Chris’ Fishing Trips posted half to full limits of nearshore rockfish and up to 12 lingcod on Check Mate trips this week. J&M Charters hosted 11 anglers aboard Kahuna on Monday and they did well with client and crew limits of 120 rockfish plus 12 of the toothy lingcod. Fishing in the Monterey area is noticeably better when heading south past Point Pinos. The Carmel Highlands, Stillwater Cove area and especially the areas near Point Sur provide quicker limits and bigger fish.

No charter reports on halibut from the Monterey area this week, but a few must have been caught. Flattie fishing is on the rise near Santa Cruz, and we have the receipts to prove it. Featured photo this week is Ed Burrell. Longtime Capitola Boat and Bait manager and now full-time rabid fisherman, Burrell is working less and fishing more these days. He deserves it. Using one of Capitola B&B’s skiffs this week, Burrell landed a hefty halibut, his first of many for this season, we’d wager.

Other Santa Cruz halibut hunters report some success, fishing the sand flats near Lighthouse Point, across to the Mile Buoy, and following the 50- to 60-foot line down to the SC3 Buoy and even around the corner of the Capitola kelp beds towards New Brighton Beach. The halibut bite is not “on fire” by any means, but it’s a good start for the season with fairly typical timing.

By the end of May and beginning of June, we expect to see a boom in fishing for flatties in 30-60 feet of water. Bounce ball trolling with a dodger trailing whole squid or sardine/herring/anchovies bait covers territory and is proven to elicit bites. Drifting with lighter gear and using live bait might be slower, but the excitement of feeling the bite, setting the hook and landing a big butt makes it very worthwhile to stop and make some bait early in the morning. And, of course, throwing swimbaits might be the funnest of all for halibut fishing. If you know where the fish are, slang that swimbait out, and retrieve in a big hopping pattern. The halibut hit it hard and fast.

Surfcasting can be very good right now. Like last week, location is the key. A good surfcaster makes friends and establishes some sort of sharing network, keeping track of where a bite might be. This week the beaches north of Santa Cruz were very productive for surf perch on the high tides. The big steep beaches in the middle of the bay seemed the best bet for striped bass. We received good reports from a few anglers who described multiple catch-and-release stripers in the 18- to 30-inch class this week. Night time was best, with sunset and pre-dawn also providing stripers on the bite along the nearshore troughs.

Allen Bushnell also operates Santa Cruz Surf and Kayak Fishing Guide Service. Please send any reports, pictures or questions to scruzfishing@yahoo.com.