Summer is over, the kids are back in school and there's less traffic in the Santa Cruz Harbor, especially on the weekdays. Fishing is still going strong however with reports of salmon, halibut, rockfish and an increasing number of lingcod in the mix.

We are seeing most of the salmon close to the harbor, and inside the harbor. The salmon frenzy at J-Dock has subsided. Fish are still being caught in that far north end of the harbor, but an increasing number of fish were hooked up from the harbor entrance channel jetties. The past week featured huge bait balls of anchovies pushed up to Twin Lakes Beach, and salmon are partaking of the bounty. A few boats found salmon success trolling the shallows from 30-60 feet of water from Pleasure Point to Lighthouse Point.

Halibut action was mostly below Capitola last week. The Cement Ship, Rio Del Mar and Pajaro areas produced some good catches for bounce-ball trollers as well as those drifting squid or live bait. Boats were averaging zero-three halibut, most in the 12-20 pound range. As the next few weeks progress, expect to see the halibut bite shift to the north, off Wilders Ranch, Four Mile Beach and Davenport.

Rockfish is still going strong. As usual as we move into fall, the fish are located a little deeper. South Rock is producing well as are the reefs off West Cliff in 85-120 feet of water. Anglers using big baits are hooking more lingcod now as the season progresses. Stagnaro's Sportfishing had a busy weekend. Skipper Ken Stagnaro is running two boats now and both did well. "On Saturday we had two trips on the Velocity. In the morning we headed north on a full day charter and scored limits of big blacks with nice browns and reds in the mix. In the evening we went out on the local reefs and sacked limits of cod in just three hours for 33 people! Our new six-pack boat, the Sea Stag Six, boated 13 albacore tuna to 25 pounds for six guys, and they were only 40 miles out. Our next tuna trip will be Saturday if the weather holds."

Free diver Jim Russell, pictured from Watsoneville has once again claimed the California State record for monkey- faced eels. It has been a back and forth battle between two good friends and dive companions. Russell matched the monkey-face record in March 2011 with a four-pound 12-ounce fish. Fellow free diver Harold Gibson then broke his record in July of that year with a six-pound six-ounce monkey-face. Russell bounced back in March of 2012 with a 6-pound 10-ounce fish, and was bested again by Gibson's 6-pound 14- ounce eel in September 2011. Last Saturday, Russell prevailed once again. His latest monkey-faced eel weighed in at seven pounds five ounces for the new state record. Congrats Jim!