Santa Cruz Surf fishing +- 100 miles

#1
Made a recent trip down to Santa Cruz and decided to bring a rod with me and a Kastmaster 1OZ/bucktail combo. Ended up stopping at Davenport beach where I trekked down and decided to make some casts. Swell was big.. at least 7' and water was full of kelp. I decided to throw my Kastmaster anyway and got snagged on my first cast. I should have known better but perhaps my judgement was cloudy after that 6 hour drive. I was in the area for work and that was my only lure.

Can anybody give me some pointers on which beaches to fish in the area? I was trying to target stripers since I have never caught one. Also, is it normal for an excessive amount of kelp to be in the water, or was that just due to the big swell?

I hope to make it there again in the near future with some newly acquired knowledge.

Tight lines