6/23 Monterey kelp beds (VIDEO)

Decided to take my kayak out Monterey this morning to fish the kelp beds. Got on the water around 7:30-45 to 1-2 ft swell and no wind. Launched out from the Coast guard pier and paddled up towards the kelp in front of the hotels/restaurants. Felt some nibbles right away but it wasn't until some time until I hooked into something of substance. A rockfish! A good keeper size too. Threw it on the stringer and into the center hatch of my trident. Kept fishing and hooked into 2 others but they were on the smaller side so I let them go. I also saw a white dolphin in the distance which I've seen other members mention on here.

After about 2-2.5 hours fishing the kelp I needed to pee so I paddled back to the ramp. When I got back on the water I decided to head out to the yellow can to see what I could find there. Threw some plastics around for a bit until I got bored so I decided to head back to the kelp. Not long after reaching the kelp I hook into another good size rock fish. At this point the wind really started whipping. The wind pushed me across the kelp which acted like a natural trolling motor allowing me to probe the kelp while moving. Hooked into 1-2 more fish until the wind got too strong so I decided to head back in.

The paddle back in was a slog and at one point I thought I was gonna get pushed into the jetty. Luckily that didn't happen.

Total distance paddled - 6.88 miles

(Video)

Wow that was flat calm… 👍.  Looked relaxing too.

Nice video. 

Good Times!  Looks like you've got a good system to build on.  I appreciate your gentle treatment of the fish to be released.

A little advice based on my own experience:  I once took my fish-friendly steelhead net on the ocean thinking I would go as easy as I could on the fish I'd catch and release that day.  It has really fine mesh, so when I went to scoop a nice lingcod (that I intended to keep), the net didn't move through the water well at all, and I lost the ling.  I leave my steelhead net at home for ocean trips now!

Enjoy.   

Right on, those kelp rf and grass rf are some of the tastiest in my opinion!

Sweet video!  Love catching RF on light spinning tackle, so much fun!  Ty!

Nice video, and it's great that you saw Casper.

A little advice based on my own experience:  I once took my fish-friendly steelhead net on the ocean thinking I would go as easy as I could on the fish I'd catch and release that day.  It has really fine mesh, so when I went to scoop a nice lingcod (that I intended to keep), the net didn't move through the water well at all, and I lost the ling.  I leave my steelhead net at home for ocean trips now!

Yeah my net ended up catching alot of wind too. Had to lay it down on the kayak to prevent it from acting like a sail. Maybe I could've used it to my advantage?

Sweet video!  Love catching RF on light spinning tackle, so much fun!  Ty!

A baitcaster would've been better for dropping into the kelp but those RF felt pretty big on that light rod.

Thanks for the post. I am new to kayak fishing, only fish SF bay for halibut. Love to try rock cod fishing sometime. Monterey seems like a great place start with the calm water and near shore.

Large plastic peanut butter jar.  Wide mouth, no spill.  Saves you a trip back to shore. 

Sand