The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly!

Up to the halibut grounds today on nice flat seas and an air temp around 65. Hooked into ten halibut. Brought home six nice halibut the biggest went 22 pounds. [gallery]

Just had a last minute cancellation from our 9/6 Saturday trip. I'm hoping to resell the seats on behalf of the party that booked and cancelled. The boat's wide open. Book it <montereybaycharters.com/rates-and-booking> before it's too late!

Happy Labor Day!!! Ran out to our lingcod and rockcod area today. The rockcod bite was wide open but only found one lingcod. Happy group and a bit of bumpy ocean.

Our 4 man group from Reno came down to escape the Reno heat. In the beginning, the fishing was slow. About an hour later the wind laid down the rockcod bite went wide open! Awesome sized blues, olives and blacks. Limits for all. See you guys again next year!

This morning we had my most exciting return Customer, 10 year-old Tom aka Hook. This young man fishes around the world and has accomplished more than any fisherman I know including Grand Slams (two types of marlin) and a sailfish in one trip... multiple times. He and granddaddy Tom had a great day today catching rockcod.

It got windy for our afternoon local rockcod trip. Fish didn't seem to mind and we whacked out 60 rockcod for our group from Santa Clara. Some of these rockcod were the biggest blues we've seen this season.

Sure was nice to see Joaquin and brother Raul again. This time they filled the boat with their wonderful family. Most are artists so you can imagine the atmosphere of all these creative people. Headed up the coast for lingcod and big rockcod. Water was flat as a pancake and the rockcod were biting! Lingcod seemed to be taking a break and we only brought home one nice one. Thanks again to our repeat Customers. This is what keeps us going!

Back up the coast for another Jurassic Park adventure. Started out loading up on rockcod and lingcod. These blues were the biggest we've seen this year! Awesome bite. Landed four nice lingcod then headed to halibut territory. Wham! Two nice halibut. Came home with a cooler full of rockcod, sole, lingcod and halibut.

Off to Jurassic Park for another wild adventure. You just never know what you're going to bring up for the depths. Flat calm water with rockcod limits, four nice lingcod and a 5-1/2 foot wolf eel! They taste like lobster. That's a lot of lobster!

Back up to the halibut grounds. Didn't leave the dock until after 8am so we knew our weather window was going to be short. These guys fished real hard and were handsomely rewarded with three beautiful halibut to 25 pounds and a nice lingcod. Wind picked up around 10am and so did we.

Foggy start but smooth seas out at the halibut grounds. The bite was on right away with solid fish hitting the deck. Ashley from Modesto landed the star of the trip—a 41" 30-lb halibut that put up a serious fight! Not long after, three rods bent at once and in just 90 minutes we had limits for four anglers. Back to the dock early with happy anglers, eight halibut, and full coolers. This was our season's biggest halibut. Great fishing today!

Whack 'em schmack 'em halibut trip today.

Up the coast for a Jurassic Park trip. Water was ! As soon as we dropped in our lines it was game on with big black and blue rockfish until before we knew it we hit six limits of some very big rockcod. We had a little extra time so scooched over to halibut territory for a couple drifts and BINGO immediately brought in a 26 pound hog. Great day.

Weather seems to have changed a bit from the last couple days so we opted to stay closer to Santa Cruz and fish local. Near limits of blues, reds and olive rockfish.

Great day on the water for our Jurassic Park trip. Our guests came in from Fresno escaping 100-degree weather and fished in 65-degree weather all day. The fishing was really good today with four limits of nice rock cod, five ling cod, and one fat 30-pound halibut! The halibut took a while to land, and we all thought after ten minutes of battle it was a big shark. Nope, just a really big halibut. Our biggest of the season. [gallery]

South swell is in town and has made halibut catching difficult. After a few hours of trying we switched over to Jurassic Park and SMACKED the big blues and reds. Got our limits and headed home.

