When anglers think of pursuing saltwater fishing in Alaska, they’re usually inundated with dreams of wrestling a barn-door halibut — which sometimes get so big that anglers might use a .410 to dispatch the large behemoths. But that’s not the only species the cold waters of Northern California all the way to the Gulf of Alaska can provide.

Often thought of as the “younger brother” to targeting halibut in the Pacific Northwest (PNW), the rockfish offers an engaging, high-success-rate option for anglers looking to round out a trip. Also, consider the distressed halibut populations and increased limits anglers have seen in Alaska. If other fish species aren’t available to target, that could really hamper the legendary lodge trips Alaska is so famous for.

From deep-water holes along underwater ridges to the rocky reefs along the coast, rockfish offer a diverse and exciting fishing experience for anglers who target them. We spoke with experts in the field to learn more about the top five species of rockfish you’ll likely encounter in these waters — along with habitat, tackle and techniques for catching them.

Top Rockfish Species to Catch

We caught up with biologists and captains in the region to talk about the top species to catch (there’s more than 34 in Alaska alone). We classified them into two categories — “pelagic” and “non-pelagic.”

Pelagic Rockfish Species

These species tend to dwell off the bottom, congregating around rock pinnacles like walls, ridges, and even in kelp forests near rocky bottoms, but generally higher in the water column. They’re targeted with smaller jigs for the most part, along with spinners and flies on occasion.

Black Rockfish

Agreed upon by all our experts as easily the most-targeted and cooperative rockfish species, these fish school big time around rocky structure (as the name suggests). They are incredibly eager to bite once you find a school. We caught up with Cap. Brent Foster of Brookings Fishing Charters in Oregon. Foster specializes in lingcod and rockfish charters off the Oregon coast, and boasts that 80% of trips are black rockfish, with some really big ones.

“It’s not uncommon to have a 4- or 5-pound black on every trip.” That’s a trophy size fish, and great fun on the light tackle spinning gear. Brent fishes some of the smaller reefs off the lighthouse area of Oregon, often in less than 100 feet of water.

“We do a lot of light tackle here, not running big sticks like other guys do since we’re fishing in 100 feet of water or less with spinning rods and braided line,” Foster said. “Flutter Jigs and smaller paddle tail swimbaits up to 4 ounces excel; sometimes we have to go a bit heavier due to drift.”

Quillback Rockfish

Known for their distinctive spiky dorsal fins, quillbacks are another common pelagic rockfish that grow to good size, making them a favorite among anglers. While available farther north in Alaska, the quillback are a subject of controversy as they’ve been added to the list of banned harvest fish in Oregon. (Other species on the no-take list include copper and China rockfish.) As always, anglers should check limits and regulations of species when fishing in state or federal waters.

What are Non-Pelagic Rockfish?

These rockfish are found most often on or near the bottom and tend to prefer rocky bottoms (hence the name “rockfish”). More often than not, they’re hooked as bycatch when jigging or bait fishing for halibut.

Yelloweye Rockfish

Yelloweye rockfish are the quintessential Alaskan fish. Among the largest of the rockfish species, a big yelloweye jigged up from depth makes a fine photo fit for a postcard. (It’s one of my biggest bucketlist rockfish since moving to the last frontier several years ago.) They’re common and fairly easy to find in and around Kodiak waters all the way down to Prince William Sound.

Tiger Rockfish and China Rockfish

Okay, technically two species, but these are favorites of Capt. Brian McKay of Alaska Outdoors Addiction. While on the smaller side of the rockfish spectrum, they’re beautiful fish, often caught at depths of 100 to 300 feet (and sometimes as deep as 800 to 1,000 feet). They readily hit jigs on light tackle. Tigers are also a favorite of biologist Adam St. Saviour, a researcher with the state of Alaska, as they’re a rare species to catch compared to others. We’ll talk later with St. Saviour about conservation.

Shortraker Rockfish

Gaining notoriety after the 48-pound state record was caught last July in Alaska, shortraker rockfish are known for hanging out deep. Captain Ray Nix, of Crazy Ray’s Adventures, deep-drops herring or octopus on circle hooks with halibut sticks at least 800 feet down to target these fish. By all accounts, it’s quite a chore to crank them up, but worth the experience for a once-in-a-lifetime catch. Electric reels are the preferred tackle method in this scenario.

Fly Fishing for Rockfish

Captain Brian McKay developed a method for clients who want to take rockfish on the fly off the coast of Kodiak Island, Alaska. He suggests switching things up by having one angler “man the jig” with a hookless lure to entice the fish higher in the water column and whip them into a feeding frenzy. Once the fish are jigged up higher, they will cooperate with any big streamers in your fly box, including a super-sized Russian river or popsicle style.

Rockfish Conservation

Catching up with Adam St. Saviour, a research biologist for the Southcentral Region with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, we’d be remiss if we didn’t cover one major conservation aspect of fishing for rockfish. Rockfish are susceptible to overfishing and bad management practice. They’re also prone to barotrauma during their release, which can kill the fish.

In Alaska, it is imperative for anglers to carry a deep-water release mechanism for rockfish in the boat. These devices are designed to return a rockfish back near the bottom where it was hooked, or to a specified depth, to assist the fish in recompression and up chances of post-release survival. Anglers can find more information about deep-water releases from the organization Return ‘Em Right.

