Bean Hollow

Bean hollow is a nice park that follows a few miles of the coast 15 miles south of half moon bay on HWY 1.  There are two parking lots, but the best launch is the southern one.  I believe the small cove the parking lot overlooks is the actual landmark known as ‘bean hollow’.  It is shaped like a ‘C’ and fairly well protected from the swell by the rock arms that enclose it.  

The shore at the center of the cove is about 100ft from the parking lot, but the most protected launch sites are at either corner of the beach, not the middle.  The beach is very steep, which means the waves don’t break until they are almost to the shore, but when they do break the slam right into the beach instead of sliding up it.  It’s pretty easy to time the waves and get in and out safely between them since the surf zone is so short, but getting caught by one is worse than your usual surf experience.  During the summer the surf in the middle is usually several feet tall in the middle, but only about a foot tall on the sides.  However winter storms can produce some awesome surf in bean hollow that starts to break in the 20 foot water in the mouth of the cove 30 yards out.

Once you’re on the water there are two options for fishing.  Straight out and a little left there is a large expanse of sand covering 40-100 acres and going out to at least 60 feet deep.  There are halibut in there and it would probably be a good place to drop a few crab traps too.  Farther right or left there is a rocky bottom that houses lots of black, gopher and vermillion rockfish, as well as a bonanza of cabezone and some decent lings as well.  A fish finder is important here to differentiate between the sandy areas and the rocky ones, there are also lots of rock pinnacles that jut from 45 feet deep up to 10 or 15.  If you see the bottom come up fast on the FF you can quickly bring up your rig to avoid snagging it on the pinnacle wall.  These pinacles tend to hold schools of black rockfish and deserve a little attention when you drift over one.  I think they’re about 60 feet wide, but without diving them (which should be great) it’s hard to tell.

Since bean hollow is on the open coast, wind and current come into play.  Somedays it’ll pull north, others south.  A sea anchor is reccomended gear to slow the drift.  Cars could be staged at pescadero and bean hollow and the drift from one to the other fished with a mimimum of paddling.  Pescadero is usually more crowded than bean hollow and the trail is many times longer as well.  There is absolutely nothing south of bean hollow for landings until greyhound rock, as far as I know.  I havn’t seen any protected landings and you’d need permission from the landowners to bring a vehicle down the dirt roads to the beach in the case of an emergency landing down there.  Otherwise it’s sheer vertical cliffs.

The fish are relatively unpressured here on the inshore area and get big.  It’s not a place to fish light tackle because the cabbies will try to rock you unless you have the backbone to lay it to them.  I once hooked into a huge powerful fish once that ran like a freight train and broke the surface once about 50 yards out to give me a glimpse of something dark in the splashing water.  It swam 180’ around the kayak in about 15 seconds and then broke off.  The bottom 6 feet of my 35lb spectra was very badly frayed, so it must have either crossed behind a pinnacle or been rubbing against a long, sandpapery body.  From what I saw I strongly believe it was a thresher shark and I’d like to see someone land one to prove me right.

I spoke with a couple that live nearby and claimed to have seen a white shark feeding on a sea lion just outside bean hollow.  I also read a report of a GW casing out a boat out of HMB a mile or two off pescadero.  This is probably one of the more likely areas to bump into these beasts because of it’s proximity to ano nuevo island.  The pinnacles also pose a fairly serious hazard as larger swells can break violently over them and potentially unseat a kayaker.  For these reasons I’d reccomend staying in a somewhat tighter group than usual.

Nowhere can you park (free) and launch as easilly as bean hollow, the fish are also superior in quality and quantity to anywhere I've tried within daytrip range.  The scenery is awesome and the park has lots of trails and ammenities that could entertain a shore crew as well.  

-Josh Simonson

I fished BH 3 times.  Everytime I the current and drift were just brutal.  I found it difficult to keep my jig on the bottom.  

The rockfish definately seem to be a higher quality, though.  Nice lings and cabbies.  

The launching and landing were brutal, IMO.  The waves seem to crash right on the beach, crushing you if you don't time it properly.  See attached evidence (picture cropped to protect identity)   .



I believe it is recommended to launch from the North side of the cove which is somewhat protected by a reef, but it always seemed like a bad idea (when I was there) as you are parallel to the waves.

I like the south side myself because they break the closest to shore there.  If it's rough I do the north side.  The drift anchor really helps with the wind.

There is absolutely nothing south of bean hollow for landings until greyhound rock, as far as I know.

Smuggler's Beach is an excellent launch. You just need a buddy for the short carry.  (park at the S. Corner of 4WD loop and follow the trail past the poison oak)

There is absolutely nothing south of bean hollow for landings until greyhound rock, as far as I know.

I landed at Pastachio Beach, just north of the lighthouse...  not recommended, but doable in a pinch.  Try the northern end of the beach, (you have to angle in carefully to avoid rocks to the south and breakers to the north).  It's close to the road, too.

This place was the sight of a Shark Attack on a Kayak July 21 2007.

just FYI...