Prior to a strong, long period south swell that arrived last Sunday, fishing in Santa Cruz was comfortable and productive. The swell, accompanied by south winds, pushed the fish down into the rocks, or out towards deeper water in the case of halibut. Fishing in Monterey was unaffected, as the south swell and wind does not create adverse conditions on that north-facing side of the bay. The swell is dropping now, and effects should be gone for this weekend’s ocean fishing throughout Monterey Bay.

Chris Arcoleo from Chris’ Fishing Trips in Monterey is having a dandy time these days. “”We are still catching limits of rockfish on all our boats and averaging one ling cod per rod.” Thursday’s trip to Point Sur netted limits of rockfish as usual plus 76 ling cod for the boat. Arcoleo reports a few halibut were caught in his area, and notes that surfcasters continue to catch the occasional striped bass from the beaches near Marina. In Santa Cruz, all local reefs produced good rockfishing over the weekend, with bigger fish reported from the deeper reefs off West Cliff and from the North Coast. We can expect good rockfishing for this weekend and during the coming week.

Salmon fishing showed an uptick this week, according to Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine. “The salmon continue to bite near the edge of the Soquel Hole. The anglers are catching some nice salmon in 180-220 feet of water. Most are being caught on bait near the bottom,” Fraser reports.

Moss Landing’s Kahuna Sportfishing had some happy customers on Tuesday. On a rare Halibut Special trip, the Kahuna hit it right, and boated a number of big flatfish in the “20-pounds plus” range. The big flatfish are showing up in good numbers off Capitola and Santa Cruz as well.

Ed Burrell from Capitola Boat and Bait reported multiple halibut caught over the weekend near Capitola. Many of the flatties were of the larger variety, with the heaviest fish weighing in at 27 pounds. Unlike most years, halibut seem to be staying in deeper water this summer. Most of the fish reported by Burrell were caught in 50-80 feet of water. Many anglers found halibut success by jigging up bait and drifting. A variety of live bait remains abundant in the near shore areas with schools of Pacific mackerel, Spanish mackerel and jacksmelt available.

Perhaps the most astounding catch of the week came from local angler Glen Larson who brought in a rare triggerfish caught on a Lazer Minnow jig. Finescale trigger fish are more tropical and uncommon even in Southern California. This one is a further example of how unusually warm the water is this year.