About the Author: Cody McLaughlin is an outdoor writer, conservationist and hunting advocate based in Alaska. He recently launched Trout Stream Studios as an executive producer for podcasts and livestreams in the hunting and veterans’ affairs spaces – including for the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation’s The Sportsmen’s Voice Podcast, the popular Blood Origins Podcast, and the Veterans’ Affairs Administration’s National Center for PTSD. He serves currently on the board of the Alaska Outdoor Council and is a former board member and lead spokesman of the New Jersey Outdoor Alliance.

The post Targeting Rockfish in the Pacific Northwest appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Although merely 100 miles as the crow flies from Seattle to the sounds of southwestern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, it can take the better part of a day to drive there, including the two-hour ferry crossing. But for fishing enthusiasts, it should prove to be a well-spent day.

Clayoquot and Barkley—the two sprawling sounds to which BC Route 4 extends down the island just over 100 miles from the ferry landing at Nanaimo—are filled with islands and inlets, and reefs and channels. For any experienced fisherman, that description spells fishy habitat.

Whether one drives in for guided fishing or tows a boat, he’ll find mostly the same species here as are caught in Alaskan waters. It could be said that these sounds, just north of the Lower 48, offer a taste of Alaska without the long trip.

For many, salmon are king. Of five species of salmon, chinook are king, also because they’re called king salmon. While the legal minimum size here is about 18 inches (45 centimeters), anglers look for 10- to 30-pound fish and occasionally much larger. The other major salmon target for anglers are coho (aka silvers), a schooling salmon typically weighing 5 to 15 pounds. In August, pinks (3 to 5 pounds) may abound.

Salmon range widely along the coast, but are consistently found nearshore—sometimes right off the kelp. Trolling with downriggers, pulling large flashers ahead of herring, anchovies, plastic squid, spoons or plugs, accounts for the great majority of salmon caught.

In addition to salmon, bottomfish abound. Among those species, halibut is in a class by itself, in part by virtue of its size. Although they can be encountered nearshore, the best chances for success for the great flatfish occur over deeper offshore banks with smooth-bottom areas. Anglers targeting halibut will drop herring or salmon heads with heavy weights or large leadhead jigs with big plastic tails. Halibut also eagerly strike heavy-metal slow-pitch jigs. Braided line of 30-pound-test or heavier is warranted, since the next strike could be a fish well into three digits on the scale.

Perhaps no species can better be counted on to help a slow day than the lingcod. This elongate, toothy predator is unique to the Pacific Coast, from Baja, California, to Alaska. Expect to catch lings of 5 to 20 pounds, but monsters at least twice that lurk around rocky, current-swept reefs. Very commonly, these bottom dwellers will follow up a hooked fish of any type, grabbing it in their jaws and refusing to let go, often until they’re on a gaff or in the net.

The ambush predators will pounce anything that moves in their domain—any sort of metal jig or plastic bait—and they’ll often swim up toward the surface to snatch baits trolled for salmon. Lingcod are superb to eat. Sometimes boating the limit of three (legal size: 25.6 inches) can be easily accomplished. After that, catch-and-release is still an option since lings have no swim bladders and the hardy fish can quickly return to the depths.

Then there are the rockfish. Dozens of species of the genus Sebastes are found in the north Pacific, many in these waters. The aggressive nature and many varieties and colors of rockfish make for a light-tackle angler’s bonanza.

Unfortunately, many visiting anglers don’t come equipped with gear light enough to maximize the sport this action should offer. Twelve-pound braided line is plenty and will allow relatively light jigs (slow-pitch or leadhead with plastics) to sink 50 to 250 feet. And these rockfish are, like most of the fish caught here, delicious.

Planning a Trip

Where To Go and How To Get There: Visitors with large, seaworthy boats can, of course, sail right to ports in either sound. The great majority of visiting anglers arrive by car. Wherever you are driving from, you will need to get to Vancouver Island, which most likely requires a ride on a huge ferry. It’s a considerably longer drive up from Victoria, so your best bet is the ferry that runs from Tsawwasen to Nanaimo. In the summer, reservations are a must: Make them online at bcferries.com.

A bit of searching online will reveal various resorts, many with moorage, as well as a variety of homes available to rent. Rates drop precipitously in late fall through early spring, but so do the odds of good ocean conditions. That said, there are plenty of fish to be caught in colder months, and for those with time to stick around for a while, the chances of some good days are pretty fair.

What To Expect: Ucluelet (“people of the safe harbor” in the indigenous Nuu-chah-nulth language) is the main jumping-off point for Barkley Sound waters. Tofino is at the northern end of a peninsula that juts into Clayoquot Sound. It offers a similar infrastructure for visiting anglers as Ucluelet. Find general information at discoverucluelet.com and tourismtofino.com.

Between Tofino and Ucluelet is the Long Beach Unit of the vast Pacific Rim National Park Reserve—10 miles of pristine sandy beaches (longest such stretch on the west coast of Vancouver Island) where cold-water surfers ply their sport.

The post British Columbia: Fishing The Sounds of Southwestern Vancouver Island appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

“Our last half-day trip produced limits of vermilion rockfish,” reports Captain Brandon Nelson of Lucky B Sportfishing, out of San Diego, California. Nelson was fishing 10 to 40 miles south of the Mexico border. The days start early, but Nelson is often back to the docks by lunch time with limits.

