Monterey Bay April 7,8

Hey guys,

I plan on driving down to Monterey Bay April 6th for the weekend.  I kayak fished offshore Gulf of Mexico and have made some freshwater trips in the Tahoe area when I moved here.  I've been doing my research but hoping that I'd cross paths with someone whos also fishing.

A couple questions I have off the bat for the Monterey area:

What do people wear?  I know the water is cold and could prove dangerous in case of an 'unlikely' turtling out in open water.  Flipping in the surf zone shouldn't be that dangerous since I'd be close to shore.  Im more concerned about far from shore.

Speaking of surf zones, any pointers for beach launching and landing?  Out in Texas the Gulf produced short-period swells which made it harder to get in in between them.  I see the swell periods are much larger here which to me equates as longer periods in between crashing waves.  Is surf in Santa Cruz and Monterey generally light where you have land to the west?

I've seen a lot of people online jigging around structure and kelp.  I have sonar and am excited to find structure with it.  Is anyone trolling for anything in Monterey?  Either on the surface or with a bomber down in the water column?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

It's the salmon opener weekend. There would be a ton of boats offshore.
If you are up for it salmon is the go-to-fish in this area. Or you can go rockcod fishing off any structure. There are a lot of structure to fish from.
I'd vote salmon over rockfish.

-What to wear. 3mm farmer john. or Drysuit. Layer it in such a way to prepare for 40-50F.
-Santa Cruz and Monterey is your safe zone. There are A LOT of areas to launch/land from. Do research here. Moss Landing is short distant to fish but it can be dangerous going in and out from the inlet.
Hope that helps.

I’d suggest going for rockfish as salmon is pretty specialized and a lot more difficult. For rockfish, find a rockpile and/or some kelp and there’s likely to be some fish. Just be sure that you are not in a restricted area (search “MPA”). Vertical jigging is popular and productive. I like to troll—that’s about all that I do—if you want some suggestions about that, PM me.

Whatever you do, be safe out there!

Yea man. Be safe out there.

RF is open down there?

RF is open down there?

Just googled ....

37°11 N. Latitude (Pigeon Point in San Mateo County) to 34°27 N. Latitude (Point Conception, Santa Barbara County)
Includes a portion of San Mateo County, all of Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Luis Obispo counties, and a portion of Santa Barbara County

"The recreational fishery for rockfish (Sebastes sp.) is open year-round to divers and shore-based anglers. The fishery is closed to boat-based anglers from January 1, 2018 through March 31, 2018"

Not bad.  Go get 'em.

Hah! Shows how much of a kayak fisherman I am these days. 

Good luck. Search Monterey bay kayaks that is near the wharf. Great place to launch. There are kelp beds just out and to the right. Out a ways near the aquarium are small reefs. As mentioned, know your restricted areas.

Should be other members and kayakers that will be there early.

Alex

Launch depends on where you are staying. You can launch from the Monterey wharf boat launch or coast guard station boat ramp but those will be a mob scene due to salmon opener on 4/7. If your are nearer Santa Cruz you can launch in Capitola by the wharf or the Santa Cruz small craft harbor. These are the most tame of launches in the area. There is also a very good launch with tons of structure close by in Pebble Beach. Check for stillwater south on this site. I haven't checked lately but some beaches in Santa Cruz county do not approve of kayak launching. I consider a marine radio, bilge pump, cell phone, pfd is a must! Check out saltwater kayak fishing checklist on this site by Scott Gee.  If you can figure out an area you want to launch post a hookup for that location with day and time and see if you can get a few others out with you. There should be lots of yaks out for rockfish as the season opens 4/1 which happens to be Easter Sunday. This may make some yakers wait for the next weekend. Bring a sabiki bait rig in case you come across some anchovies, sardines, smelt or macks.

Food and wine festival in Pebble Beach, Stillwater will not be an option. Launch at the beach at the coastguard pier and paddle towards the aquarium. Look for the red can just off the aquarium and fish that area. Usually around 75 feet or so. Bring sandab gear too cause they are thick in the area. I will be out and about but on a powerboat. Good luck.

I would avoind the Pebble Beach area that wknd (April 6-8) due to the big Food & Wine fest.
Based on your questions, you sound prepared and capable. The surf/ocean is always calmer on the far north & south ends of Monterey bay; and conversely rougher in the middle of the bay. I would suggest wearing a farmer john wetsuit (perhaps with cheap dry/rain pants over your legs) and a paddling jacket. The water temp is around 50-54* right now. Typically, early April is not great for salmon here. So normally I’d suggest just going for rockfish because it’s less technical and guaranteed to catch fish. Salmon means trolling a fairly complicated rig at 50-100ft (in 100-250fow) for miles. I’m not saying don’t do it...just saying be prepared if you choose to try for salmon All this wind recently could be a great sign for salmon though, and I wouldn’t he surprised if fish are caught opening wknd. From a kayak, if you needed to try for salmon, you should launch from SC harbor or Moss landing or Pacific Grove.

I really appreciate the wave of responses from you guys.  Makes me all the more excited to go fishing.

Forecasts for this coming weekend look a little bit rough.  I look at swellinfo.com and I imagine 7 ft swells are a no go no matter where you launch from.  I may look into going into SF bay instead

I really appreciate the wave of responses from you guys.  Makes me all the more excited to go fishing.

Forecasts for this coming weekend look a little bit rough.  I look at swellinfo.com and I imagine 7 ft swells are a no go no matter where you launch from.  I may look into going into SF bay instead

i didn’t eat to go for rock fish opener  so I’ll keep checking this post to see what you end up doing but I might be able to hook up with you for the rock. If you want to fish sf I’m in the sf area as that’s my home.so if you do fish I’llmost likely join you out in Monterey or sf bay.

Storm coming through this weekend, check windalert.com for wind and swell forecast.  Forecast now calls for wind, rain, and wind swell on Saturday and only the wind swell on Sunday.  Best bet would be sunday but the swell is supposed to be around 8 ft @ 11 seconds which could make launching at Monterey Bay Kayaks pretty difficult

7ft swell is not going to be super fun, but there are areas you can launch from and get out to the rock fish. I suggest Coral St in Pacific Grove (depending on which way the swell is coming in - it is almost always super calm for the first 150 ft. heading out).Sounds like youre not jumping off the yak to spearfish, so all I know with sonar is find structure and slay them with the white jigs =P I've always had the best action with plain white. If you need more info on where the launch spot is, PM me.

Be Safe!