The groundhog might be correct this year. Judging by the number and variety of fish reported caught last week, it seems like spring is arriving early. Surfcasters are starting to locate the big perch, and buckets are being filled with mackerel as well as sandabs from the deeper flats. Best of all, a number of halibut were reported caught earlier in the week. Zack Mitchell and Dave McGuire, both prior first-place winners of the annual Sandcrab Classic Perch Derby, are practicing diligently for the 2011 tourney, scheduled on March 12. The deadly duo recently returned from a perch foray to an undisclosed location with a fine brace of big black perch. The largest, caught by Mitchell, weighed in at 2.6 pounds, even bigger than his 2009 derby winner. While the beaches south of Capitola have been hit or miss for the barred surfperch, some of the rocky areas along our North Coast are kicking out large black perch and striped perch right now. Mussels, shrimp or sandcrabs make the best bait, though motor oil grubs and Gulp! Sandworms will also do the trick. Ed Burrell at Capitola Boat and Bait had good news to report on Tuesday. Fishing in 65 feet of water off Soquel Point, Burrell landed his first halibut of the year, using a whole squid on a regular halibut rig. "It was small, only 24 inches, but a keeper," Burrell said. He also released one undersized halibut that day. Reports have been filtering in from a variety of sources, suggesting that the smaller male halibut may be moving in now, about a month earlier than their migration to shallow water last year. Bayside Marine's Todd Fraser reported "a few" flatties caught near the Santa Cruz Harbor. JT Thomas had success as well this week, catching a legal halibut near the Mile Buoy. The unsettled weather might put a damper on halibut fishing for this weekend, but savvy anglers will be prepared to search the flat sandy areas in 50-70 feet of water once the ocean settles down again. Stagnaro's Sportfishing had a banner weekend as well. Skipper Ken Stagnaro travelled eight miles from the harbor on Saturday with 17 anglers aboard. They caught an astonishing 725 sanddabs. "As good as it gets!" Stagnaro enthused. Fishing in 250-300 feet of water, the clients were catching sanddabs from 10 to 100 feet down. "We had them schooled under the boat for over an hour." On Sunday, clients aboard Stagnaro's Velocity "only" caught 325 sandabs, but for the first time this year, mackerel were in the mix. The Velocity returned to port with 125 Pacific mackerel and 100 kingfish in addition to the sandabs. The Dungeness crabs are still crawling, according to Jim Rubin from Captain Jimmy Charters. "We'll be running "crabs 'n dabs" trips, targeting the edges of the Soquel Hole over the next few weeks," Rubin says. "The Dungies are still big and meaty, and there are quite a few in this area for the foreseeable future." Catch Bushnell's live fishing report on KSCO 1080AM Friday mornings at 6:45am. Send comments, questions and photos to scruzfishing@yahoo.com