To those who are familiar with monastery beach

Last year, that place was really productive around the area that is now closed. This year, I've fished the N side of the closure twice but didn't do too well. The fish are much harder to find and the bites are pretty hard to come by.

That got me thinking. On thing is that the 7 times I fished there last year, I was usually OTW by 7AM and fished no later than 11AM for my limits. I do remember fishing past 11AM one time. The bite suddenly went dead so we switched for halibut after having caught our limits. The two times I've gone this year, I started after 11AM after chickening out on L-K  Considering there were very few fish caught and not many bites, I'd have to say it sucked 

But I'd still like to believe that monastery is a decent spot since it's not over-fished at all. Even with the closure, there has got to be enough fish for the few yak fishermen like us to harvest. If not, fishing along the south coast short of L-K is dead as far as I'm concerned.

Sooooooo, my theory is that the bite window must be early morning before 11AM. Of course the open area this year may not hold as many fish but I still think fishing can be better early morning as opposed to after 11AM.

Any thoughts? Maybe I might give it another shot this Sat early AM.

Don't fell bad Ive hit it twice this year and has been sad. but most of the guys Ive talked to who fish MB have had the same results abroad. who knows what the reason is but its sad.

Launching at 11 definitely decreases your chances. But you already know that. My guess is that you'd have a more productive day if launching at 7am. Then again, I never launch before 7am. Maybe once.
Monastery isn't great but its pretty consistent. I've had at least ten 40-fish days there. And about ten more 30+ fish days. So the fish are there. The area between the reserve and the point is usually spotty. The point has some nice fish though. I usually downsize my gear there too. And iron hasn't worked very good for me there.
There are lots of halibut in that general area. Hope to get one this year. Got a 33" from shore right there by the river.
Its just been harder this year for whatever reason....cold water, maybe its global cooling.