This is the weekend we’ve all been waiting for. Salmon season will open tomorrow April 2 in the Monterey Bay. In a strange twist the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is opening rockfish season earlier than usual, today April 1. So after a long stormy winter fraught with complications we all get the green light now to go out and fish to our hearts’ content.

With commercial crabbing closed until recently, we don’t have very much pre-season intel regarding salmon this year. No reports have come in about incidental salmon caught by sand dab anglers, or sonar reports of anchovy haystacks and such. Keith Stemler from Chris’ Fishing Trips in Monterey has seen some positive indicators recently, however. Stemler says, “There’s good bait out there. We saw humpbacks lunge feeding on krill right out front (of Monterey), and the krill was thick on the meter. And, there’s lots of anchovies bunching up near Mulligan Hill and Moss Landing.” Those are all good signs. Chris’ will send one boat out for rockfish and two boats for salmon this weekend.

Most charter boats are likely booked for this weekend, but it’s always worth a phone call to see if there’s any room for the salmon opener. And, mid-week trips should be fairly available right now. Besides Chris’ Fishing Trips in Monterey, Randy’s Sportfishing offers multiple boats from that harbor and the Kahuna is the go-to charter operation in Moss Landing. In Santa Cruz, Stagnaro’s Sportfishing deploys the flagship Velocity and has a new 55-foot Delta charter boat chartering from the Santa Cruz Harbor as well. Smaller six-pack boats are also a great bet for a more intimate and speedier alternative to the big charter operations.

Go Fish Santa Cruz is a brand-new operation in Santa Cruz. Jonathan Thomas has been sportfishing here for over 20 years, and has our old pal Captain Jim Rubin at the helm of Miss Beth, his 30 foot Island Hopper. We expect to see some fantastic reports this year from that crew. Captain Tom Joseph runs his 23 foot Steiger Craft as a “four-pack” and is well known for his expertise in offshore fishing, both for salmon and tuna when they are in.

Salmon fishing is often hit or miss, but fishing for rock cod is pretty dependable. Last year we had an entire season of limit-style fishing for rockfish and lingcod, and there’s no reason this year should be any different. Early season rockfish can be easily found in 30-70 feet of water, on any of the rocky or reef areas along the bay. In Santa Cruz that usually means Capitola near the kelp beds, the Mile Buoy area, Lighthouse Point, the West Cliff reefs and of course up the coast where there’s plenty of rocks and plenty of big fish.

In Monterey, the cod can be found all along the cliffs of Pacific Grove, around the corner at Pt. Joe and Carmel Bay, with the big ones lurking off the coast of Big Sur.

Be careful have fun, and remember it’s “Safety First” when boating the open ocean. Make sure your gear is in good shape, your batteries are charged and all the electronics are operating correctly.