Chris Arcoleo at Chris’s Landing in Monterey reported a slowdown in the local salmon bite with the Checkmate putting in 9 salmon for 17 anglers on Sunday 5-13 and the Star of Monterey boxing 10 for 24 fishermen. He said, “We have been struggling a bit, while one of Randy’s boats reported to land over 20 fish in the same areas.” The boats have been focusing north at the Soquel Hole, and they also found a few fish on the way home near D Buoy. Tom on the four pack FishOn reported 5 limits to 17 pounds trolling in 50 fathoms just a couple miles south of Davenport.
There are loads of krill on Monterey Bay, and Arcoleo said, “The huge amount of krill has made things difficult since you can’t target one particular area, so we have to see if there are fish holding under any of the vast pockets of bait.” The Pajaro Hole is loaded with commercial and private boaters, and the presence of the fleet makes it difficult to drift while mooching. They didn’t go rockfishing over the weekend; and with the high interest in salmon fishing, Arcoleo is filling his boats with those seeking red meat. They have availability during the week, but trips on the approaching weekend at Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are already filled. Arcoleo also reported commercial fishermen have been scoring as far south as Cape San Martin off of the San Luis Obispo coast, and these fish will eventually move north up the coast. Tom on the FishON also has a couple of days open this week.

On Thursday 5-10 Chris Arcoleo of Chris’s Landing reported more good scores on the west side of the Pajaro Hole with over a salmon per rod with the Checkmate boating 16 for 14 and the Star of Monterey putting in 26 for 17. The commercial and private boats moved in on Thursday, as they were fishing nearly by themselves on Wednesday. On Thursday, there were between 40 and 50 commercial boats in the area, and a number of private boats have also moved in for a total of around 200 boats – on a Thursday! The skiffs have the advantage with the fish on the inside of the Hole, as the salmon are right on top at depths from 10 to 50 feet in the heavy accumulation of krill. The Caroline went rockfishing locally on Thursday with 10 limits of a medium grade fish and between 8 to 10 lings. The rockfish bit much better than in the past couple of trips.

Moss Landing Report from Bill Shelton of Shelton Products

Wild action Limits today at Moss Landing. Super underwater pictures of salmon striking FBR. Limits for 2 anglers caught at 50/52 area at 25-42 feet UV FBR™ did all the catching. No flasher or dodgers were used. Fished with Ray Link. The first two bites Ray handle the rod and 3rd and 4th one I got to yank on them. One really nice one busted loose while try to herd it in front of the camera…It was camera shy and headed for parts unknown.. Want do that again… Took some fish and ran the underwater camera for a little while after success looked good. Salmon were in packs.
 

Santa Cruz Area Report from Allen Bushnell of the Santa Cruz Sentinel
After a brief lull, salmon fishing has again taken off in the northern part of Monterey Bay. Anglers working the krill piles from Moss Landing to the east side of the Soquel Hole are reporting fast and furious fishing, and early limits for most.
“I fished today and we had 8 fish by 11:00,” said Todd Fraser from Bayside Marine. Fraser, on the Easy Money, was trolling 50-60 feet down and using a combination of hoochies, spoons or Krocodile lures behind U.V. flashers. “The salmon were fighting hard because they were high up in the water column. There are huge bait balls of krill boiling on the surface and birds working it with salmon under it.”
Captain Jimmy Sportfishing reported similar success. Hearkening to his commercial fishing roots, Skipper Jim Rubin uses straight spoons while trolling, with no flashers. “These fish are so hot, we’re getting some only 10 feet down, with early limits on every trip.” The quality of salmon is improving as well. Most fish caught recently are averaging10 to 15 pounds with a few shakers in the mix and the occasional 20-pounder reported caught.
he weekend weather could not be better with a dropping swell and light winds forecast through Sunday. These benevolent conditions are attracting halibut into the shallows, and the catch rate for flatties is also rising. Ed Burrell at Capitola Boat and Bait weighed in a few this week already, including one caught near Capitola kelp beds on a swim bait. Todd Fraser says the best halibut fishing is near the Mile Buoy and up along the West Cliff area. Depths of 30-70 feet of water are holding the flatties. Swim baits are obviously working well, but dead squid is a standby halibut bait, and live anchovies or sardines always work the best. Carl Azevedo at Boccie Boy Bait in The Santa Cruz Harbor is on the hunt for finfish to stock his receiver. So far, he has not seen much bait inshore.
Rockfish season is now open and good scores have been reported from the Capitola and West Cliff areas. Reports from North Coast spots such as Four Mile Beach and Davenport are scarce, most likely because most boats are catching salmon at the moment. Those areas have colder water and commonly fish slower this early in the season. Surf perching remains an easy alternative, and the fishing can be very good once you find the right spot to cast your lure or bait. Celeste Donatini can testify to this, having landed a 4.3-pound barred surfperch earlier this week, casting the surf near Rio Del Mar. Donatini caught the monster perch on a Krocodile lure.
Bushnell can also be heard on The Let's Go Fishing Radio Show Thursdays at 8 p.m. on KSCO radio 1080 AM. Send your photos, comments or questions to scruzfishing@yahoo.com

