El Nino is still on its way, but inshore conditions have changed with recent weather patterns. A blustery pair of storms swept through the Monterey Bay area last weekend and into the week. Besides bringing thunder and lightning along with wind, high swells and rain, the weather lowered near shore water temperatures significantly. What this might mean for the bluefin tuna bite remains to be seen. Other exotics are still in play, as local anglers caught bonito and barracuda as recently as Wednesday.

Most charter boats are relying on rockfish and lingcod for their bread and butter trips. Limit-style fishing still prevails, though some are counting half or three-quarter limits of rockfish due to the time of season and unsettled conditions. The Kahuna from Moss Landing bagged rockfish limits as well as two lingcod per rod on their weekend trips towards Point Pinos. Chris’ Fishing Trips in Monterey counted near limits of rockfish aboard the Check Mate on Tuesday and Wednesday, along with full limits of lingcod for their lucky clients.

Randy’s Sportfishing sent out the Chubasco Wednesday and veteran skipper Brian Cutting targeted the area near Point Joe and Cypress Point. His 27 anglers aboard caught 270 rockfish plus 20 lingcod. Cutting and his deckhand Josh Abbey were casting hex bars for lingcod and managed to hookup two nice bonito for their efforts.

In Capitola, Ed Burrell from Capitola Boat and Bait hooked another white sea bass willing to bite his Laser Minnow. Burrell was fishing 70-90 feet of water off Pleasure Point and found a few barracuda in the same area. Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine fielded similar reports of barracuda saying “Bonito were hard to find but there were a few caught in 180-250 feet of water east of the (Santa Cruz) Harbor. The barracuda moved in the bonito grounds and some are over three feet long.”

There’s been no word from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife regarding the ongoing crab closure. Apparently, toxic domoic acid levels are still too high to allow capture of Dungeness or rock crab at this point in time. The “other” winter fishery is heating up, however. Anglers surfcasting for barred surf perch are finding quite a few fish from Monterey Bay beaches, especially those close to Moss Landing. While the perch being caught are still somewhat small, up to 12 inches, the numbers are high and bode well for wintertime perch fishing.