The Mega-Bite with Tom Dolan at the helm is staying busy. His mid-week trips netted full limits of rockfish for all aboard including crew. Saturday’s trip took the cake though, as they headed out deep for some Monterey Bay chrome. Dolan was happy to report, “Tried for salmon today and got surprised when we found big fish right from the get go. The jellyfish have seemed to gone away and the fish are now catchable. Big ones too!”
 
Captain Brian Cutting on Moss Landing’s Kahuna found more salmon close to home on Tuesday’s trip. Kahuna owner Carol Jones supplied the report saying, “Too many lost fish today. Twenty anglers landed 11 king salmon to 22 pounds today, but lost at least 15 others in the morning.
 
Chris’ Fishing trips in Monterey is still willing to give salmon fishing a go. They mooched in “the middle of the bay” on Saturday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Anglers aboard the Check Mate averaged around a fish per rod, with Saturday’s trip netting 25 kings for the 18 anglers aboard.
 
Rockfishing is still going gangbusters. Smaller schoolie fish such as blues, yellows, blacks and calicos are readily available and snapping at shrimp flies on the reef areas within the bay. For bigger, grumpier bottom fish like vermilion, canaries and lingcod the deeper Monterey Bay reefs are the ticket, and the rocky areas just outside the bay both north and south are producing well.
 
Saturday’s trip on the beautiful Miss Beth is a case in point. Beth Norton from Go fish Santa Cruz reports, “Captain JT took the clients to fish the deep water at Davenport. The clients caught limits of a variety of rock fish including big blues, blacks, yellow tail and vermillion. The ling cod were on the bite. They hooked 14 landing 10 nice ones. The weather was nice as was the water. The sun fish (Mola-Mola) were around, which the clients found interesting.”
 
Capitola Boat and Bait has added a fully-loaded fishing kayak to their fleet of rentals. The pedal-driven Hobie can be reserved, and features all the bells and whistles including rod holders and fishfinder. This is a great way to fish the local reefs and kelp beds. The Capitola area is leading the pack for halibut counts this week, with multiple limits coming back to the wharf including fish weighing into the mid 20’s. Squid, anchovies or bounce-balling hoochies are all working to fool the halibut in that area right now.