The salmon fishing up and down the coast has taking a tiny bit of a lull over the past week compared to earlier in the month. The sea conditions have been hit or miss, often the ocean waters start acting up as usual in the afternoon, but there were two days last week when they were calm nearly all day long. As for the salmon fishing, there is about a 75% chance you will catch a fish, so that’s about 3/4 fish per pole. An even better chance your boat will have some smaller salmon or shakers.
The best places to catch the salmon right now is from out of the Santa Cruz Harbor. Most of the fishing success is still taking place off the Soquel Hole which is just a few miles out from the harbor. Anglers are catching fish mostly with trolling gear, however there has been an increasing amount of fishermen taking salmon with mooching gear using anchovies and sardines this week. The depths continue to be relatively low compared to later in the year fishing. Most fish are coming from depths of below 100 feet and often as far down as 200 feet. Be sure to carry some proper gear to ensure you can get your lures and hooks down to those depths otherwise you will be struggling.
Farther down the coast in Monterey, there have also been some reports this week of the salmon fishing picking up, several of the charter boats out of Monterey have had anglers catch their two fish limit, and others of course did a bit worse fishing. Make sure to check the weather conditions before you head out, there is always a chance that a gale of wind my blow by before you know it.