After a few days of poor weather, deepwater rockfishing has taken off all around the Monterey Bay. Saturday’s conditions were much more on the comfortable side of things compared to earlier in the opening week. Waves were reported as be five feet from the west, and winds were a gentle three knots offshore in the early morning, before switching to west winds and building up to around 15 knots in the afternoon. We saw most of the charter operations fishing by Saturday as well as a flotilla of private boats from our harbors and visitors with their trailers boats. Monterey and Moss Landing Harbors are free and clear for entrance and exits. Santa Cruz Harbor is still dredging at the jetty entrance, with shoaling warning still in place. The current entrance sounding at Santa Cruz indicates a stable channel dead center of the jaws with 12-20 foot depths as of April 2, 2025.

Chris’ Sportfishing in Monterey sent out both the Caroline and Check Mate last Thursday and reported pretty good deepwater rock fishing. They counted limits of up to 200 rockfish, double-digit lings and a high count of 15 Petrale sole for their efforts. Neighboring J&M Sportfishing on old Fisherman’s Wharf ran short four-hour trips and still managed limits of rockfish for the Kahuna on Sunday along with lingcod counts up to 12.

On the north side of the bay, Stagnaro’s Sportfishing counted 184 rockfish for their initial trip of 2025. On the seven hour sojourn, the Santa Cruz charter company found mostly chilipeppers, vermilion and bocaccio, with a nice bonus of 25 Petrale sole. Six pack operator Go Fish Santa Cruz reported limits of vermilion, yellow tail, green spots, canaries and bocaccio. Santa Cruz Coastal Charters owner Rodney Armstrong reported on Friday’s trip saying, “Our first day on the water this season was great. Quick wide open bite and bag limits for all customers. The deep water is open all month. Then we will be doing near shore light tackle trips.”

Last week’s big swell is subsiding slowly. Wave heights mid- week were still reported in the five to seven-foot range and are forecast to drop over the weekend to the more comfortable three-foot area. For the surfcasters, lower wave energy energy is reflected on the forecast charts through next weekend. Casting from the beach was fairly decent this week, and will be getting better and better as we move into springtime, and the water warms up. 

Surfcasters are excited about North Coast striper fishing. Most schoolie-sized bass are not quite legal size but multiples were caught on sardine color stickbaits by Mike Yom on the first week of April close to Half Moon Bay. The same area was very productive for bigger perch, both BSP and redtails. The best perch reports received were from anglers using a double dropper loop and "secret" bait. 

Inside Monterey Bay, it's seems to be feast or famine. Tides are crucial with high tides providing evoking enough depth to bring the big perch inside during this ongoing sizable swell. Sandcrab colonies are beginning to show on the beaches. Fishing the inside trough has been very productive for larger BSP's as well as the occasional schoolie striper. Most of the bass are not measuring minimum length, so treat them nicely and release quickly. Let them grow up for some late-summer action.