Sources & methods
The map is a place to investigate habitat and compare forecast evidence. It does not predict catches, issue trip recommendations, or provide navigation and legal clearance.
Mapped habitat
The 132 public targets come from 2008 surveys in three USGS releases, with a research depth and closure screen dated September 20, 2026. Survey depths use MLLW. Actual water depth changes with the tide.
Survey credits: U.S. Geological Survey, California State University Monterey Bay Seafloor Mapping Lab, and University of California Center for Integrated Spatial Research. The inspected USGS releases identify these data as U.S. public domain. This does not assign the same rights to other providers’ data.
What A, B, and C mean
These letters rank the mapped terrain as a starting point for a sounder search. They do not rate catch probability, charter popularity, current fishing conditions, access, or safety. Of the 132 public targets, 35 are A, 74 are B, and 23 are C. Ranks use this public set and allow ties.
| Grade | Score | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| A · First look | 75–100 | Stronger combined terrain evidence. Start a search here when conditions and access suit. |
| B · Useful alternative | 55–74 | Meaningful structure with a lower combined score. Useful options when another area is crowded or the drift is awkward. |
| C · Exploratory | Below 55 | Less mapped relief, rough cover, complexity, or nearby habitat. A small productive feature can still score C. |
Each spot’s detail panel shows its measured values and points from all four factors:
| Factor | Maximum | What earns the points |
|---|---|---|
| Local relief | 35 points | Height change, capped at 15 m (about 49 ft). This is not the height of an individual boulder. |
| Rough / bedrock cover | 30 points | The fraction of the local neighborhood classified as rough seabed or bedrock; full credit at 100%. |
| Seabed unevenness | 20 points | Terrain variation after removing the overall slope, capped at 3 m (9.8 ft) RMS. A smooth slope alone does not earn complexity points. |
| Nearby rough habitat | 15 points | Mapped rough habitat within 250 m (820 ft), capped at 10 ha (24.7 acres). |
Contributions increase proportionally up to each cap, then sum to a score rounded to a whole number. Relief and cover use the original 210-m local neighborhood; unevenness and habitat area use a 250-m radius. The analysis grid was 10 m (about 33 ft). These weights are a research heuristic, not a model validated against catches. Larger habitat area alone cannot earn an A, and the analysis does not measure individual boulder sizes or establish fish presence.
Points, shaded areas, and dashed lines
A point is a starting position to investigate. A “localized rocky target” describes a more concentrated mapped feature; a “reef area search target” describes a broader search patch. Neither promises a rock directly under the pin. Shaded areas show partial rough-habitat footprints, not complete reef boundaries or boulder outlines.
Dashed lines follow a strong axis of mapped structure. They suggest structure to work across, not a forecast of your drift or a boat route. Measure wind and current on the water, then choose a setup position that carries your rig across the structure. Either end may be appropriate. Sounder depth also changes with the tide; MLLW survey depths are not present water depths.
Cambria survey derivatives and older charter-ground annotations with unresolved reuse terms remain excluded from the public map.
Historical charter AIS: what we actually obtained
Raw archive samples were obtained, but no local sportfishing charter has been positively identified in them. There is no charter-activity overlay or AIS bonus in the terrain grades. The September 20, 2026 audit processed eight complete nationwide UTC-day files: April 18, May 16, June 13, June 20, and June 27–30, 2026. The Avila–Cambria regional screen retained 28,664 records with 51 distinct vessel identifiers from 78,069,787 nationwide records. The public habitat map still ends at Point Estero.
June 27–30 provides one continuous four-day block; the other dates are isolated samples. Complete processing of a file does not establish complete AIS reception or fleet coverage. UTC boundaries can split local trips. Exact normalized names were screened against the researched local fleet and produced no matches; changed, shortened, missing, or differently reported names can evade that screen. This limited sample cannot show that charters avoid any particular reef.
The free NOAA MarineCadastre archive is the source. At the audit’s retrieval time, its 2026 daily index listed broadcast dates through June 30; later file modification dates are not later vessel observations. This is the limit of that checked index, not every NOAA product. Credit NOAA Office for Coastal Management and the U.S. Coast Guard Navigation Center. The official archive documentation describes the available products and their reuse terms.
Why some local boat names did not become fishing hotspots
Operator pages describe Angler as a whale-watching and harbor-tour boat, Papagallo II as a dining and sightseeing charter, and Bonnie Marietta as a commercial fishing vessel also available for research and support work. These name leads do not establish recreational bottom-fishing trips or independently authenticate an AIS identity.
Supplemental 2018–2024 NOAA PMEL inventory samples retained at most one position per vessel per UTC day and cannot reconstruct stops or drifts. Geographic extraction from the 2024/2025 monthly track files did not complete; no local track analysis is claimed from those files.
Before marking a repeated charter-visit area, we would first verify the vessel’s identity and sportfishing role, then examine full trips, reporting gaps, and repeated slow bouts over suitable legal habitat. The proposed research screen is at least three distinct dates and 15 minutes per bout, without a reporting gap over 10 minutes. It is not yet implemented or validated. Slow movement can also be waiting, sightseeing, or work; even repeated charter visits do not prove catches.
Download the dated AIS research summary for the exact daily source URLs, download times, record counts, integrity hashes, screened fleet names, and limitations. Raw vessel trajectories are not embedded in this app.
Marine forecasts
Open-Meteo provides access to ECMWF IFS and NOAA GFS wind forecasts. Its Marine API provides ECMWF WAM and NOAA GFS Wave. Open-Meteo is a delivery service, not an additional independent model. These are coarse offshore model samples, not observations at a specific rock or the Morro Bay entrance.
Forecast data are requested when you press “Load latest forecast.” Times are Pacific, winds are knots, heights are feet, and periods are seconds. Missing fields stay unavailable. Provider retrieval time is separate from model initialization. Latest-run metadata cannot tie each value in the rolling forecast to an immutable model run. Hourly output can include provider interpolation of lower-frequency model data.
Forecasts four to seven days away are provisional. The page displays numerical evidence, not an automated go/no-go score. You still need current advisories, buoy observations, harbor entrance conditions, visibility, daylight, and a charted departure-to-return plan. Wind and wave direction labels indicate where they come from; map arrows point downwind.
Open-Meteo data are available under CC BY 4.0; its free API is for noncommercial use and has service limits. Review the provider’s terms before operating a larger service.
Map and software
Base map © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Standard tiles follow the OpenStreetMap tile policy; this app does not bulk-download them. The base map is not a nautical chart.
Leaflet 1.9.4 is bundled under its BSD 2-Clause license. SkipperCast’s original code and documentation use the SkipperCast Personal Use License: source available for personal recreation and learning. This is not an OSI open-source license. Third-party rights remain separate.