Last week featured some fine fishing weather followed by a few unsettled days as a low pressure system swept across Central California. The coming weekend conditions are forecast to be very good with light winds and only a medium swell.

Rockfish continues to be the best bet for area anglers according to Frank Ealy at Capitola Boat and Bait. Ealy also operates skiff rentals on the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf and the best reports have come from that area lately. "They caught a lot of fish over the weekend, mostly from Santa Cruz reef and around the whistle (Mile) buoy," Ealy said. "We saw about 10 lingcod caught and some big reds, along with the usual black and blue schoolie rockfish." Ealy recommends using a white or root beer colored leadhead scampi or shrimp fly jigs with a squid strip to flutter in the current this time of year. "Remember to drop your bait slowly," he adds. "A lot of fish are suspended off the bottom."

Jim Rubin from Captain Jimmy's Sportfishing cashed in on the conditions this weekend, with 45 rockfish caught by the five clients aboard on Sunday. ??Rubin took advantage of calm seas and made the run across the Bay to the Carmel area, fishing off Pt. Joe. Besides the blues, blacks and olive rockfish, Rubin's charter pulled in four vermillion weighing up to six pounds each.

Chris' Fishing Trips is having equal or better luck with the rockfish. Todd Arcaleo reports full limits of vermillion and olive rockfish averaging five pounds each on their recent trips to the Pt Lobos and Pt Sur areas. Arcaleo is most excited about the combination rockfish/Dungeness crab trips they have planned for next week.

For those willing to travel for their fish, San Pablo Bay is showing increasing signs of a good Striped bass year in the making. A few early sturgeon have been caught in the China Camp area, and South Bay boaters are hooking leopard and seven-gill sharks near Redwood City and Coyote Point.