We are still early in the season, but anglers are enjoying an increasing choice of target species from our local waters. Salmon, rockfish, lingcod, halibut and surfperch are all on the menu. Besides the increasing possibilities for striped bass along the beaches, lucky anglers might even run into a foraging white sea bass or two.

Fishing for king salmon is holding steady, though catch rates were down a bit last week. Most boats averaged a fish per rod or slightly less, while some got skunked and others caught limits. Private boaters are searching the areas near Pajaro and the Soquel Hole as well as finding some fish further up the line, near Three Trees and Davenport.

Jim Rubin on the Becky Ann caught seven salmon to 14 pounds on Sunday, fishing the beautiful North coast area. On Monday, Rubin opted for the Pajaro area, netting four fish while trolling 30-60 feet down.

Tim Obert chimed in with a nice report from Wednesday. "Today we landed five salmon including one 23-pound toad. All our fish came on a green flasher and green goblin hoochie from 120-150 feet down." Obert deckhands for Ultimate Charters out of the Santa Cruz Harbor, and they were fishing near Pajaro and the Soquel Hole.

Todd Fraser continues to weigh in gorgeous kings at Bayside Marine, and suggests Krippled Anchovies, trolled early in the mornings for best results. Fraser is also seeing an increase in halibut coming in. Most are being caught with whole squid or sardines, near the Mile Buoy area. Capitola Boat and Bait reported a few nice halibut caught this week, along with bolina rockfish and lingcods that frequent the same areas as the flatties. We can fish two rods for halibut, but remember to switch down to one rod only once you get a rockfish or ling onboard.

If targeting rockfish specifically, Surfer's Reef, Pleasure Point outside the kelp, scattered reefs near the Mile Buoy and all along West Cliff reefs in 30-90 feet of water should continue to produce well this week.

For the surfcasters, there are still plenty of big barred surfperch biting grubs, worms or sandcrabs along the beaches south of New Brighton. Rumor has it a few nice stripers have been hooked in that area as well. Try dawn or dusk for the stripers. Top water poppers, or small silver lures such as KastMasters are working for the bass.