Although this area has one of the most diverse assemblages of fish on the West Coast, it is the popular members of the Sebastes family that provide the most consistent fishing. On trips in private, rental and party boats, I have caught black, blue, bolina (brown), vermilion, grass, kelp, China, black and yellow, olive, yellowtail, widow, gopher, copper and chilipepper rockfish. When I first started fishing this area back in 1979, deep water rockfish trips to the edge of the Monterey Canyon were very popular, although most of the fishing I did was in shallow weather in the "Five Reefs" area of Santa Cruz. Unfortunately, the decline of deep water rockfish species such as goldeneye, canary and cow rockfish by years of commercial long line and trawl fishing resulted in the closure of fishing in the deep water (below 120 feet deep) by the federal Pacific Fishery Management Council.

Fortunately, the area you could fish opened up to 180 feet deep in 2006 season and even more water opened up this year on May 1 with an increase in allowed depth to 240 feet deep. Hopefully, the opening of deeper water will help compensate somewhat for the new marine protected areas that will go into effect sometime this summer, as part of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's personal mission to shut down as much fishing as possible in state waters (3 miles and less).

"The main area that will be shut down to fishing is Ano Nuevo Island," said Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine. "However, the other popular reefs around Santa Cruz will remain open to fishing. There is a closure at Natural Bridges, but it will only be inside 10 feet of water up to the beach, so that won't impact fishing by boats."

"This Ano Nuevo MPA will close approximately 25 percent of the reef area that we currently have to fish," said Ken Stagnaro of Stagnaro's Fishing Trips. "We will only be able to fish the upper part of the Ano Nuevo area (west of the 19th Meridian) and a little area on the outside of the reserve. When the federal government closed the deep water areas in 2002, we lost 80 percent of the reef areas that we traditionally fished."

The rockfish action in the reefs has taken longer to get started than normal, due to abnormally cold water temperatures off the Santa Cruz coast. The water is only 50 degrees off Davenport and 52 to 56 degrees inside the bay, according to Stagnaro. When the water temperature rises, the rockfish, particularly school rockfish like blues, blacks, olives and yellowtails, are expected to go on the bite.

Popular reefs for anglers to target rockfish include the Five Reefs, South Rock, Natural Bridges and Davenport. Further south, the Capitola Kelp Beds, Adams's Reef, the Artificial Reef and Soquel Point all offer good rockfish opportunities.

"The school fish haven't started biting in the local reefs due to the cold temperatures," said Stagnaro. "However, anglers are catching good quality bottom dwellers such as gopher, vermilion, brown and copper rockfish. You have to work for your fish, but the afternoon trips are producing limits when the weather cooperates."

The lingcod fishery will be less impacted by looming closures because the lingcod are a migratory fish that moves from shallow to deep water and back depending upon the abundance of forage. The lingcod chase after squid, anchovies and other baits when they move into the coastal reefs.

Santa Cruz, like Monterey, offers afternoon trips on the weekends because so much productive water is available close to the harbor. I experienced wide-open rockfish action during a twilight rockfish trip off Santa Cruz aboard the Velocity two years ago- and I was ready to make another one.

After one trip was cancelled because of heavy wind, it looked like the weather was going to calm down on Saturday, June 30. Lok Lau of Sacramento and I booked a trip aboard the Princess that day after NOAA Weather forecasted light winds of 5 to 15 knots. Unfortunately, the wind was blowing hard when we arrived; so much for accurate weather forecasts! After the 30 anglers boarded the boat in Santa Cruz Harbor, Captain Danny Frank skippered the boat to the area off Natural Bridges. Captain Frank started on the outside edge of the reef, working his way in closer to shore on successive drifts. We fished anywhere from15 to 75 feet of water. I put down a red/white Gibbs Minnows and a shrimp fly teaser and immediately hooked a hefty black rockfish. I followed this up with several other gopher rockfish as the boat bounced around.

David Wood of Santa Clara was tossing around a variety of bars, capturing quality 4 lb. vermilion along with some gopher and blue rockfish.

The anglers didn't end up with limits of rockfish, since the wind and resulting fast drift made fishing tough. However, I managed to nail a limit of fine-eating rockfish, while Lok Lau of Sacramento also took home a limit.

