Monterey Bay and Santa Cruz Fishing Charters

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The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly!

Unlike most, we report ALL our fishing trips so you can have an idea of how the catching is. Click on any picture to get a better view.

January 22, 2023

December 28, 2022 by Tom Dolan

Our salmon and halibut fishing seasons open April 1st. Forecast calls for good salmon fishing. Prospects are very good for halibut.

May 1st is the opener for rockcod , a.k.a. rockfish or pacific snapper. We are especially excited that this coming season we will be able to fish for snapper in much deeper waters. These waters have been off limits for over 30 years! Should be very exciting with lots of big fish! Doesn’t get much better than going to Jurassic Park and fishing for Codzilla!

Filed Under: Fish Report

October 6

October 6, 2022 by Tom Dolan

Still getting our lingcod at Jurassic Park.

Filed Under: Fish Report

October 3

October 4, 2022 by Tom Dolan

Another great day at Jurassic Park.

Filed Under: Fish Report

October 2

October 2, 2022 by Tom Dolan

Jurassic trip today and it was a good one!

Filed Under: Fish Report

October 1

October 1, 2022 by Tom Dolan

Local potluck today and the fishing was slow. Probably our slowest day this year! A low system is in the area so the fish tend to slow down when there’s a low atmospheric system.

Filed Under: Fish Report

September 27

September 27, 2022 by Tom Dolan

Fishing report update for tuna – Bluefin have been around for a few days now with fish in the 100 pound class. Fish are as close as 10 miles to Santa Cruz! Looks like they’ll be here for a bit with all the warm water that got pushed up from the south. If you want to tackle a bluefin now’s the time to get on the boat!

Filed Under: Fish Report

September 17

September 18, 2022 by Tom Dolan

Ran up the coast for our Jurassic Park trip (deep reef not fishable with the high winds) and found some nice fish. Ended up with three nice lingcod and a lot of olive, canary, brown, blue, black and red pacific snapper. Fun and busy trip.

Filed Under: Fish Report

September 16 – Afternoon trip

September 18, 2022 by Tom Dolan

Another fun local potluck trip. Wind came up pretty strong and the water was a wee bit bumpy but the fish didn’t mind. We nailed the big canary, blue, black, brown, olive, and red pacific snapper.

Filed Under: Fish Report

September 16 – Morning trip

September 18, 2022 by Tom Dolan

Nice weather for our local “lingcod only” trip. Was able to boat a big lingcod and some rockcod. Not stellar but lots of fun.

Filed Under: Fish Report

September 4 – Afternoon trip

September 5, 2022 by Tom Dolan

Fun fun fun local potluck trip with our post-grad students from Stanford. Lots of fish, lots of laughs, and great memories. Betty is determined to get the big lingcod that got away. Go Cardinals!

Filed Under: Fish Report

September 4 – Morning trip

September 5, 2022 by Tom Dolan

Another great local potluck trip for our group from San Jose. Lots of fish and lots of laughs. Happy Birthday Alex!

Filed Under: Fish Report

August 28

August 28, 2022 by Tom Dolan

Headed up the coast for our Jurassic Park trip today with flat calm seas. After picking up some live bait we dropped in an immediately got lingcod. Finished up with good quality pacific snapper and lingcod. Gorgeous day.

Filed Under: Fish Report

August 26

August 26, 2022 by Tom Dolan

Went out to the halibut grounds but found no takers. Came back into the rockcod grounds and finished the morning with brown, blue, olive, canary and red pacific snapper. Happy folks from Wisconsin.

Filed Under: Fish Report

August 24

August 24, 2022 by Tom Dolan

Awesome local potluck trip today with flat seas and plenty of fish including Ramsey’s lingcod.

Filed Under: Fish Report

August 23

August 23, 2022 by Tom Dolan

This week’s weather calls for calm seas. Fishing has been very good for pacific snapper (rockfish, rockcod), lingcod and halibut. Good grade of fish too. Salmon and tuna are longshots at best. One boat went waaaay offshore and managed to pick up a few albacore (3?). The salmon have already moved up the coast and into their respective rivers for spawning.

Filed Under: Fish Report

August 22

August 22, 2022 by Tom Dolan

Happy happy family up from orange county. Local potluck today and the catching was non stop! Olives, blues, browns, canary, and red pacific snapper (rockfish).

Filed Under: Fish Report

August 20

August 20, 2022 by Tom Dolan

Headed out to the deep reef for Jurassic Park today. Fish were big! Canaries, green spots, coppers, yellowtail and red pacific snapper. Fish getting packed and taken back to Idaho!

Filed Under: Fish Report

August 19

August 20, 2022 by Tom Dolan

Another awesome day of local potluck fishing and lots of big canary, brown and red pacific snapper.

Filed Under: Fish Report

August 13

August 13, 2022 by Tom Dolan

Local potluck today for rockfish. A little difficult to get the fish biting but we found some willing fish. Nice olive, blue, brown and red pacific snapper.

Filed Under: Fish Report

August 12 – Afternoon trip

August 13, 2022 by Tom Dolan

Big wind this afternoon so we had to try really hard to find fish. Took a while but we found em! Thank you Ramsay for bringing your family from Switzerland to Monterey Bay. Glad they got some fish!

Filed Under: Fish Report

August 12 – Morning trip

August 12, 2022 by Tom Dolan

Awesome fishing today with our happy family from Wisconsin. Really nice people and really nice fish!

Filed Under: Fish Report

August 11

August 11, 2022 by Tom Dolan

Back from commercial fishing and back in the saddle for charter fishing. Big day today for our friends from Scott’s Valley and Utah. Big canary, brown, blue, olive, and red snapper and lingcod today. Happy campers!

Filed Under: Fish Report

August 2

August 2, 2022 by Tom Dolan

Our first halibut trip of the season and WOW! Our Nebraska team of three nailed the halibut today. Boated nine and kept the biggest seven. Fresh squid was the ticket!

Filed Under: Fish Report

August 1

August 1, 2022 by Tom Dolan

Happy belated Christmas present to 12 yo Evan. Was supposed to fish when he was 9 but covid got in the way. Wow, what a banner day today with lingcod and lots of snapper. Caught all fish early! Great whale show today too.

Filed Under: Fish Report

July 31

July 31, 2022 by Tom Dolan

Local potluck again today. Lots of fog with zero wind and flat calm seas. Happy Birthday Andy! Great fishing with you and the family today. Limits of quality snapper today.

Filed Under: Fish Report

July 30 – Afternoon trip

July 31, 2022 by Tom Dolan

The fishing was great this afternoon for our local potluck. Nice quality fish and lots of happy faces.

Filed Under: Fish Report

July 30 – Morning trip

July 31, 2022 by Tom Dolan

Flat calm seas for our morning potluck trip and lots of fishing action. Some of the biggest reds we’ve seen this year.

Filed Under: Fish Report

July 29

July 29, 2022 by Tom Dolan

Ran up the coats for our Jurassic Park trip today. Foggy morning with flat seas. The fishing was off the hook! Came home with limits for all (plus crew) of olive, yellowtail, canary, black, blue, china, brown copper and and red pacific snapper. A lot of fish were BIG!

Filed Under: Fish Report

July 26

July 27, 2022 by Tom Dolan

Great fishing for today’s jurassic park potluck trip with lots of smiles, lingcod and snapper.

Filed Under: Fish Report

July 18

July 18, 2022 by Tom Dolan

Still have the south ground swell in town so fishing has been a little on the slow side. Rockfish were biting today but nothing big.

Filed Under: Fish Report

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Santa Cruz Yacht Harbor
Dock “S” Slip # 22

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