To find fish, Nelson focuses on areas where he can locate his ideal water conditions. He says the rockfish move from one rockpile to another in 150 to 400 feet of water, so proper temperature, current and water color is the first step in locating fish. “Down, in, or down and in are good current conditions, with clean green waters ranging from 58 to 64 degrees.” 

Nelson’s credits his 36-foot Yellowfin center console for his success. He says, “I can move around and fish a lot of places.” Sometimes zeroing in on rockfish is a process of elimination, with today’s electronics helping find new fishing spots. Don’t get stuck on one piece of structure if it’s not happening.

Bottom Fishing for Rockfish

To catch rockfish and lingcod, Nelson uses a two-hook bottom rig with 1/0 to 5/0 Mustad 94150 hooks, weighted with an eight- to 16-ounce torpedo sinker. He attaches the rig to the 65-pound-test braided line packed onto a Shimano Tallica 10II or Trinidad 16a reel. He matches the reel to a 7½-foot medium-heavy rod.

Bait choice is critical to catching rockfish. Nelson prefers cut squid to avoid bycatch. He also uses a small- to medium-size greenback mackerel. “Mackerel weeds out smaller fish and offers the chance of catching a lingcod,” he says.

Nelson says winter is a great time to fish Southern California. “There isn’t a lot of coverage because everyone is in the boat yard,” he points out.

Tuna Bite Heats Up

In addition to bottom fishing, he reports excellent action on bluefin tuna around Tanner Bank and off the Mexico coast. “The water temperature is hovering between 50 and 60 degrees, so everything is lining up for a good winter.”

As the season progresses into spring, Nelson expects tuna and yellowtail to move closer to San Diego. “I look forward to spring and summer when the fish are concentrated close to home.”

The post California’s Winter Rockfish Bite appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

What does a lingcod eat? Anything it wants. These deep-water reef predators rule the bad neighborhoods where they live, feeding on octopus, sand dabs, rockfish and anything else they can fit in their cavernous, toothy maws. They readily attack prey seemingly too large to swallow, a reason they are often caught by anglers as “hitchhikers” literally lock-jawed onto hooked rockfish as they’re reeled toward the surface.

Savvy Southern California anglers know this and appeal to the lingcod’s ravenous appetite and aggressive nature by tossing super-size swimbaits. The technique has developed somewhat of a cult following: Small groups of swimbait aficionados gather in the bow of partyboats to “chuck the rubber,” while the majority of the passengers deploy dropper-loop rigs with 1-pound weights meant to carry live or cut baits into depths that can reach 300 feet or more.

The fall season—leading right up to the end-of-year Southern California groundfish closure in January and February—is probably the best time of the year to target big lingcod in this way. As temperatures cool, lings move into shallower waters and feed aggressively. Smart anglers venture out on skiffs and party boats to meet them, swim bait outfits in hand.

Make no mistake, plenty of anglers catch lingcod on live mackerel, live sardines or even whole or stripped squid fished on “shrimp fly” rigs. Large lings are sometimes taken this way in between reeling up vermillion, chucklehead or any of a wide variety of rockfish species.

But if you want to catch lingcod almost exclusively—and the largest ones on the boat—switch to big swimbaits. I say “almost exclusively,” because truly large rockfish of 5 pounds and up sometimes jump on these soft-plastic lures, as well, adding variety and quality to the equation.

Feed ‘Em a Mouthful

What do I mean by a big swim bait? Lure companies like Kustom Kraft, Candy Bar and Savage Gear have developed specialized lures for this technique, with beefy, sturdy plastic bodies boasting large paddle tails for maximum action and vibration. Up to 10 inches long, these tails pair with heavy, wedge-shaped leadheads sporting 7/0 to 10/0 hooks. Depending on the depth of the structure being fished, leadheads can range from 4 to 16 ounces. Some lures, like those from Savage Gear, feature molded leadheads designed for use with specific integrated tails.

Chucking the Rubber

Working a lure that must be retrieved can be a challenge when fishing craggy, rocky structure in waters up to 300 feet deep. Swim the lure as close to the bottom as possible for as long as possible. Partyboat anglers should stay clear of other anglers fishing bait rigs straight up and down.

The technique involves casting your lure from the bow or downwind corner of the stern. Toss it as far as possible and let it sink quickly to the bottom, then work the swimbait with a steady, medium-speed retrieve for about 15 to 20 turns of the reel handle. If you don’t get bit, freespool back to the bottom and repeat. As the boat drifts over and eventually away from your line, you will have to recast and begin the process again.

If the boat drifts too quickly, you might have to use a more vertical presentation. In those situations, I just wind quickly for about seven to 10 cranks, drop back and repeat. It takes some dedication to do this, but the reward is worth the effort.

At times, however, conditions just won’t allow for working a swimbait. When this happens, I switch to my second-favorite lingcod lure, which is a heavy metal jig. Fish these lures vertically and bounce them just off the bottom.

To create a large target worthy of attracting the attention of big lingcod, I replace the usual treble hooks with a large single siwash hook, onto which I thread a 6-inch plastic or Berkeley Gulp! grub.

Just Keep Grinding

New anglers trying to master the swimbait method must resist the natural impulse to set the hook. Lingcod often grab the lure by the tail and hold on, and if you swing the rod, you pull the lure out of its mouth (often ripping the tail off in the process). Instead, just keep turning the reel handle at the same speed until the rod loads up and the fish is solidly hooked.