We had another awesome day of halibut fishing today with our group of five! We used our Sure-Bite UV Fortified Squid Formula, a MEGA-BITE proprietary blend that fish can't resist, and it really paid off. We brought home ten fish and released some lingcod, rockcod, and a halibut or two. There were lots of smiles and it was hard work, and it definitely paid off big time! Our biggest catch was 22 pounds. Go Marines and Go Navy!

We were heading out for halibut but the water conditions weren't very nice so we opted for rockcod closer to home port. Fish for some nice rockcod then headed back to the barn early. Great family!

A great day for a run out to Jurassic Park with clear skies and relatively calm seas... for an hour! Then the water seemed to have taken a turn and it got a little bumpy. Fished hard and fast for our family of four for lingcod and rockcod. Great time!

Another halibut trip and what a day. Fought 9 halibut, one shark, and two big bat rays. Brought home 7 halibut with the biggest going 15 pounds. Fun fun fun.

*Tsunami 2025 – One for the Books!* We were a bit hesitant about leaving the harbor today with the Tsunami Warning in effect for Monterey Bay. But after some solid research—and maybe a coin toss—we decided to go for it and launch our Jurassic Park trip. It was Bryan’s birthday, and he’d been looking forward to this trip for a long time, so canceling wasn’t an option. We hit the fishing grounds and got right to work, quickly putting together full limits of quality rockfish—reds, canaries, blues, browns, and coppers. Then we made the switch to lingcod, and WHAM! Six limits came fast and furious. To top it off, Gordon even slipped in a bonus halibut. All in all, a phenomenal day on the water—made even more memorable by the fact there was a tsunami warning in town!

Another "you gotta be kidding me" wide-open halibut bite today. As soon as we dropped in we hooked into a 17 pound beauty. Then it was a steady pick of quality halibut for limits and even got the crew a fish. Great fishing today.

Wow. Afternoon halibut trip and we crushed it with ten halibut and a starry flounder. These guys worked hard today and the fish didn't have a chance. Good job men!

Halibut fishing has been outstanding! This is the best halibut season we have ever had. You might want to get your halibut now before it's too late!

Click Here To Book Your Halibut Trip Now ! (while they're still in town spawning)

Another awesome halibut trip today. Water was perfect and the fish were biting! Got our halibut and even picked up a fat lingcod and rockcod for ceviche.

Great halibut run today. This was one of our best days yet this year. These are really big halibut! Only had to measure one of the fish, the rest were way bigger than minimum size. Limited out in less than 90 minutes. Even brought home a few rockcod and lingcod. Kudos to first-timer on ocean fishing and two big personal best fish for 12 year-old Jake from Aptos. Way to handle those fish Jake!

Quick update for the past week or two of fishing. The halibut are biting and they're getting bigger! 20 pounders are common now. Lingcod catching has been excellent and so has the rockcod. Seas are calm and the weather's been great. We still have both Saturday and Sunday open if you're looking for some great fishing.

Back out to the halibut grounds with live squid for bait. Wasn't too long before we had our first fish on. A 20 pound beauty. Becase it was so big, our party decided we'd go for some lingcod and rockcod. We got into the lings and things real good.

Local halibut trip this afternoon on flat calm seas. Fished for a couple hours then decided we had plenty of halibut meat so decided to go for some rockcod fishing. Got pretty windy and made for a wild ride. Came home with plenty of rockcod and a few halibut. Good afternoon!

Ran out to the local Jurassic Park grounds and it was non-stop game on action with big blues, big reds, and lot's of lingcod. Fun and productive! Weather was absolutely perfect!

Happy guys!

Another hike up the coast for our Jurassic Park trip. Water was flat and calm and there was little to no wind. Perfect day for whacking the lingcod, rockcod and halibut! Another trifecta for us. 2nd trifecta in two days. Live squid sure helps a lot!

Jurassic park today with group of college students and one brave dad, Stu. Wide open bite today on squid. We have lingcod, rockcod, and halibut today. One of our best nearshore trips this season.

