Rockfishing season is closed, halibut are hard to find in their wintertime deep-water spots, and salmon season won't start until April. Fishing action is still avaiable, however, and your chances of a fresh seafood dinner remain very high in the Monterey Bay.

Stagnaro's Sportfishing will be running sand dab trips for the next few months. Skipper Ken Stagnaro offers a low price outing on the 60-foot Velocity. Usually traveling a few miles from the Santa Cruz Harbor, Stagnaro is well known for locating productive sand dab spots in 180-200 feet of water. Sand dabs are small flatfish like sole, and are considered a delicacy in many restaurants. They can be prepared in a variety of ways, though the default process is to cook them whole (without the head), lightly dusted with flour and pan-fried in butter.

There are no bag or size limits on sanddabs, and it's not unusual for anglers to return with 20-30 fish each. Last Saturday, the Velocity had a light load of 13 anglers, and counted 385 sand dabs in the 12-13 inch range caught. Stagnaro also reports "it's the height of the gray whale season now, we are seeing dozens crossing Monterey Bay. The Velocity offers whale-watching trips every weekend and holidays, and occasionally during the week as well.

The smaller six-pack boats are also pursuing sand dabs, along with Dungeness crab. Captain Jim Rubin on the Becky Ann continues to pull limits of big meaty Dungeness for his clients. He is working the area north of town in 180-200 feet of water. Others have reported the crabs are more numerous in deeper water, from 220-240 feet, likely a result of the continuous swell we've experienced for the past two weeks.

That swell is improving the perch fishing. Plenty of structure has formed along the sandy beaches south of Capitola. It's worth a long sunset walk to find a hole or rip current and toss grubs for the barred surfperch. Local surfcaster Ron Martin reported good fishing last week. "Today I got a handful of fish but they were all big. All between 11/4 and 2 lbs. Before the swell got big I had a day where I caught several big fish with one that may have been 2 1/2 lbs. I am not catching big numbers but the quality is good." Martin hopes the big perch will stick around until our annual Sand Crab Classic Perch Derby, which is scheduled for March 10 this year. We will provide more information regarding the derby and registration in next week's column.