Anyone who takes a look at the ocean these days cannot miss the huge concentrations of bird activity close to Monterey Bay shores. The birds are feeding on the huge amount of bait in the bay right now. It is a sight to see, when thousands of sooty shearwaters blacken the marine horizon, joined by hundreds of cormorants plus diving gulls, terns and pelicans. Bait balls can include anchovies, sardines, mackerel and jacksmelt. Anglers love to see such bird activity because those same bait balls attract and hold big fish in our area for us to catch. And that is what’s happening right now.

Ocean water temperatures remain about four to six degrees above normal. A big balloon of warm water is pushing from the south and has been accompanied with a slew of fish species that are unusual to find in the Monterey Bay area. Catches of these “exotic” fish this year include barracuda, bonito, yellowtail jacks and tanker white seabass on the inshore waters, as well as generational schools of giant bluefin tuna feeding offshore. 

Fishing for the big bluefin is somewhat sporadic, and completely weather dependent. Boats venturing some 12 to 60 miles offshore can face daunting conditions when the winds are blowing hard, as they often do in our portion of the Pacific Ocean. This week’s weather allowed some boats to put the effort in for tuna, and happy results were had. Todd Fraser from Bayside marine tracks local tuna fishing most closely, and reports recent catches from the Monterey Canyon area, the 601 buoy, Half Moon Bay weather buoy and the Davenport Fingers area. 

Bonito are “tuna-like” fish, fast and strong, and they habituate waters closer to shore. They are an absolute blast to catch, and make for decent table fare if treated properly upon catching, which means immediate bleeding and icing of the fish. Santa Cruz skipper Matt Mitchell took a couple friends to a spot up the coast this week where they got into a good school of Bonito, which made for some frenzied fun. In the more sheltered areas of the bay, water temps are a click of two higher than average. That is why good catches of fierce barracuda and hefty white seabass are most common recently near the Capitola/New Brighton area. Additional catches of seabass and fall halibut were reported from a broad swath of waters stretching from Moss Landing up to the North Coast beaches above Santa Cruz. Our mainstay species of rockfish and lingcod continue to provide robust, limit-style returns for anglers fishing both nearshore and offshore reefs.