Ran out to the local halibut grounds for some fresh squid halibut drifting. Halibut weren't as active as we had hoped for but we found halibut, lingcod and rockcod. Nice weather all afternoon too.

The water was still flat as a pancake and the wind was light for our local potluck trip. Great evening fishing trip. Fish were biting like crazy too.

Headed up the coast for our Jurassic Park trip today. Water was flat and calm all the way. Once we dropped in our lines we started hauling in rockcod and lingcod. Nice quality fish too. Later in the morning the wind picked up so we fished closer to port. Happy happy people with lots of fish.

WOW. Halibut trip with six eager fishermen including a couple veterans. Went to several areas and finally ended up where we fished last week in the shallows. Starting hooking up the halibut almost immediately. Lost a few and threw a few back to grow. Came home with limits of halibut for six anglers (12 halibut) plus crew fish (one halibut). Great humpback whale show coming home. Awesome day and our best of the season catch. Halibut fishing is red hot now!

Finally the water and wind are settling down and the fishing's getting better. Still had to work hard for our local rockcod trip but we managed to get limits for all. Blues, blacks, olives, greenling and reds in the box today.

Headed out to Jurassic Park today with nice morning seas. As soon as we dropped in we hooked into a 21 pound halibut. Then we started catching virtually every kind of rockcod we have on the coast. Was wild catching for a bit then the wind and waves got big and the bite died.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY EVERYBODY!!!!! Hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th of July. Went for halibut today and had a couple hookups and one nice halibut in the boat. South swell really interfered with catching today. Way to go Julie on your first ever halibut.

Whacked the big blues on our local potluck trip today. Water was a little lumpy and the wind was up but that didn't stop our group from loading up on some real nice quality rockcod.

Halibut, lingcod and rockcod today, oh my! Great weather, great water, and great fishing today. Halibut fishing is very good lately. Limit is two halibut per person.

We had an awesome trip to the halibut grounds today. It was foggy with flat calm water, and as soon as we dropped our lines, the bite was on! We had a steady pick throughout the morning with 20 hookups and brought home eight nice halibut.

Out to the halibut grounds today. Very foggy and lots of boats. We have the best fresh dead squid available but the kingfish have moved in and kept taking the bait off the hook. Tried trolling for an hour with no luck so switched back to whole squid bait. Even through swimbaits. No halibut today. Going to try again tomorrow.

Today we went for halibut down by Capitola with five great surgeons from Stanford who also provide their skills to the Veterans Administration hospital in Palo Alto. Great party and great fishing! Halibut are biting!

Ran out to South Rock for some local rockcod fishing. The water was nice in the beginning but then the wind showed up. Got olive, blue, black and brown rockcod.

We have perfect weather on the ocean for the next week. Small swell and light winds. We're excited! Summer has arrived!

Awesome weather in the morning for our Jurassic Park trip. Rockcod were slow but this beast made up for it. Way to go Jose. Our biggest halibut of the season. Everyone went home with lots of fish. [gallery]

Another great day on the water fishing for rockcod. Went to where we finished up yesterday and the fish were still there and active. Water seems to be getting better after the past couple weeks of bumps and wind. Today we brought home nice quality blue, black, olive and red rockfish.

Local rockcod trip today! We had beautiful weather for the first part of the day. It did get a bit windy and bumpy later on, but our enthusiastic group of anglers didn't let that stop them from having an incredible day of rockcod fishing. The action was non-stop, with many double hookups! There were even times when all six rods onboard had a fish on. On top of a boatload of rockcod, we also reeled in greenling and a nice cabezon. Overall, it was a fantastic day out on the water, and we had some very happy customers. [gallery]

Halibut trip up the coast today. Started out a truly beautiful day out on the water, and we even had fresh squid to entice the halibut, so we were feeling optimistic. Unfortunately, the ground swell was pretty bad and eventually the weather took a turn. The halibut weren't biting. While we didn't land any halibut this time, we did manage to bring in some rockcod, which helped soften the disappointment a bit.

