Monterey 50 fathom report 4/5/2025 (non-kayak)

Our first attempt to catch some rockfish and lingcod on Saturday. We were expecting a flat and calm conditions but met with pretty bumpy and windy conditions. The drift was so strong that 2 lb weight couldn't keep it on the bottom.

You guys crack me up!   

Nice work - even though you only had a little trout net!   

So, did you have to descend any fish?  Seems like it would be pretty tough in those drift conditions - not to mention the health of rockfish when their eyes pop out of their heads and "crystalize". 

Way to go get it.  Congrats on a successful trip.   

I was out in the Carmel area that same day.  At around 10:30 am conditions was like being inside a washing so we called it quits. We had about 3 hours of decent weather.

Nice try from a boat Moo  . Thanks for the video.

You guys crack me up!   

Nice work - even though you only had a little trout net!   

So, did you have to descend any fish?  Seems like it would be pretty tough in those drift conditions - not to mention the health of rockfish when their eyes pop out of their heads and "crystalize". 

Way to go get it.  Congrats on a successful trip.   

We didn't have to decent any fish luckily. Yeah it would have been very tough descending fish.

I was out in the Carmel area that same day.  At around 10:30 am conditions was like being inside a washing so we called it quits. We had about 3 hours of decent weather.

We didn't get out to the fishing ground until 9:30 so we only had a short time where we could actually keep the weight down on the bottom. We left around 11:30 because it was just unfishable and by the time we didn't see any boats around us.

Nice try from a boat Moo  . Thanks for the video.

Thanks Sonny. My buddies who went out on Sunday did very well.

Is it feasible to go out that deep in a kayak? How far is it distance-wise from the harbor to reach +300'? I understand the weather is a major consideration and hard to judge that far out. SoCal is so far to drive for the earlier access to shallow fish.

Is it feasible to go out that deep in a kayak? How far is it distance-wise from the harbor to reach +300'? I understand the weather is a major consideration and hard to judge that far out. SoCal is so far to drive for the earlier access to shallow fish.

If you must know, it took about 2 hours from the coast guard pier going 4.5 to 5 mph to get there.  I have the NK300 with two 40AH batteries running parallel.

On Navionics, it's roughly 5 miles from the Coast Guard ramp to the 300' depth though that may not be the actual fishing boundary.

Is it feasible to go out that deep in a kayak? How far is it distance-wise from the harbor to reach +300'? I understand the weather is a major consideration and hard to judge that far out. SoCal is so far to drive for the earlier access to shallow fish.

If you must know, it took about 2 hours from the coast guard pier going 4.5 to 5 mph to get there.  I have the NK300 with two 40AH batteries running parallel.

Thanks for this information. I downloaded an old map from this site that makes it appear that the 500 fathom line is fairly close to shore in Carmel (<1mi.). Is that an error? I learned this week that the boundary has to do with map points rather than an actual depth. Weird...

Is it feasible to go out that deep in a kayak? How far is it distance-wise from the harbor to reach +300'? I understand the weather is a major consideration and hard to judge that far out. SoCal is so far to drive for the earlier access to shallow fish.

If you must know, it took about 2 hours from the coast guard pier going 4.5 to 5 mph to get there.  I have the NK300 with two 40AH batteries running parallel.

Thanks for this information. I downloaded an old map from this site that makes it appear that the 500 fathom line is fairly close to shore in Carmel (<1mi.). Is that an error? I learned this week that the boundary has to do with map points rather than an actual depth. Weird...

I compared the coordinates of the 50 fathom waypoint and carmel beach and it came out to about 0.4 miles seaward

Our first attempt to catch some rockfish and lingcod on Saturday. We were expecting a flat and calm conditions but met with pretty bumpy and windy conditions. The drift was so strong that 2 lb weight couldn't keep it on the bottom.

I kept waiting for the seasickness to kick in (preferably, in slow motion), but it never happened! So disappointing...