Anglers on the Monterey Bay enjoyed consistent fishing this week, though the wind became a problem by Thursday with small craft warnings set to continue through Friday morning. It was much worse in Northern California with mid-week gale warnings of wind to 35 knots and seas to 19 feet with a dominant period of 10 seconds. Our weekend weather forecast look good, with light winds and a moderate swell. Get out early and keep an eye on the horizon for whitecaps.

Big fish honors this week go to Katy Kuszmar of Santa Cruz, who hooked a big, beautiful sheepshead last Saturday in 50 feet of water off Steamer Lane. Husband Darren Gertier sent in a picture and the story. ““It was big and really tasty. I grew up fishing in Newport Beach so I knew how to cut it and cook it too. It was the first one I had heard of up here, though.” When asked what bait they were using, Gertier responded “That’s the weird part, it hit a live mackerel.“

Monterey Bay is pretty much the northern limit for sheepshead, and they are more commonly found in Carmel or close to Point Pinos. They are a rare catch on rod and reel because they prefer to eat crustaceans.

We are happy to report all the regular species are in attendance now. Salmon fishing remains steady on the canyon edges at Moss Landing and the Soquel Hole. John Thomas from Go Fish Santa Cruz reports on Saturday’s trip aboard the Miss Beth, ”We hooked nine and got seven working the west side of the Soquel Hole in about 300 feet of water. Four fish were caught using bait behind a slingblade, though the spoon and Kajiki also worked for salmon up to twelve pounds.”

Rockfishing is steady at the usual spots. Chris Arcoleo from Chris’ Fishing Trips says they were forced to work inside the bay all week due to winds. Their rockfish scores equaled about half limits, but Chris’ boats bagged full limits of lingcod nearly every trip. (That was up to 78 for the Caroline on Saturday.) On the North side of the bay, Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine notes good lingcod fishing up the coast near Davenport, while suggesting the rock cod fishing is more productive near Natural Bridges and South Rock reef.

In other good news, Fraser is fielding an increasing number of halibut reports. Most of the fish caught have been in 40-70 feet of water, though a few lucky anglers pulled in keeper halibut while surfcasting near New Brighton Beach.

And finally, surfcasting from any of the beaches along the bay can be very productive. While the barred surfperch are becoming more scarce, the remaining perch are big and feisty. A regular perch rig might attract striped bass as well. Anglers specifically pursuing stripers are finding success with a variety of presentations including topwater poppers, SP Minnows, KastMasters, Krokodiles, swimbaits and HairRaisers.