Santa Cruz Shamrock Chart. The slowdown in the salmon fishing in Monterey Bay has resulted in more anglers concentrating on the big halibut found in these productive waters. Anglers are also getting excited about the opening of lingcod season and deep water rockfishing on July 1, since many lingcod are being released by anglers fishing for other species. On June 6, the 4 anglers fishing with Joe Stoops of Chartle Sportfishing landed 4 halibut to 12 pounds. We again found the best action right outside the Harbor in 35'-50' of water.
Live sardines are the ticket.
On the previous trip, June 4, anglers fishing with Stoops experienced great fishing for halibut, but most of the fish were undersized. We fished west of Santa Cruz at a few beaches but found our best action in front of the Santa Cruz wharf in 35' of water. Live Sardines were again the bait. Conditions were good but there was a lot of chop from the wind on the outside waters. A salmon trip by the Wild Wave on Sunday, June 3 didn't produce any chinooks, but a trip on Friday yielded 3 halibut.