Salmon fishing is picking up as water temps drop in the Monterey Bay. Strong northwest winds brought back our natural upwelling and average surface temps are about five degrees lower than at the start of the season. Trollers continue to catch most fish near the bottom in 250-300 feet of water, though it pays to set lines at 150 because salmon are rising as the water cools. Anglers from Moss continue to find success catching salmon on the Canyon edges, with some fish reported to the south from the Soldier’s Club and Mulligan Hill areas. Most reports came from the northerly Pajaro and Soquel Holes. Depending on the day, the fish can be on the east or the west side of the canyons. Best bet is to start at the tip and work each side as necessary.

Commercial squid boats are working the Santa Cruz area this week in the 100-200 foot depths. Farther out on the salmon grounds, anchovies are plentiful and some sardines are reported in the mix. Point is, there’s plenty of bait to make the fish happy and keep them around. Inside the bay, halibut fishing is beginning to take off with fish reported caught from 30 to 80 feet of water, including a few doormats up to 25 pounds. Halibut fishing is good and getting better from DelMonte Beach and north towards Seaside in the Monterey area. Mid-bay, halibut reports are on the rise from Mulligan’s Hill up to the Strawberry Fields near Sunset Beach. In Santa Cruz, the 40-60-foot depths are producing nice flatties from New Brighton up to Steamer Lane.

Inshore anglers have no problem limiting out on rockfish and lingcod, especially from the Carmel Highlands area to the south and North Coast spots above Santa Cruz. Rockfishing is very strong with limits being the rule.

Surfcasting for perch remains medium-slow around the Monterey Bay and points south. There’s still fish caught every day, even some limits with big fish in the 14 to 15-inch range. But, the summertime surge of barred surf perch along the coast has yet to occur. The Central Coast is seeing a nice increase of stripers along the surfline. Anglers are hooking up the bass using a variety of approaches, including sand crab or pile-worm bait, stickbaits, irons or bucktails. Early mornings and sundown evenings seem to be producing best for the stripers. The nighttime ninja striper assassins have the most consistent scores, though they will never tell you about it.