Fishing turned ballistic today and it looks like anglers are back in the fish for at least the next few days. Chris from Chris's Fishing trips called in to report wide open action Wednesday 5-9. The Checkmate had 14 limits of salmon to 20 pounds at 9AM while the Star had 25 limits early as well. Chris said the boats were fishing off Pajaro and everyone was into fast action.
Tom on the FishOn had the go home fish three times today before pulling the plug with 7 for 4. Tom made the mistake of letting his clients try netting fish.  After missing three and then feeding a few to the local sealions Tom never did get that last fish. Lesson learned! Tom said that everyone was in on the action he found off Pajaro yesterday. Many private boats had early limits, most party boats did likely wise and the commercial fleet was also there hopefully also loading up on some big numbers.
Anglers need to jump on while the fishing is hot. Chris's has room the next two days, is full on Saturday and lots of space on Sunday.  Looking for light weekend loads?? Mother's Day is always light for party boats and a good bet to find plenty of space on the majority of boats.

The winds laid out and there is a push of new salmon into Monterey bay. On Tuesday 5-8 Tom on the FishON called in with early limits. Tom said they started off the Canyon north of Moss Landing and he again started to work in towards the top of the shelf off Pajaro. Between 8 and 10:15 they put in 5 limits that ranged from 13 to 22 pounds. They had several doubles and a couple of other immediate takedowns while dropping the lines down. Good sign of a lot of fish in the area. His best action was in 180 to 190 at depths of 15 to 40 feet. His only regret was that he didn't have a second group on stand-by but he will be offering that to readers who can "get out of the office on a moments notice". While there is no guarantee of getting that call when you do get it you know the bite is hot.
Chris at Chris's Fishing in Monterey reported good action on the Star on Monday with 10 fish landed for 8 anglers mostly commercial grade salmon averaging 12 + pounds. For quality party boat trips it's tough to beat Chris's prices and experienced captains. They have lots of room this week for both salmon and rockfishing trips. The weather was calm today and the forecast calls for more great weather in the days ahead.

After a week of mostly breezy weather and slow fishing it looks like conditions and scores are in the opening innings of an upswing. While most party boats did struggle on Sunday 5-6 a few boats found late action off Pajaro. Captain Tom on the Fish On started with the fleet off Moss Landing to Mulligan along the canyon. After scratching just one fish for their morning effort Tom worked up and in to where he found some fish last week. Around the noon hour they started marking bait and the fish climbed on. Between noon and 1:30 they landed 7 keepers for 5 limits, released 15 shakers and lost another 4 to 5 other legal fish. Tom said they had a solid 12 pound average and found the action in 190 feet off Pajaro. A few private boats he called in also got 2 to 5 quick limits each. Tom said there is pockets of scattered krill and they got most of their action up high at 20 to 40 feet on the downriggers. Tom feels that this is a "new" school that has moved into the bay. On Saturday party boats all reported less than a half fish per rod but with better weather in the forecast and fresh fish in the bay we expect to be posting some good scores here in the coming days. Tom has some room this week and Chris's Fishing in Monterey with three big boats to fish from have lots of room all this week.