Salt Point question?

Can anyone tell me if the road that heads towards the back of this cove (Gerstle Cove) leads to the beach I see back there?  I've heard there is a small ramp in Gerstle Cove, but I don't know where it is...

http://www.californiacoastline.org/cgi-bin/image.cgi?image=12315&mode=sequential&flags=0&year=2002

Thanks!

It's been awhile since I've looked at it and I've never used it launch, but there is indeed a small ramp at the back of Gerstle Cove.  I think it ends with about a half dozen steps. 

The trick is Gerstle Cove itself is a no-take marine reserve and I don't know the policy about kayaking through it with fishing gear and or fish you caught from outside the reserve.   The reserve is clearly marked by yellow posts and paint marks on rocks so it's easy to know if you're in it or not.

Brian

Thanks for the reply.  I was up there a couple of years ago (sans yak) and didn't notice that road.  I hiked down the trail that leads out to the point and thought "No way am I going to launch here!"  I did see a diver swim through the cove past the marker and start spearing fish; I'm assuming he swam back through with his catch.

Have you launched @ Salt Point before?  Where do you recommend?

Thanks!

I haven't launched at Salt Point.  I went there a couple years ago while helping a friend scout out sites for his research project on rockfish.  We looked at the trail and then headed up to SeaRanch where we needed to catch 100+ blue rockfish to look at their eggs and livers.  Anyway, I never did go back with him when and if he fished Salt Point.

I have launched there and I would rather pay the price at Ocean Cove to back all the way down to the water. The haul at SP isn't far, I just don't particularly like the drop from the road to the beach and then have to navigate the rocks below. I have a bad back so I will take every advantage of making it as easy on it as I can.
You are right about the road. It goes past the bathrooms and along the side of the hill. You have about 25 feet or so to the drop, then another 25 to the water depending on the tide.

Yes the road in the middle that leads you toward the cove is what leads to the launch.  I go there at least once a year with friends who dive and have fished it often.  You can back down the road to the top of the stairs and then must carry over steps and rocks to the launch 50 feet maybe 100.  I also have a bad back and do not think it is too bad.  But then, I have a fairly light OK Scrambler.  It is OK to launch in the cove and then you must paddle out past the reserve boundary (marked by paint on some rocks and on a map on a sign in the parking area) before you start fishing.  It is only a couple of hundred yards or so to the edge of the boundary.  There are good kelp beds both to the north and south of the cove and some pinnacles further out slightly to the south of the cove.  I have had bettr luck in the kelp to the north and while I have not fished the pinnacles there (since I did not have a fish finder at the time and was never sure where they are) I have seen some really nice lings come out of that area.

Other than the areas local to Montery, this is one of my favorite places to fish.