Windy weather continued to frustrate anglers in the Monterey Bay region, as well as up and down the coast. The typical springtime northwest winds are great for upwelling and rejuvenating surface biomass, but they sure make it hard to fish sometimes. Most anglers stayed inshore, fishing early and heading for the barn when the whitecaps start marching in from the horizon.


Luckily, the inshore fishing has been very good, even great on some days. A mixed swell that included a long period south served to push halibut out to deeper waters but the rockfish bite has remained consistent with limits being the rule and a good number of lingcod reported as well.


Monterey boats continue to head south to the rocky shores between Point Joe and Cypress Point for rockfish. Chris's Fishing Trips from Monterey reported mostly limits of rockfish for all their boats over the Memorial Day weekend. The most impressive score for Chris' was from last Friday, when the Star of Monterey returned to port with limits of rockfish (210) and 37 lingcod for the 21 anglers aboard. Brian Cutting, skipper of the Chubasco from Randy's Sportfishing reported similar results for the weekend, with limits of rockfish for all anglers on Saturday and Sunday. ""We fished from Pt. Joe down to Cypress Point. It was pretty bumpy from the wind. Fished hard for full boat limits Saturday and Sunday with over 40 clients onboard each day. We were catching school-type fish, blues and yellowtails for the most part."


In Santa Cruz it was pretty much the same story. High winds kept salmon anglers from their offshore spots, and halibut were pushed to deeper water by the swell. Inshore water around Santa Cruz and Capitola is holding big bait schools that range from tiny pinhead anchovies to big sardines and mackerel. A few of the big flatfish were reported caught over the weekend from the Mile Buoy area, as well as Natural Bridges and Four-Mile Beach, according to Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine. Fraser said, "The inshore was the best bet and anglers found some nice lingcod and rockfish. The jumbo sardines are the key for the larger lingcod."


Charter boat operations working out of the Santa Cruz Harbor are finding limits of rockfish across a broad area from Capitola to Wilders Ranch just north of Santa Cruz. The best depths are 50-120 feet of water according to Jim Rubin from Captain Jimmy Charters submitted this report on Monday "Today we had a private charter with five repeat anglers. We had three kids and they did great, they landed limits of rockcod (50 fish) and we also landed limits for the crew (20 fish). We also had five bonus lingcod. Every angler went home with a lingcod and a bag with 20 rockcod fillets."


While this wind persists, another very valid option is taking a quick trip up to San Francisco Bay. Skippers there are enjoying some of the best striped bass fishing they have seen in years. When the tides are right, the trips include good scores of halibut as well. Jay Yokomizo skipper of the New Huck Finn reported on Sunday's charter. "Another great day on the bay! We started off slow and then got going. By the end it was ON! 26 anglers caught 52 bass to16 pounds and 1 halibut at 24 pounds."


Bushnell can also be heard on The Let's Go Fishing Radio Show Thursday nights at 8pm on KSCO radio 1080 AM. Send your photos, comments or questions to scruzfishing@yahoo.com