According to Salazar, they are also taking a lot of undersized fish, so there's plenty of action to keep things exciting. "It got a little crowded near the Rockwall this weekend, so a lot of the boats started to spread out and look for undisturbed fish," he explained. "The bite was pretty steady throughout the day with both tides producing a lot of fish."

The action held steady on Thursday when the New Huck Finn boated 29 halibut to 14 pounds and a 7 pound striped bass for 13 anglers. The Captain Hook managed to catch 6 halibut to 14 pounds, a 10 pound leopard shark and a 4 pound striper for 7 anglers. Things slowed down a bit for Friday and Saturday, but the majority of the boats were able to bring in close to a fish per rod along with a striper or two and even a 16 pound white seabass taken on the Play N' Hooky.

By Sunday, conditions were excellent and counts were back on the rise. "The bite is picking back up now and all four boats had plenty of action today," said Salazar. "They were able to drift with 2 to 4 ounce weights most of the day."

The Captain Hook had an impressive score with a total of 33 halibut to 25 pounds for 21 anglers. The New Huck Finn also found the fish with a count of 30 halibut to 20 pounds for 20 people. The New Super Fish was just shy of a fish per rod with 12 buts to 23 pounds for 14 anglers and the Rapid Transit nailed 16 halibut and 6 rockfish for 24 people.

Anglers fishing out of Berkeley Marina found similar action the previous weekend, but scores were down at the time of this report. "We had up to two fish a rod on some our trips last Sunday, but the wind was a problem this weekend and the fishing was much slower," reported Bob Nakaji. "The top score on Saturday was aboard the New Golden Eye with 18 halibut to 22 pounds and a 16 pound leopard shark for 32 anglers. The following day, they brought in 11 halibut to 15 pounds for 21 anglers."

"It looks like we have a great week of weather coming up and the bite should pick up, especially during the week when the crowds are light," added Nakaji. The water is still a little murky and should clear up with another day or two of calm weather. Also, several of the party boats had a number of private boaters chasing them all day long and the heavy boat traffic will scatter the fish when they're targeting the shallow water of the south bay.

One thing is for sure, there's plenty of halibut out there and now is the time to schedule your first live bait trip of the season. Look for days with smaller tides and try to hit the water after a day or two of calm weather.