The latest information from California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife indicates salmon season will likely open as usual, on the first Saturday in April for all of Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. In a bonus announcement, the DFW is opening fishing for the RCG Complex (rockfish, cabezon and greenling) on April 1 this year, giving us an extra month of rockcod and lingcod fishing compared to prior years.

Highlighting the fishing news for Monterey Bay this week, however, is Saturday’s 12th Annual Sandcrab Classic Perch Derby. Entries are closed for this year’s derby with nearly 350 anglers from California and beyond vying once again to bring in the biggest perch and take home the prestigious Sand Crab Master trophy.

This is a community event that supports efforts of the Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project to protect and enhance native populations of anadromous salmonids in the greater Monterey Bay area. Multiple divisions include Seniors, Juniors, Women’s and Fly anglers, with trophies for all and recognition for barred surf perch as well as other varieties of surf and sea perch.

As we all know, the weather has been less than comfortable the past two weeks, with big rains, high winds and huge surf. All these conditions contribute to creating potential fishing spots for surfperch in Monterey Bay. The forecast on Saturday March 12 is for possible rain later in the day. Forecasters are also predicting a powerful long-period swell from the west, in the eight-10-foot range.

Low tide is at 7am on Saturday and high tide is at 12:30pm. The weigh-in deadline for the Derby is 1pm, so participants will fish an incoming tide all morning. Find your spot early, and pay attention to potential holes and areas that might hold perch later, during the higher tide. With a long-period swell, particular attention need be paid to safety. Sneaker sets are common as well as unpredictable, and with these steep beaches, anglers can be overcome easily. It pays to fish with a friend and exercise an abundance of caution, especially if fishing with the kids.

A few hardy souls braved nasty conditions this week in search of surfperch. We received reports of big slab-sided barred surfperch caught from beaches on the south side of Moss Landing, as well as from the numerous State Park and municipal beaches that line the center portion of the Monterey Bay. One need not travel so far however. There are great perch fishing spots right in Monterey, from the Commercial Wharf, the Coast Guard Pier and the rocky headlands circling towards Carmel.

In Santa Cruz we have the Cement Ship, Capitola Wharf and the Santa Cruz Wharf, all of which can and do produce good catches of surf and sea perch. Ed Burrell at Capitola Boat and Bait reported anglers with hefty stringers of mixed perch this week. The fish were caught using shrimp bits just behind the surfline, and included barred, calico, walleye and shiner surfperch.

And though the exact location must be kept confidential, the long Santa Cruz beaches “in town” continue to produce quality surf perch, as is evidenced by the hefty 2-pound+ BSP caught by local James Walgren late last week. He and his son Christian were fishing an incoming tide using sandcrabs for bait, and hooked several lunkers.

Good luck to all at the Derby this weekend remember to Have Safe and Be Fun.