Get it while you can. October is always a transitional month for fishing in and around the Monterey Bay. This year, that transition is particularly pleasing for anglers, as the warm water push has brought a wild variety of species to our area. At the same time, our deep submarine canyons continue to pump colder nutrient rich waters towards the surface allowing for a robust food chain. We have an immense amount of baitfish in the area, including both anchovies and sardines as well as larger mackerel and jacksmelt upon which the higher order predator fish continue to feed. Weather forecasts do not predict any radical changes for the next couple weeks, but we all know that winter is coming.  

Fishing for rockcod is going strong. All depths are scheduled as open until December 31. Check the regs regarding bag sub-limits and “no-take” rockfish varieties. October and November are great months to have some rockfishing fun. For some reason, the nearshore fish respond extra well to jigging or casting with smaller irons this time of year. Mega-Baits, KastMasters, Krokodiles and plain old diamond jigs can start a feeding frenzy with schoolie rockfish such as blacks, blues and especially the calicos. When owned by Carol Jones and running out of Moss Landing, the Kahuna would host a yearly trip to Big Sur for “surface fishing” rockfish. Clients would have a blast using small shiny irons, surface irons and even popper lures for shallow water calicos and yellowtail rockfish.

According to Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine in Santa Cruz, some small bluefin tuna have been on the bite up the coast near Half Moon Bay. Hopefully the outstanding conditions this weekend will result in more big tuna caught closer to home. In the meantime, the tuna’s smaller cousin bonito are here in force. Schools popped up and the bite was wild near Half Moon Bay last week, and the local bonito bite has increased steadily all this week. Hot spots for the tuna-like speedsters range from Pajaro up to the Santa Cruz Harbor area, and up the North Coast towards Davenport. The bonito can, and do, range inshore to 30-40 feet of water, but the big bite seems to be out a tad deeper, towards 90 and 100 feet.

Surfcasters hitting the big beaches north of Monterey report an increase in schoolie-sized striped bass hitting the usual varieties of lures this week. Bait anglers using sandcrabs are not doing as well. It seems the stripers are keying in on baitfish, which makes sense. Perch fishing can be good, especially at the bigger beaches towards the center of the bay. Swells are dying down for the weekend, and the mid-day high tides are recommended for best barred surf perch results. Keep your eyes open and be ready to tighten the drags and break out the stickbaits, striper action can erupt at any time, on any beach in the bay right now.