halibut, but also caught 30 sanddabs, two starry flounder and 80 rockfish to fill up the gunny sacks. Sunday’s rockfish trip aboard the Kahuna netted 48 vermilion, 56 coppers, five cabezon, 32 lingcod and 21 other assorted rockfish.