A fairly large northwest swell swept down the Pacific Coast last weekend, catching many anglers by surprise. Waves measuring from six up to 12 feet kept many boats at the dock, and those who ventured out for rockfish or halibut found trying to fish both uncomfortable and unproductive.

Monterey Bay Charter’s skipper Tom Dolan reported on Saturday’s attempts aboard the Mega Bite saying, “Jurassic Park trip was not your typical big game safari today. Mixed swell, deep swell, strong current and east wind really made catching difficult. Traveled more than 40 miles trying to get the fish to bite but just couldn’t beat Mother Nature at her own game.”

By Tuesday conditions had calmed considerably. John Thomas aboard the Miss Beth ran morning and afternoon trips Tuesday and had this to report, ”This morning Go Fish Santa Cruz Charters went catching at Davenport. The rock cod bite continues to be really good. The vermillion were big. So were the smiles on the clients.” Their afternoon trip went well according to manager Beth Norton who reported, “This afternoon Captain JT could not find the fish locally. So…. he headed north of Santa Cruz where he found better water conditions And the bite was on. The clients had limits of rock fish and a nice ling cod.”

Monterey Charter boats stuck to local fishing on the weekend, with longer more productive trips on Monday and Tuesday. Chris Arcoleo at Chris’ Fishing Trips gave us the lowdown and reminds us that Dungeness Crab season is soon to open. Arcoleo reported, “We posted 34 limits on Monday. The weather will be cooperative at the start of the week, and we plan on heading south to Point Sur as often as possible. We are taking reservations for the opening of the Dungeness crab season on November 7th, and we are already filled on the opening weekend along with a few additional Saturdays. There is plenty of room during the weekdays.”

Local stalwart Tobias Farnsworth took a gamble last week and signed up for a three-day tuna trip aboard the Success out of Point Loma in San Diego, skippered by Captain Cole who is actually from Santa Cruz. . Fishing about 20 miles west of San Clemente Island, the boat found huge schools of voracious tuna. Farnsworth won the jackpot with a monster bluefin tuna caught on the kite. “It took me about 35 minutes to bring it in,” he said of the 184-pound tuna. Farnsworth added, “Most of the fish caught were yellowfin tuna in the 40-70 pound class. The skipper actually had to shut fishing down on the first evening, in order to save room in the holds for the next day’s fish! “