Monterey Bay question

Dear esteemed kayak fisherpeople,

I am hopefully heading out on Saturday (4/28) with a total newbie from Montana.  We are staying near Santa Cruz.  If you were me, who is not that familiar with the Monterey Bay area, where would you go?  And what would you fish for?  Options seem to be halibut or salmon, but any advice on where to launch/fish would be appreciated.

Thanks, Sean

I don't know how experienced you are so I'll say two options.

One would be halibut hunting off of the Monterey peninsula from either Del Monte Beach (launch next to Monterey Bay Kayaks, do a search and you can get the address to mapquest it) which is right in the middle of the city or from Lover's Point in Pacific Grove. If you head to Del Monte head counter-clockwise around the coast (north and south are confusing as this is the bottom of the bay on the map) towards Sand City and fish in the sandy areas near the hotel on the shore which is easily visible from the water. If you head to Lover's Point (do a search to find this) you can head clockwise around the coast out towards the open ocean. Look for sandy areas around 70ft+/- some.
Both are easy launches with minimal surf (usually like 1ft though that doesn't keep me from flipping )

The other is to do Moss Landing for salmon. I have not done this myself as it is for the more experienced (you gotta go miles offshore). You would launch from the harbor and head for one of a few difficult to describe areas, all along looking for bait to mooch over.

I'd say post in the hookups section and mention how experienced you are and see if anyone can join you for the 2nd option.

Hey Sean,

If you guys want to come down to Pacific Grove (Lover's Point), let me know and I'll show you where Pat caught her Hali a couple of weeks ago.


Randy

Moss from the jaws out to a mile or so can be like Jekyll and Hyde

What he said.  No way I'd take a newb out there.

 
I don't want to insult anybody, but you can fish for kingfish out of santa cruz or capitola.

I took my wife who had only caught one fish in her life, she had a great time. eyeatbay took
his daughter and they had a good time. for true newbs it's a real adventure.

if the person is really a newb they will enjoy it.

use tiny baitholder hooks on a carolina rig with tiny fingernail size pieces of squid.
sandy bottom is best, just beyond the kelp line.

they are at least as big as trout and you can easily catch and release a couple dozen in a couple hours.

For that matter, you can drift whole squid for halibut out near the mile bouy in santa cruz, might catch a halibut,
more likely you'll catch a lot of rockfish. you have to let them
go, but it's still fishing.


J

Kingfish?  I'm not so sure about that.

Randy, I would like to take up your offer of halibut hunting, if it still stands.  I'll PM you with my digits.

Cheers, Sean

Moss from the jaws out to a mile or so can be like Jekyll and Hyde

Ah yes, I have been in some pretty hairy paddles out of Moss Landing. It can get very ugly very quickly, especially coming thru the mouth of the harbor. Not a good one for a newbie.