If the fish lets go or comes off after a few head shakes, immediately drop the lure down a few seconds and start reeling. Lingcod hate to let any meal—even a fake one—get away. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sealed the deal after two or three re-bites.

Lings are also very competitive, and it’s not uncommon to have one or more free-swimming lingcod accompany a hooked fish on its way to the surface, ready to pounce on the lure should it become dislodged.

Trap Hook

To increase the number of solid hookups, I often rig my swimbaits with a simple trap-hook system. I loop an Owner 5/0 Assist Hook over the tip of the main hook and cinch it tight at the hook’s bend. Depending on the length of the swimbait, this provides a large trailing hook near the tail of the lure. I’ve caught plenty of big lingcod on the trap hook alone.

Maintain a slow and steady retrieve when fighting a big ling. They usually make a strong run toward structure once hooked, and after that, it’s usually heavy weight with just enough head shaking to rattle your nerves. If you keep steady pressure, lings usually stay fairly calm until they get near the boat.

Read Next: SoCal Lingcod Primer

Swimbait tails come in a wide variety of colors, and I’ve seen them all work. Shades of red and brown certainly match the natural coloration of juvenile rockfish.

Capt. Mike Nickerson of the popular Channel Islands-based sport boat Pacific Dawn likes a custom-poured tail he calls Blue Bass, the common name for the ubiquitous blue rockfish that populate these reefs. At the same time, I’ve caught plenty on gaudy colors like glow in the dark, chartreuse, pink-and-white striped and pearl white. I don’t think color is all that important as long as you work the lure effectively in the strike zone and maximize bites when they happen.

Tackling the Technique

It takes a specific style of rod and reel to effectively fish these heavy lures. Relatively stiff, fast-action graphite-composite jig rods of 8 to 8 1/2 feet work best for lobbing lures that might weigh up to a pound. Conventional reels can be either star or lever drag, as long as they hold 300 to 400 yards of 65-pound braided line.

Using straight braid with only a few feet of 40-pound test monofilament or fluorocarbon leader allows lures to sink quickly and keep you in direct touch with the lure and your fish. The short length of leader (joined with a back-to-back uni-knot) provides some added shock absorption and makes it easier to break off if you snag the bottom.

The post Using Swim Baits to Catch Big California Lingcod appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

The traditional staggered start of California’s 2021 rockfish season begins on March 1 for ocean waters off the southern part of the state, followed by April 1 for central California, and May 1 for the northern region. This season, however, ranks as more poignant than most, as it heralds the re-opening of areas that have been closed to bottom fishing for nearly 20 years.

On the Rebound

In Southern California, for example, anglers can now legally fish in bottom depths as great as 600 feet in many areas along the coast. The previous limit, set two years ago, was 450 feet, and before that, an even shallower limit of 360 feet existed in this region. It was not always this way.

Fishery regulators first established depth limits for rockfish, lingcod, ocean whitefish, California sheephead and other bottom species in 2002. The federal Pacific Fishery Management Council and the California Fish and Game Commission faced declining rockfish populations, and so instituted the 360-foot depth limit to reduce fishing pressure and allow stocks to recover. Almost two decades later, studies indicate that this management tool worked. Scientists say that California’s rockfish populations have rebounded; this has led the agencies to re-open a number of areas for 2021. (For a full list of the regulations, seasons, depth limits, protected species and closures, visit the California Department of Fish and Wildlife website.)

Jig Time

No matter the depth, anglers always look forward to catching rockfish. These deep-dwelling, great-eating species are considered the bread-and-butter of California’s sport fishery. They inhabit waters around rocky structure and readily eat a live or fresh-dead bait, such as a sardine or strip of squid, that’s fished near the bottom. But many veteran anglers prefer to target larger individual fish to fill their daily rockfish bag limit, rather than settling for smaller specimens. The key to catching bigger 4- to 9-pound rockfish and lingcod up to 35 pounds lies in fishing with jigs as opposed to bait, says veteran Southern California saltwater angler Joey Engel.

Natural bait tends to attract smaller fish. “Rockfish that eat the jigs tend to be the big ones,” he explains, noting that he has caught vermilion (aka red) rockfish up to 9 pounds while fishing with metal jigs such as the Shimano Butterfly Flat Fall with double assist hooks.

Engel prefers to target rockfish over rocky structure in 300- to 350-foot depths, using a 300-gram (about 10.5-ounce) Flat Fall. He casts ahead of the boat’s drift so that the line is nearly vertical by the time the jig reaches the bottom. Yet, Engel often hooks up on the drop. “Red rockfish often school 50 to 60 feet above the bottom, and they will jump on the jig as it flutters downward,” he says.

Big Target

Ron Ballanti, an avid Southern California rockfish angler, also fishes with metal jigs such as Cribb’s Jigs in colors such as Glow Pink Tiger or Orange Glow Black Tiger. He also fishes with Promar Ahi Assault jigs in colors such as Baby Red or Blue Bass. He likes to fish the lightest jig possible (determined by drift speed), but generally uses an 8-ounce model for bottom depths of up to 250 feet, and the 10- and 12-ounce versions for anything deeper. Ballanti uses a single 9/0 Siwash hook and threads on a soft-plastic tail like a 6-inch Berkley Gulp! saltwater grub in a color such as White Glow.

