Conditions improved along the Monterey Bay coastline this week and enabled anglers to fish longer and farther from the launch. Gentler seas and wind also resulted in a better inshore bite for rockfish, lingcod and halibut. Warming water has brought in schools of sardines, mackerel and jacksmelt. JT Thomas from Go Fish Santa Cruz shared good reports of massive squid spawns near Manresa this week as well as smaller pop ups of squid near Capitola, the Mile Buoy and the west side of Santa Cruz.

An additional benefit to milder conditions is halibut returning to their shallow spawning grounds. The bite picked up noticeably this week with reports from the Santa Cruz Harbor area, New Brighton and Capitola coming in. We are seeing good numbers of bait in all these areas, including big sardines and some mackerel mixed in with anchovies and larger smelt. Jigging up live bait for halibut is the way to go. Preferred depth for flatties this week was 40-60 feet of water. The Pajaro area also kicked out some halibut this week, as did the “Hotel” area in Monterey.

Chris’ Sportfishing in Monterey had cookie-cutter reports week. Limits, limits, limits of rockfish, up to a count of 220 on the Check Mate last Saturday. Chris’ also stacked up as many as 15 lingcod per trip and even posted one halibut caught while rockfishing. In Santa Cruz, Rodney Armstrong is running up to two trips a day on his six-pack charter boat Knot Alone from Santa Cruz Coastal Fishing Charters. He’s been capitalizing on very healthy concentrations of school rockfish, counting limits of blues and olives all week. 

Current conditions benefit surfcasters as well.  Halibut fishing is beginning on the sandy beaches and coves in our area, and the striper bite is getting better and better. Anglers this week reported dozens of striped bass caught from the beaches south of Capitola.  The hot bait for the week has been hard-shell sandcrabs, though the usual popper lures, irons or stickbaits will always elicit a striper hit. As usual, there are more striped bass on the bite from the southern beaches of the bay. Sand City, Fort Ord and Seaside beaches have hosted a consistent striper bite for weeks now. On the north side of the bay, the bass are fewer and farther in between. Using sand crabs on a Carolina rig is always a good idea. Big barred surf perch love these little crustaceans and roving stripers will slam the sand crabs as well. It pays to hedge your bets and double the potential action.