Monterey 12/28?

I’m thinking of trying Monterey for squid and dabs/halibut next weekend but apparently there may have been a white shark attack today.
https://www.ksbw.com/article/search-underway-for-missing-swimmer-in-possible-shark-attack-in-pacific-grove/69831491

All the mackeral out there F.12.19.25 brought a ton of life to the area. Sea lions and +30 dolphins were busy hunting all morning. I'm sure that increased the shark activity too.

I might see you out there we’ll see how the forecast looks. I pulled up two butts around 40” in 130ft in front of cannery row on the 13th. My friend went out on Saturday and got two in 80-90ft on the edge of the structure right off the coast guard. Little smaller grade in the 30” range. There were baitfish everywhere but looks like the water is cooling off so we’ll see if they stick around. I heard there we a few small patches of squid on the bottom in front of the aquarium also.

I’m thinking of trying Monterey for squid and dabs/halibut next weekend but apparently there may have been a white shark attack today.
https://www.ksbw.com/article/search-underway-for-missing-swimmer-in-possible-shark-attack-in-pacific-grove/69831491

That's such a bummer.

Another multi-40!

I’m planning on launching out of Coast Guard pier around 8 am tomorrow. Company welcome .

I’m planning on launching out of Coast Guard pier around 8 am tomorrow. Company welcome .

Good luck tomorrow Joe.

Good luck

I wish I can join there but I just came back from a vacation trip with 12hr travel including waiting in the airport and wake up too late.
It would leave no time to fish if I drive to Monterey.
Next time. Good luck!

It was a fish desert. No bait balls. No halibut. Water 57-58 degrees. I worked from the harbor towards, but short of, the red can. Got 1 5” Mack to justify my new Baitshark. Ended the day by switching targets and picking up a Copper and a Verm to avoid the skunk.  Was alone with thoughts of the killer shark for much of the day. Pretty breezy with some annoying wind waves and boat wakes.

I went to usual Santa Cruz reef around mile buoy.
Water was choppy and rough at first but became manageable around 2pm.
My fish finder didn't turn on, so had to use Google map to locate reef.
Reeled handful smelts and used it as live bait.
First bite was very heavy halibut (I think!) and 25lbs mono line broken. *sigh*
Lost most of baits and only left one was big fat smelt which only 40" ling can swallow. It kinda hooked ~25" ling that is trying to swallow it and dragged all the way to surface. I tried to use gaff and it spits out and went to water. Blamed myself not to use net.
Another bite came in and another ling with exact same condition. By color and size, it looked exactly the same one. Used net this time and bring it in just before it spits out again, which made me avoid skunk.
I'm going out again today for Santa Cruz as it will be a last rock fish day and good condition for a while.

Thanks for the reports guys.

Thanks for the reports! Feeling pretty good about a few weeks off the water with all the recent shark stuff.