Nice weather this morning and the fish started biting as soon as we dropped in our lines. Bringing in doubles then after a while the bite stopped. Kept seeing fish on the sonar but they wouldn't bite. Came home with blues, olive, brown, canary, copper and red rockcod.

Tried to get to Davenport but the winds kept us closer to port. Worked hard for fish and we got some. Hopefully this weekend the weather will be more favorable. [gallery]

The weather took a bit of a turn, and the fishing was a little slower compared to yesterday. The water temperature dropped to 57 degrees, which tends to make the fish less active. Despite the conditions, we were fortunate enough to still bring home fish.

The water conditions were great throughout the day, and the fish were really active. It turned out to be a fantastic day of fishing, with plenty of rockfish and lingcod caught.

Tried for halibut but none to be found. Switched over to lingcod and rockcod and it was game on! Nine year-old Miles first time ocean fishing and he was a pro. This picture is just one of his doubles for the day. Everyone went home with rockcod and lingcod. Seas were flat calm too.

Water was forecasted to be big swells and wind so we opted for closer to shore for halibut. After a couple hours with no signs of hali we moved out to fish rockcod. Started out slow then it went wide open! Perfect size blues olives and red. Lots of fish and lots of laughs today.

Weather and water settled down from earlier in the week and the fish have begun to bite. [gallery]

Awesome local potluck trip today. We had a great time with the five 14-year-olds and one brave dad! We headed up the coast to one of our favorite fishing spots, and the fish started biting as soon as our lines were in the water. It was non-stop action, with fish on almost constantly and even some double hookups. It was a really fun group of young men, and kudos to the dad for taking them on their graduation trip. It was a nice trip, and those kids are practically pros now!

Happy Mother's Day! Just wanted to share a quick update from our local potluck trip today. We're still dealing with a strong current, which has made the fishing a bit slow. We managed to catch some ground fish, but unfortunately, no school-sized fish today and not as many as we'd hoped. The good news is that we're expecting the ocean conditions to change within the week, and hopefully, the fishing will return to normal then.

Headed up the coast to try for lings and rockcod. Water wasn't very nice and the bite was slow.

The conditions on the water have improved since the weekend. The bait is moving in near Monterey and Pajaro and the halibut are showing up as well. The inshore rock fishing was good for anglers near Natural Bridges. There were some nice halibut caught near the Mile Buoy and in Capitola.

Awesome day on the deep water grounds today. Petrale sole, chili peppers on the menu tonight!

Fishing is great in the deep. Weather is great for Saturday then Sunday it gets a little too windy.

Another great day on the water today. A few whales, a shark and nice reds and canary rockcod and petrale sole! [gallery]

WOW!!! Lingcod, petrale sole, chili pepper and canary rockcod was on the menu today. Big lings to 17 pounds. Water was perfect. A shout out to out three Army soldiers on board. Good job everyone! [gallery]

Our first halibut trip of the season. Water was so-so and not much bait in the bay yet. Drifted for hours but no halibut love today. Maybe in another week or two conditions will improve and the halibut will be in town!

Happy 70th John! Ran up the hill in search of chili peppers. Water was not nice and hampered our fishing quite a bit. In hindsight we should have taken a different route to avoid the ugly water conditions and get more fish. Not many fish caught today but Zach did get his first ocean fish and it was a sweet one! [gallery]

Fishing has been outstanding in the deep! Big fish and limits lately. The weather forecast looks like flat calm seas for at least the next five days. Time to go fishing while the deep is still open!

Awesome Jurassic Park trip today. Weather couldn't be better and the fish bite was crazy. 18yo Zion of San Jose picked up a triple chili pepper on just two hooks. Great dolphin show today too. [gallery]

Started out being a nice calm water day but as the morning went on the water and wind picked up. Still managed to get some nice reds, green spots and bocaccio rockfish.

Was great to get back out on the water! The ocean was perfect today and the group of guys were awesome! Chili peppers, reds and petrale sole were the catch of the day. Water was pretty flat calm and no wind! Yeah baby!!!