Dungeness crab season opens this weekend

Get it while the getting is good! We have only until the end of December for rockfish/lingcod season, so it behooves us to make the best of any pleasant days we might enjoy between now and then. Weather and ocean conditions maybe the only hindering factor for local fishing. Short term forecasts indicate a week of “pleasant days” ahead. The bite is still “ON,” and continues for a wide variety of species.

The dedicated angler can muster up limits of rockfish and lingcod from our local reefs. Fishing deeper is the ticket, from 70-300 feet of water. As usual the fish are bigger and more numerous the further one travels up the coast from Santa Cruz, or downcoast from Monterey. This week, private boaters found plenty of rockfish while fishing the reefs near Davenport. Bayside Marine’s Todd Fraser adds that quite a few desirable white sea bass were caught from the Davenport area down to the Santa Cruz Mile buoy. Best of all according to Fraser, small bluefin tuna “are here to stay with 67-degree water only 10 to 15 miles out.”

The flow of weather continues from the south. In typical years we find the weather direction changing around this time of year, from south and west to the more typical winter pattern of northern storms. While the weather continues as sunny and mild after our small rainstorms early in the week, a strong south swell remains. It is forecast to continue through the coming weekend, causing surfcasting to be generally hit or miss. Many if not most of our Monterey Bay beaches were inundated with seaweed, grass and kelp from the wave action last week. Still, some persistent surfcasters were able to find the right combination of beach and tide to cast for some big perch in clean water. A decent number of striped bass remain as a more challenging surfcast possibility. Anglers from Seaside worked one of the broad beaches closer to Moss Landing and found some action. They report, “Big swell was back in but we found a few bigger fish!“

Biggest news for now is Dungeness crab season opening this weekend. Due to whale entanglement counts, recreational crabbing is limited to using hoop nets or snares only for now. No closed crab traps. No long soaks. Be sure to review the 2026 regulations for hops and snares before puling up those tasty Dungies. Commercial crabbing , scheduled to open November 15, is postponed again this season until authorities deem is safe for the whales, likely in December or January.

Bushnell also operates Surf Fishing Guide Service. Please send your reports, pictures or questions to scruzfishing@yahoo.com .

Dungeness crab season opens this weekend

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