It is "angler's choice" right now for those who like to fish the Monterey Bay. The big wheel turned a couple more clicks and here we are with open seasons for salmon, rockfish, lingcod, halibut, striped bass and Dungeness crab.

After a fairly decent start to the salmon season, things have slowed somewhat. Captain Jim Rubin on the Becky Ann did well Sunday, catching nine salmon that weighed up to 20 pounds each. They also lost three keeper salmon at the boat. "Since then, the salmon fishing has slowed up terribly," says Rubin. "Lucky for us, rockfish opened." Rubin traveled to Ano Nuevo Wednesday, but the 48-degree water produced no fish whatsoever. Returning to the Natural Bridges area, Rubin and clients bagged limits of big vermillions, blacks and blues in the space of a couple hours. Rubin returned to those reefs on Thursday, hosting Warren "put 'em in the box" Knox and company. Results? Full limits for all aboard including 14 vermillions up to four pounds mixed with the blacks, blues and olive rockfish.

Gerry Brookes from Reel Sportfishing worked the local reefs this week as well. "Salmon was so slow this week, I didn't even see any shakers," Brookes said. His successful solution was to fish closer to the harbor for nice bags of Bolinas, blacks, and a good number of vermillion rockfish. Brookes and clients counted half-limits of rockfish for an hour of fishing "right in front of the harbor." Stagnaro's Sportfishing also hit the local reefs this week, reporting limits for all aboard of blues, yellows and the larger Vermillions. The Stagnaro's flagship Velocity will be alternating rockfish trips with salmon outings on a weekly basis.

Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine weighed in a good number of larger salmon lately, but reminds us there's more to fish for when the salmon bite is slow. "I got good reports from the crabbers working three to five miles from the harbor." The area between Four-Mile Beach and Davenport in 180-250 feet of water is the classic Dungeness area for this time of year. Fraser also reports an increase in halibut reports over the past week. "The halibut are starting to come into the shallow water and the fishing for them is getting better. There was a 27-pound halibut caught on dead squid near Natural Bridges in 40 feet of water." To top it all off, Fraser has also fielded reports of good sunset striper action on the beaches near the Pajaro River.