Recent rains are raising the hopes of local steelhead anglers, and the steady catch of crabs, dabs and giant squid continues in the Monterey Bay.

Jim Rubin with Captain Jimmy's Sportfishing went right back out for Humboldt squid this week. His five clients caught 42 of the giant squid fishing the deep areas off Moss Landing on Saturday. On the way back in, they pulled crab pots and wound up with limits of tasty Dungeness crab for all aboard. Gerry Brookes from Reel Sportfishing has been pursuing the same species and doing well on both squid and crab. Brookes also put some effort into fishing sand dabs recently, and would up with 35 fish for his two clients aboard. Sand dabs are a delicious small flounder, available in abundance just off our coast. Stagnaro's Sportfishing is running half-day trips for the 'dabs, and averaging 30-40 sanddabs per person. Ken Stagnaro says they use sabiki rigs for the dabs and were surprised last week to hook one of the roaming giant Humboldts, which was successfully caught on the light-line sabiki.

We have not heard much yet from surfcasters fishing for perch this year. Typically that fishery starts taking off in mid-January, and continues strongly through April or May. It might be a slow start this year, or perhaps no one is fishing for them? We are confident the perch fishing will pick up in time for this year's Sand Crab Classic Perch Tournament. Scheduled for March 20th, this will be the sixth year for the prestigious Santa Cruz perch derby. Sign-up forms are available at Bayside Marine at the Santa Cruz Harbor, The Angler's Choice Tackle Shop on 41st Avenue in Capitola or online at www.theletsgofishingradioshow.com.

If you are not fishing for Perch this weekend, you might consider taking in the International Sportsman's Expo at the San Mateo County Event Center. This is the yearly fishing and outdoor sports trade show that features hundreds of retailers, activities and seminars. Children are admitted for free and they will feature a "kids only" trout pond again this year. The ISE show will be running from Thursday January 14 through Sunday January 17.

Closer to home, the Santa Cruz Flyfishermen club will be holding its annual fundraising event to support habitat restoration projects in the local community and throughout Northern California. The event includes a banquet as well as a raffle and auction that features top- of-the-line flyfishing gear, and will be hosted at the First Congregational Church on High Street in Santa Cruz. Tickets and information are available at The Angler's Choice in Capitola.

We can expect the steelheaders to be out in force this weekend, working the local streams after recent rains raised the flow levels. Remember to purchase your Department of Fish and Game steelhead card, barbless hooks only and all steelhead caught locally must be released. Further north, steelheading is doing pretty well, according to JD Richey. Richey fished the Smith River last week for eight hookups and six fish in the net, including one ten-pounder that was "an absolute screamer." Big fish for the day was a 14-pound buck caught by Richey's compadre, Tim Reilly.