Mild weather and calm seas resulted in an uptick of positive results for anglers fishing the Monterey Bay this week. Santa Cruz’ Bayside Marine owner Todd Fraser encapsulated conditions well, reporting, “Fishing has been good for the anglers fishing for sand dabs and crabs in 200-280 feet of water. There have been a few small halibut caught trolling near Pajaro and Moss Landing. Perch fishing was good at 26 Avenue beach and Manresa. The weather has been calm with small swells and afternoon winds. It is a great time to get your rods and reels ready for the rockfish and salmon openers coming in April.”

The early showing of halibut during February is unusual, but not unheard of. This may be a year where we can start looking in earnest for the big flatfish in March, rather than April or May. Diver’s reports from Monterey, near the Coast Guard Pier note the presence of a few legal-sized halibut in the shallows, along with “a bunch of juveniles.”

After a long spell of inclement weather conditions, surfcasting is starting to take off. The broad beaches from Manresa down to Seaside are showing decent structure, with sand points , rip currents and deep troughs parallel to the beach. Rob Cadwallader fished Sunset beach on Friday, pulling in 11 barred surf perch and one legal striped bass while using GULP! sandworms on a Carolina rig. All his fish were released.

Surfcaster Ed Quiambao hit the beaches closer to Monterey on Saturday. Along with partner Alvin Pamintuan, Quiambao had no problem bringing home a limit of five barred surf perch for that night’s dinner. He says, “Crappie sliders did some damage today here in the Monterey area! Water was good... found a nice hole and just kept pulling them in back to back to back! Limit out by 10-ish. Was on the beach walking at 7.” Crappie sliders are a type of plastic grub, usually rigged on a small lead-head jig, though they can also be used with a Carolina or dropper-loop setup. Apparently, they work for our surf perch as well!

The Golden Gate Salmon Association that continues to fight fiercely for salmon protection, water allocations and angler rights. WE have a GGSA benefit dinner in Santa Cruz scheduled for September 5, 2020. But, the event to attend is the GGSA 10-Year Anniversary Dinner to be held in Santa Rosa on April 3. We’re talking BBQ, full, free open bar, high-end fishing gear auction, GGSA membership and most of all supporting protection and recovery for salmon stocks in California.