We had a couple windy days this week, but generally enjoyed wonderful fishing weather all around Monterey Bay. It is a great time to book a charter out of Monterey. Seas have been calm, fishing is productive and customer loads are light on Chris’ Fishing Trips fishing vessel, the Caroline. Chris Arcoleo is sending at least one boat out every day for Dungeness crab and sand dab combo trips. They’re averaging about 45 crab per trip and catching as many sanddabs as customers care to take home. There are no limits to the number of ‘dabs an angler can keep per day. The small sole-like flatfish are fun to catch and make for gourmet dining. Arcoleo sent the boat out this weekend with as few as eight anglers aboard, which makes for lots of elbow-room on the big boat.

Surfcasters are doing well on both sides of the bay right now. A few striped bass were reported caught from beaches south of Moss Landing, and at least one striper was hooked from the Pajaro Beach area. These bass are all small so far, most barely making the minimum length of 18-inches. Still, they fight they provide is tremendous especially on light perch fishing gear. The legal fish make delicious dinner, with thick filets of flaky white meat.

Perch fishing is getting interesting as well. Some of the distinct structure built up from our last series of storms is now flattening out again. We really need some weather to re-shape things. An amount of wave action is always best for hunting these fish that feed in the shallows. Often, anglers will locate the target perch right behind the pounding shorebreak as the perch feed on sandcrabs. Speaking of which, though perch grubs or GULP! Camo and Blood Sandworms continue to fool the fish with regularity, live sandcrabs have proven to be a “code-breaker” on a few recent outings. One may receive fewer nibbles when fishing with the sandcrabs, but will hook bigger fish more often.

For a big-game experience, the white sturgeon bite is reaching its yearly peak in the upper regions of San Francisco Bay. JD Richey, famed fishing guide from Sacramento, has been chasing the prehistoric beasts lately. Richey reports, “Been seeing some really nice sturgeon action lately on really big fish. Most of them are oversize but if you like to pull on a giant, now is the time to go! The fish have been running mostly 80-plus pounds lately and we had an eight-footer last night that was well in excess of 200 pounds. Pretty dang fun!” Sturgeon regulations are strict, with a yearly three-fish limit, and a size restriction slot limit between 40 and 60 inches, fork length.