“The single hook is less likely to snag on the bottom, and it allows me to thread on curly tail grubs, which creates about a 12-inch profile to attract bigger fish,” Ballanti explains. “I’m not interested in catching any fish less than 4 pounds.” A single hook also holds better on big fish like lings that fight to the surface.

Like Engel, he casts down-drift and sometimes gets bit on the sink. If the jig does reach the bottom, he works it with sharp upward sweeps of the rod, then follows the lure as it sinks to sense any strikes. “I let the lure fall until it ticks the bottom, then jig it upward again,” Ballanti says. “It is a lot of work, and you have to pay close attention and constantly adjust the amount of line to keep the lure in the strike zone and keep it from snagging the bottom, but it pays off.” His average rockfish weighs 5 pounds and up, and he has landed a number of canary, copper and red rockfish in the 9-pound range. He also consistently catches more lingcod when fishing with other anglers that are using bait.

Paddletail Baits

Large soft-plastic paddletail baits such as the Optimum Baits 9-inch Giant Shad, paired with leadheads weighing 8 to 10 ounces, have recently emerged as some of the most effective jigs for big rockfish and lingcod. Ballanti frequently uses paddletails (aka swimbaits), particularly when fishing expansive rocky bottom areas where lingcod lurk.

The best technique involves fishing this jig as vertically as possible—dropping it to the bottom, then winding it upward at a moderate speed with 10 to 12 turns of the reel handle, then dropping it back down again. “The difficulty and labor factors are even greater with these jigs, if you want to stay in the strike zone,” Ballanti says. “A fast drift really shortens your fishing time, as you need to reel in and re-drop if the line scopes out more than 45 degrees.”

However, lingcod in particular can’t seem to resist chasing the big swim baits off the bottom. “They typically inhale the jig and swim upward with it,” Ballanti explains. “If you feel weight on the line, just reel down tight to set the hook. Don’t swing, as that usually just pulls the lure out of the ling’s mouth. If you get short-bit, drop down about 10 feet and start retrieving again.”

Aggressive lingcod often come back, he says. To help eliminate short bites, Ballanti rigs the larger swimbaits with a stinger in the form of an Owner 5/0 assist hook, looped around the bend of the main hook.

Fantastic Plastic

Another trend centers on the use of large tube baits and soft-plastic octopus imitations for rockfish, lingcod and other bottom species. These include the Hook Up Baits XXL 10-ounce jig, the Mag-12 Swimbait 8-ounce jig, and Optimum’s 9-inch Magnum Octopus with an 8- to 10-ounce leadhead. “I like to jig the Mag-12 Pearl White Glow lure right along the bottom to imitate an octopus,” Engel says. “Big lings and whitefish can’t seem to resist them.”

Read Next: New Fishing Opportunities for Rockfish

Engel also fishes two of the 4-ounce Mag-12 lures at once. He ties one on a 2-foot dropper loop and another 3 feet below it at the end of the main line. “Presenting rockfish with a pair of tube baits seems to drive them crazy,” he says. “They immediately go on the attack, and many times you’ll hook two big fish at the same time. That’s a handful.”

Lighter Gear

While anglers in the past had to use relatively heavy gear for deep-dwelling rockfish, advances in super-thin braided line, low-profile saltwater-grade level-wind reels and graphite fishing rods have enabled the use of lighter outfits that are easier to fish and less fatiguing on anglers. For example, Okuma’s Komodo 400 series low-profile reels can hold more than 300 yards of 40-pound braid, which is sufficient for fishing jigs in depths of up to 400 feet.

How anglers take advantage of the new depth limits remains to be seen. Many old-timers contend that the biggest bottomfish always live at the greatest depths. So, it is certain that a fair number of California anglers will find a way to fish out to the new legal limits in pursuit of larger rockfish, lingcod, ocean whitefish and sheephead.

The post How to Catch Bigger Rockfish appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Northwest winds howled as Capt. Mike “Dog” Nickerson positioned the party boat Pacific Dawn over an oceanic ridge that parallels the southern shore of Santa Rosa Island off California’s Ventura County coast. The drift would carry the boat over depths of nearly 400 feet. As baits and lures reached the bottom, all 11 anglers ­immediately hooked up. Bent rods lined the windward rail as anglers battled lingcod and rockfish.

Nickerson repeated the drift two more times to ensure that each angler landed his two-fish daily bag limit for legal-size lingcod. Each trip over the ridge—a spot that the captain calls “Jurassic Park”—resulted in a flurry of hookups.

The waters surrounding California’s Channel Islands archipelago (of which Santa Rosa is a part) offer some of the world’s best bottomfishing, but this deep ridge proved particularly productive. It’s the kind of wide-open action SoCal anglers label “automatic” and “unconscious.” Indeed, the rocky bottom seemed carpeted with fish. That’s largely because, for the past 17 years, this ridge had remained virtually untouched by anglers—not by choice but because of the law.

However, thanks to recent changes in California sport-fishing regulations, Nickerson can now legally fish here. And this ridge isn’t the only such spot. An incalculable number of erstwhile off-limits bottomfishing areas between Point Conception and the Mexican border (a stretch of water known by regulators as the Southern Management Area) are now legally accessible.

