Pacific Grove Fish Size

Hey all,

For people that have fished Pacific Grove (ocean and coral) for a long time (e.g., over a decade), have you seen a shift in size structure of fish assemblages (e.g., have you seen a big shift towards smaller fish). I've recently begun fishing there and seem to only catch small fishes and am sure it hasn't always been that way. Thoughts/insights?
-Jason

It happens.  Look at Monterey Bay as a whole.

Pacific Grove is just fished out.  You can find some nice sized schooling blues and olives but you won't be pulling any big reds.  PG is just too close to the wharf and the boat launch.  The coast has been fished hard for over a hundred years.  Fishing is way better just a mile or 2 over into Pebble Beach.

The way I figure it is the harder an area is to access, the better the fishing.

Josh

It's been that way for 20+ years. Good question though!

Fishing is way better just a mile or 2 over into Pebble Beach.

The way I figure it is the harder an area is to access, the better the fishing.

Josh

in theory yes i agree but SWS is relatively easy place to launch and get access to. why isn't it fish hard? is the entrance fee keeping them away?

Look what happened to the east coast cod population. They realized they were only catching smaller fish after years of pillaging the waters, so they thought, let's shut down the fishing for a few years and let these fish "grow" up. Hahaha So they thought. Too late, they basically removed all the "big" genetics from the species forever. A greedy few destroyed it for everyone, forever!

A slot limit is the only way to stop this but most places on the CA coast like Monterey, well it's most likely too late as a whole. I wouldn't oppose a reasonable slot limit for every fish species of fish in NorCal, fresh and salt. 2cents.

Fishing is way better just a mile or 2 over into Pebble Beach.

The way I figure it is the harder an area is to access, the better the fishing.

Josh

in theory yes i agree but SWS is relatively easy place to launch and get access to. why isn't it fish hard? is the entrance fee keeping them away?

It is, for all purposes, fished fairly hard.  Yes, there  is still a good population of fish that roam thru.  With the HUGE growth of kayak sport fishing, I fear we will see the same thing happen with SWS as we see with other nearby areas like P.G.  Its a matter of time and it will most likely happen at an accelerated rate because of the sport growth.  Only reason thus far (IMHO) is because of the distance from a reasonable boat launch preventing it from becoming fished out.  Most of the party boats don't go that far when they can get clients on-board & catch a limit of dinks right by the aquarium.  Private boats that do travel that direction generally heat to Big Sur.  Look at old pictures of fishing from most any coast in the US & you will see the decline of large fish in the last 100 years or less.

Pacific Grove is just fished out.  You can find some nice sized schooling blues and olives but you won't be pulling any big reds.  PG is just too close to the wharf and the boat launch.  The coast has been fished hard for over a hundred years.  Fishing is way better just a mile or 2 over into Pebble Beach.

The way I figure it is the harder an area is to access, the better the fishing.

Josh

I agree. I catch plenty of quality blues, blacks, and olives. The issue I find is that all the good rock is in pretty shallow water. <80 feet. Atleast where I fish.

There are a lot of quality fish & structure in deep water that is (now) off limits to fishing. 

Fishing can still be good in the area.  You just need to know where to go.  This catch is 10 minutes away from Starbucks Carmel. Here's a nice 2 person limit.