This may be counted as one of the epic saltwater fishing years for the State of California. San Diego is enjoying unprecedented bluefin tuna as close as ten miles from their harbor, the white sea bass bite at the southern Channel Islands just won't quit, high scores of big halibut continue to rack up along the shores of the northern Channel Islands and salmon fishing has remained strong and steady off the coast north of the Golden Gate. And best of all, we are catching all of these fish right here in the Monterey Bay, or relatively close by. OK, we've had no bluefin tuna, but Captain Tom Joseph aboard the Sara Bella shared some good news for local tuna hunters on Tuesday this week.


Launching from Half Moon Bay, Joseph traveled west looking for the warm clear water that might hold albacore. Far offshore, a companion boat found warm water, then a band of discolored cold water and finally a temperature break with birds working and tuna jumping. Joseph headed northwest past the Pioneer Seamount and found tuna activity around 1:30pm. "We found deep blue water with some diving birds and hooked a single, a triple then two more singles. It took longer to get the fish in the boat than it did to get hooked up." Joseph reported. "They were a big grade of fish. The biggest went 44 pounds with a 35-pound average. We headed back to the harbor at 3:30 for the long tack home. We were 107 miles from the harbor. I'll be running albacore trips when the weather is good."


While the hottest salmon bite might be off the Marin Coast or Eureka, we're not doing too badly right here on the Monterey Bay. Anglers fishing near the Soquel Hole are finding salmon deep, near the bottom in 300 feet of water. We also have a salmon bite going on straight out from the Santa Cruz Harbor. Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine reports-"There were some decent scores in 120-140 feet of water for the anglers who trolled bait." Fraser also weighed in a few salmon caught from the Harbor jetty this week. Anglers are using Mad River Fish Pills and Pink Worms, or throwing spinners for the harbor salmon.


Halibut fishing remains consistent with some good scores from the Mile Buoy down to Manresa, according to Fraser. Carol Jones and Doni Davi from Kahuna Sportfishing in Moss Landing are really dialing in on the flatfish lately. Scores on the Kahuna this week included 11 halibut, 15 starry flounder and 100 sanddabs on Wednesday and 18 halibut, 150 sanddabs and 20 starry flounder Tuesday. Monday, the Kahuna went for rockfish and caught full limits- 210 fish for the 21 anglers aboard.


To top things off, rockfishing and lingcod action remains very good on all the reef areas of Monterey Bay. Charter operations and private boaters alike are enjoying limit-style fishing for the groundfish. Most notable this season is the big numbers of lingcod willing to bite. Many are shy of the 22-inch minimum size, so treat them gently and release them safely.


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