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Updated April 10

MONTEREY — Charters out of Monterey are already racking up good numbers of deep-water rockfish. Counts of chili peppers, bocaccio, vermilion and canaries are flowing in, limit style. We are even seeing some exotics more common in high summertime. Saturday’s report from J&M recalled, “Incredible fishing today! Made the run down to Big Sur and found a wide-open bite. Quality rockfish, some absolute monster lings, scattered whitefish, and even a bonito in the mix. Just shy of limits, but with this kind of quality, everyone went home with heavy bags. 4/4/26 Fish Count: Kahuna – 180 rockfish, 9 lings, 1 bonito. New Horizon – 137 rockfish, 15 lings, 4 ocean white fish. Halibut have moved into the shallow waters of 40 to 70 feet. Bounce balling and live bait seemed to be the best bet this week for bigger fatties, though casting white swimsuits in shallower water has been productive and more fun for some. A few more bluefin tuna were reported caught in the deep waters off Carmel, towards the Davidson Seamount. Those fish are here; we just need to get after them.

MOSS LANDING — Moss Landing anglers are gearing up for salmon season, but in the meantime enjoying some deepwater rockfish as well as halibut. The larger flatties are moving in and were caught anywhere from 40 to 70 feet of water this week. There are some very serious anglers from Moss, and the lure of big game beckons. We’re likely to start seeing serious tuna reports from the boys soon.

SANTA CRUZ — Boats launching from Santa Cruz mostly concentrated on rockfish this week. The charter operators all headed deep for fairly quick limits of vermilion, canary, yellows and bocaccio rockfish. A few more adventurous skippers headed up to the Davenport Fingers area. About 10-12 miles offshore there’s been signs of bluefin for the past few weeks, and at least one boat brought home a double within the past few days. Closer inshore, skiffs, kayakers and paddleboard anglers are finding good concentrations of brown and yellowtail rockfish as well as the occasional vermilion and lingcod. Halibut reports are coming in more frequently, even from the very shallow areas inside the kelp line of Santa Cruz’ West Cliff on down to the cliff areas near Capitola.