So, I've been invited to go camping with some friends in Carmel in August. My friends, I love them dearly, but they're campers in only the loosest interpretation of the word. On the itinerary one day is a trip to a spa in the area.  Needless to say, rather than sitting in a tub of hot mud, I'll be finding somewhere to get a line in the water. I won't be bringing the kayak but would like to do some rockfishing from shore or maybe even take a half day trip out of Monterey. The Central Coast is uncharted fishing waters for me so any tips or suggestions from those in the know would be much appreciated.

If you just want to try your luck from shore, I'd head down to Garapata (10 minutes) and take the trail to the water. Pretty easy walk, then down a small area of rocky cliff and you'll be about 10 feet up off the water. It will take some patience due to the kelp near shore, but you'll pull a few out for sure.

When you gonna be here?
I can probably meet you @ the beach with my spare yaks and we'll hit Carmel or something. BTW there isn't "camping" in Carmel lol...so you might actually be CAMPING at the freaky-deaky spa! 
But the shore fishing is killer too. Back in the day I used to fish off the rocks for rockies, cabs, lings two or three times per week. You'd be surprised how many quality fish can be caught from shore. (and yes to your question about south of Soberanes is better; there's about 40 trails down to the water in the greater Garrapata area) Here's an old report, but the info is still useful: http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=11424
And here's some technique-specific info: http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=47165.msg524757#msg524757
Remind me in a month!

Your comment about camping at the day spa had me cracking up, Pat. As a Forest Service camper myself, it's hard to imagine hot showers, much less WiFi.  It looks like we may actually be camping further south instead now so it should be a quick drive to Garrapata. We may even have to do our business in a vault toilet now. 

Thanks for the offer of the kayaks ! That's super generous of you. The reason that I'm not taking my kayak is that my girlfriend's brother wants to do some fishing (he's not a kayaker at all) so I think we're going to stick to rock hopping. It'll be my first time hitting the salt down there so I'm looking forward to it. If we catch enough for a batch of fish tacos around the campfire, it'll be a successful mission.

That info was great, especially the "how to" write up. It has me really fired up to hit the rocks while we're down there. Thanks again for the insight !