The upshot: Now, SoCal anglers have greater opportunities to catch more and bigger lingcod, ­rockfish, California sheephead, ocean whitefish and other bottomfish than any other time since around the turn of the 21st century.

Trend Reversal
The new regulations were made ­effective by the federal Pacific Fishery Management Council and the California Fish and Game Commission on March 1, 2019, stemming a trend that has witnessed more and more of California’s ocean water set aside in the name of conservation.

Since the 2002 season, anglers have been prohibited from bottomfishing in depths beyond 360 feet in the Pacific waters off Southern California; in ­special Cowcod Conservation Areas, the depth restriction was even ­shallower, set at 120 feet.

The long-standing depth restrictions were established to protect dwindling stocks of rockfish and other deep-dwelling species (known collectively by fishery managers as groundfish) from steadily increasing commercial- and recreational-fishing pressure. Particularly hard-hit was one of the largest of rockfishes—the cowcod—and this led to the establishment of the CCAs with even shallower depth restrictions. At the same time, cowcod—along with bronzespotted rockfish, yelloweye rockfish and, until recently, canary rockfish—were designated as protected species and illegal to retain.

Adaptive Management
Based on scientific stock-­assessment surveys, these efforts were deemed so successful that state and federal agencies decided to relax the ­restrictions for the 10-month 2019 season, expanding the depth limit to 450 feet in most recreational bottomfishing areas (known as Rockfish Conservation Areas) and 240 feet in CCAs.

This season effectively ends on December 31 at midnight. Yet, with no major stock-assessment study looming in the near future, signs point to a continuation of the current regulations for the 2020 season, which begins on March 1 after a two-month closure. However, the recreational groundfish regulations are adaptive and based on the latest and best-available scientific information about the fishery. Therefore, regulators have the ­authority to change the rules at any time.

Midseason changes have occurred. For example, in 2012, the RCA depth limit was temporarily shifted to 300 feet for the last two months of the season. Yet not all midseason changes negatively affect anglers. On June 1 of this year, for instance, the lingcod daily bag limit was increased to two fish. It had been set at one ling at the beginning of the season.

New Species
One of the magical aspects of bottomfishing in this Pacific region lies in the variety. Anglers never know what they might hook from among more than 40 species of rockfish ­available to anglers here—all of which make for great eating.

“That’s the reason I got interested in studying rockfish,” says Sport Fishing Fish Facts expert Milton Love, professor of marine biology at the University of California at Santa Barbara, and author of Certainly More Than You Want to Know About the Fishes of the Pacific Coast.

Love first went bottomfishing with his father on the Linbrook out of Malibu, California, in 1956, and he caught 14 species of rockfish on one spot. “That hooked me for life,” Love says.

Rockfish names are as exotic as the deep, watery realms in which they dwell. Boccacio, chilipepper, china, copper, flag, freckled, greenstriped, harlequin, pinkrose, olive, square­spot, starry, tiger, and vermillion are just a few examples of names that stir ­wonder and imagination.

Greater depths magnify the variety factor. For instance, anglers now stand an increased chance of hooking one of the deeper-dwelling rockfish such as a bank rockfish, greenblotched rockfish or sunset rockfish.

Since the relaxation of depth limits this year, anglers are also catching fish they rarely see, including the bizarre red brotula, prized star-studded ­grouper and the malevolent-looking wolf eel. Some species are so unfamiliar that many anglers have a hard time identifying them.

Not only are anglers more likely to catch more fish, but they also have a better chance of hooking bigger fish. “As rockfish grow, the bigger individuals tend to head out to deeper water,” Love reveals.

New Spots
Many old-timers who were around before any depth restrictions existed have a good idea of where to go to find fish in deeper water. Others, however, who never fished beyond the previous limits, face a learning curve when it comes to finding deeper areas to fish off the coast of Southern California.

Fortunately, new tools can help boating anglers shorten the curve. This includes electronic charting and sonar features that allow skippers to quickly recognize and home in on productive bottom areas—technologies that were not available back in the day.

For example, BlueChart g3 Vision charts on Garmin models, the Reveal feature on C-Map Max-N+ charts, and the SonarChart Shading function on Platinum+ charts from Navionics all offer detailed relief shading based on hydrographic surveys by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. The three-­dimensional representation of this data on the electronic charts can quickly lead astute anglers to the rocky bottom structure, wrecks, and ledges that lingcod, rockfish, and other ­bottom dwellers love.

In addition, fish finders and ­transducers have advanced mightily in the past decade, with features such as chirp technology offering the power and processing capabilities to paint highly detailed bottom images with less interference, even at great depths.

Staying Legal
While depth limits are generally ­identified in terms of feet, RCA and CCA boundaries are officially defined by lines that connect a series of latitude and longitude coordinates—connect the dots, so to speak. The lines are intended to roughly follow depth contours, but the key to staying legal is to avoid fishing on the seaward side of the lines.

The easiest way to obtain the ­current coordinates is to visit the website for the Sportfishing Association of California (­california​sportfishing.org/rca​‑­waypoints). Once you plug into your chart plotter all of the waypoint coordinates for a particular area, you can connect the points with the plotter’s route function. This provides a graphic representation of the depth restrictions.

However, things can get even more complicated. Keep in mind that the RCAs and CCAs cross over a number of marine protected areas in Southern California, where fishing might be ­prohibited altogether. For example, within the CCA that surrounds Santa Barbara Island is a large state marine reserve where fishing is banned. Boating anglers can find a ­complete list of California MPAs and the boundaries for each at wildlife​.ca.gov/Conservation/Marine/MPAs/Network/Southern-California.