Greg Jacobs of San Jose and Mark Ventre of Santa Cruz also reported catching 7 total rockfish, including a couple of hefty black rockfish. Ferg, Noelle, Owen and Michel of Limerick from Ireland also had fun fishing for rockfish; they are dedicated surfers from the west coast Ireland who decided to give fishing a try on their California vacation for two weeks.

Even when the fishing is tough I love going on afternoon trips. There are few things more awe-inspiring than seeing the sunset go down over the western horizon on Monterey Bay.

The biggest problem with afternoon trips is the wind. The fog and overcast on Monterey Bay traditionally burns off between 11 a.m. and 1 pm, with the wind coming up in the afternoon. Some days the wind lies down in the afternoon, but on other days it continues blowing at the same speed or gets worse. The wind never relented on my most recent trip.

Although rockfish are the bread and butter fish of Santa Cruz anglers, Monterey Bay and the adjacent ocean coast offers fishermen a myriad of exciting fishing opportunities. Of course, salmon fishing draws many anglers during the season, although the fishing has been tough this year. Trolling with herring, anchovies, Rotary Salmon Killers and other lures has yielded the top success for anglers.

Halibut fishing can be very good off the beaches of the bay when the fish spawn in the spring and summer. Anglers drift live sardines and anchovies or toss out a variety of swim baits.

When the water warms up in the summer and fall, white seabass will often appear in the kelp beds off Capitola and Santa Cruz. These aren't easy fish to catch - they're more like pursuing sturgeon than salmon or lingcod - but fish in the 25 to 25 pound range are landed every year by anglers drifting live squid and sardines.

When you fish the beautiful Santa Cruz coast, you never know what you might catch. You might hook a big halibut while rockfishing, a white seabass when salmon trolling or a thresher shark while live bait drifting. You may even catch a barracuda or bonito, travelers from more southerly waters, when the water temperature heats up in the summer and fall.

Santa Cruz County Coast Facts

Rockfish Season: Monterey South-Central Management Area (Pigeon Point to near Lopez Point): Open May 1 through November from 0-40 fathoms (0-240 feet).

Groundfish Bag Limits: Sport anglers are allowed daily bag and possession limits of 10 rockfish, cabezon and greenlings, in combination. Sublimits exist for bocaccio, cabezon and greenlings; cowcod, yelloweye and canary rockfishes may not be retained at any time. More information on distinguishing canary rockfish may be found at www.dfg.ca.gov/mrd/canary_id.pdf. For complete groundfish fishing regulations, refer to the 2007 Ocean Sport Fishing regulations booklet which is available wherever fishing licenses are sold or online at www.dfg.ca.gov/regulations.

Marine Protected Areas: New MPAs will go into effect on the Central Coast, including the Ano Nuevo MPA above Santa Cruz, sometime this summer. DFG will issue a press release and post it on their website when the exact date is set. For more information, go to: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mrd/mlpa/index.html.

Camping and Lodging: Santa Cruz County Conference and Visitors Council, 1211 Ocean St., Santa Cruz, CA 95060, Phone: 831-425-1234 or 1-800-833-3494, Fax 831.425.1260, Email: comments@santacruz.org, www.santacruzca.org

Boat ramps: Private boaters targeting rockfish, salmon and albacore can launch their craft at the public ramp at the Santa Cruz Harbor. A public boat ramp is also available at Moss Landing.

Fishing information: Charter boat fishing adventures are available through Stagnaro's Fishing Trips, 831 427-2334, www.stagnaros.com. "Six pack" fishing trip operations include Tom Dolan of the Megabite at 1-888-662-9800, Jim Rubin of Captain Jimmy's Charters at 831-662-3020, Tim Zoliniak of Santa Cruz Sportfishing at 831-426-4690, Jerry Brooks of the Reel at 831-465-0639, and Park Place Expeditions at 831-479-0273. Private boaters and surf fishing enthusiasts can get updated fishing information at Bayside Marine, (831) 475-2173, www.baysidemarinesc.com. Santa Cruz Boat Rentals, (831) 423-1739, and Capitola Boat & Bait, 831-462-2208, offer boat rentals.