Gearing Up
While using traditional tackle will ­suffice in some cases, fishing ocean depths in excess of 400 feet might call for fresh thinking and new gear. Veteran bottomfishers plied these depths with 5-pound sinkers and Penn 6/0 Senator reels spooled with low-stretch Dacron line and equipped with oversize handles for extra cranking leverage. Stiff rods fitted with plates allowed anglers to rest the blank on the rail or gunwale while winding up fish.

Today, thinner-diameter braided line allows for the use of smaller reels. Braid’s no-stretch quality gives anglers a better feel for the bottom and bites. The reduced drag of super-thin braided lines can also cut down on the amount of weight needed to effectively fish at such depths. Most anglers spool up with 50- to 65-pound-test braid for rockfishing.

While it is too early to predict any trends, some Southern California anglers have borrowed a page from deep-drop anglers on the East and Gulf coasts, employing electric reels from companies such as Daiwa and Shimano to retrieve heavy sinkers and big fish from the depths. Some are cross-purposing electric reels originally purchased for offshore kite-fishing for Pacific bluefin tuna.

“I know some people are using their kite reels for codding (local term for rockfishing), but I don’t think it’s a big movement yet,” says Dave Pfeiffer, president of Shimano North America Fishing. “With regulations moving deeper, it could generate some new interest in electric reels for that type of fishing.”

Though it might not be ­considered the most sporting way to fish, flipping the switch on an electric reel such as the Shimano Forcemaster 9000 sounds a lot more appealing than manually winding up a pair of 5- to 10-pound rockfish, along with a 12- to 20-ounce sinker from 425 feet while standing on a ­heaving deck. For those inclined to reel in the fish on their own, the Forcemaster reels have manual-­crank handles that let you bypass the ­motorized function.

Rods need to be beefy to handle heavier sinkers and bigger fish that anglers can anticipate catching at the new depths. While just about any trolling rod will work, a model such as the Daiwa Tanacom Dendoh 5½-foot deep-drop rod is specially designed with a heavy-duty bent butt and ­swiveling roller tiptop for this kind of fishing.

Current rockfish regulations for Southern California limit the number of hooks to two per leader, and most anglers use 3/0 to 5/0 circle hooks designed to automatically lodge in the corner of a fish’s mouth, negating the need to set the hook.

Tough Baits
Strips of squid, sardines or mackerel (with the hook pinned through the skin) help keep the bait on the hook. Also, baits tend to spin, as do fish when being cranked up, and this can result in twists and tangles. A common twist-resistant leader setup consists of 60- to 80-pound-test leader material through the eye of a barrel swivel with one or two beads on each side of the eye. Squeeze single-barrel crimping sleeves on the leader to secure the beads and swivel.

Place two of these assemblies, about 18 inches apart, on the leader. Then tie a 4- to 6-inch-long 30- to 40-pound‑test leader with a hook to the free eye of each swivel. Use a snap or another swivel at the top of the leader (about 12 inches above the top hook) to attach the main line, and another snap swivel at the bottom (12 inches below the bottom hook) to attach a deep-drop, sinker or bank sinker.

Read Next: Southern California Rockfishing

The amount of weight needed to fish effectively will hinge on the current, wind and depth. A selection of sinkers ranging from 12 to 48 ounces should be sufficient for fishing the greater ­allowable depths down to 450 feet.

Some anglers also use a short leader of 25- to 30-pound-test line to attach the sinker to the bottom snap swivel so the weight will more easily break free should it snag on the bottom.

While the regulations allowing greater rockfishing depths might not last forever in the waters off Southern California, for now, the relaxed depth limits create new angling opportunities for boating anglers in this region who are up for the challenge of making a deep impact.

Barotrauma Basics
One of the factors influencing the regulatory decision to expand depth limits in Southern California are studies on how small rockfish suffering from barotrauma can be successfully released, says Chris Lowe, professor of marine biology at Long Beach State University, who collaborated in this research.

“Studies indicate that 70 percent of rockfish that are properly recompressed are still alive after two days,” Lowe reveals. “Even fish that are ‘popeyed’ can survive and can see well within four days after recompression.”

Devices such as the Blacktip Catch & Release Recompression Tool, RokLees, SeaQualizer, and Shelton Fish Descender allow anglers to quickly return small rockfish and other species suffering from barotrauma due to rapid decompression after being reeled up from great depths. For more on these tools, visit sportfishingmag​.com/fish-descender-devices​-release-fishing.

Speed is of the essence, Lowe has discovered. “The quicker you can recompress the fish, the greater its chances of survival,” he says.

Another key is angler cooperation in actually using the tools and techniques of recompression, Lowe points out. “Recreational anglers have been more than receptive to recompressing bottomfish,” he says. “Putting small fish back is good for fishing, but educating anglers on how to do it properly is critical.”

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As fishermen, we all occasionally have those “aha” moments that completely change the way we look at a particular fishery. As monumental as these can be, such moments rarely come in the form of a dramatic revelation. Instead, they’re usually subtle enough to go unnoticed for days, sometimes weeks. Like most, I’ve experienced my share of them over the years, but for me, the most memorable occurred a few years ago while fishing for rockfish off the coast of Long Beach, California.

The reds (vermilion rockfish) were biting for a few weeks on the South East Bank, a hard-bottom shelf in 250 feet of water a few miles outside Long Beach Harbor. I had enjoyed a successful trip there the previous weekend. Using frozen squid for bait on a dropper loop, we made long drifts over the hard bottom. The fishing wasn’t wide open, but there were enough reds scattered around the bank that a friend and I were able to catch our 10-fish limits within several hours.

I returned to the area where the reds had been biting to find lots of boat pressure and zero signs of my desired quarry. There were still plenty of rockfish to be caught on the bank, but the 3- to 5-pound reds we’d caught the week before were replaced by fish that averaged less than 6 inches long. After a few drifts and multiple tiny rockfish, I was pretty sure I needed to look somewhere else — the problem was I had no idea where.

With minimal private-boat rockfishing experience to fall back on at the time, I headed to one of the few other areas I knew. In 150 feet of water, the hard-bottom area was much more shallow than the areas I fished earlier, but the small rockfish were there in force as well. During my second drift over the bank, I metered a small rock, and moments later my friend’s rod bent double. The fish was big, and after a hard fight on bass gear, he brought a 15-pound lingcod to gaff.

I quickly repositioned the boat for another drift over the rock and we hooked two more lingcod, one making it into the boat and the other winning its freedom in the rocks. Rather than continue making short drifts over the small spot, I used the SpotLock feature on my Minn Kota trolling motor to keep us positioned over the spot. For the next few hours we caught several more lingcod, as well as California sheephead, huge 5- to 6-pound reds and a 7-pound brown rockfish, the biggest I have ever seen. On the way home, my friends and I discussed how that magic rock produced the best local shallow-water rockfish trip any of us had ever experienced.

Our magic rock never produced as well again, but I finally realized my aha moment the following weekend. I spent some time metering around the hard bottom near the same area and found even more small rocks. One of those rocks kicked out some big fish that day, and a different rock produced on the following trip. Once I mapped the area, I expanded my search to include new waters and began to build a network of small spots from the Santa Monica Bay to San Diego. While my collection of rockfish spots and my angling techniques will forever be a work in progress, I can share some tips that provide great insight to any angler who fishes these popular bottomfish.

Do Your Homework

Blind luck — like that I experienced drifting over the right rock at the right time — can make for some memorable fishing trips. But it does not ensure your future fishing success every trip, even if it produces at times. If you want to become a better fisherman, you need to dissect your lucky days and figure out how to replicate them. For example, I’ve learned that in heavily fished areas, smaller spots are more likely to hold big fish because they receive less fishing pressure.

Small spots are not always as easy to find as they are to fish because they don’t show up on charts. This is where your homework comes into play. Google Earth is a good place to start when looking for potential rockfish spots because it shows bottom topography and approximate water depth. When targeting shallow-water rockfish, you’re specifically looking for hard-bottom areas and canyon edges. On Google Earth, such hard-bottom areas will usually show up as lumps and ridges. Just make sure to check the depth; that perfect-looking high spot might not be so perfect if it’s sitting in 1,600 feet of water.

Once I’ve located an area that looks like it has some potential, I’ll take a closer look at it using the sonar-charts function on my Navionics Plus phone app. The map’s precise detail allows me to get a feel for the area long before I get out on the water in the boat.

While every rockfish zone along our coast looks different on the chart, there are some features they all have in common. Rockfish are structure oriented, and in most cases, that structure comes in the form of hard or rocky bottom. While it’s difficult to judge the hardness of the bottom by looking at a chart, there are indicators that will allow you to make an educated guess. Sharp changes in water depth usually signal hard bottom. It might be a pinnacle or canyon edge that stands out on the map, but the hard bottom around those features likely holds rockfish. When it comes to canyon edges, the steeper the incline, the harder the bottom. So, if a canyon edge looks pretty gradual on the chart but gets steep around a point or corner, there is likely hard bottom associated with the steep part. When fishing a new area for the first time, I’ll always start at one of those steep edges and follow the hard bottom away, looking for rocks or schools of fish.

Gearing Up

Put simply, if you’re using tackle or electronics that are more than 10 years old, you’re doing yourself a huge disservice. The term “game changer” is so overused, but there’s really no other way to describe the advancements available to anglers today. Take, for example, the app I mentioned earlier. I also run the Navionics Plus Regions card on my boat. This card allows me to view records of what my fish finder reads, upload that information to the Navionics website, and days later receive updated charts of the area I fished.

If you’ve spent any time fishing rockfish, I’m sure you’ve noticed that most charts show only vague topography data. With this new technology, you can drive around an area and chart it out with 1-foot depth lines. So instead of looking at a chart page with random waypoints for your spots, you’ll instead see a detailed chart of the area. Having the ability to visualize the layout of the structure allows you to fish it more effectively by planning your drift direction.

Speaking of drift direction, adding a trolling motor with a spot-lock function (both Minn Kota and Motor Guide offer this) is a sound fishing investment. Even on calm days, the current can be strong enough to blow you past a spot in seconds. I’ve fished days where the current was strong enough to resemble a river coming off the back of my boat. Yet the trolling motor held me in position. I sat 200 feet above a rock pile that wasn’t much bigger than my boat, and loaded up on fish.

The most frequently overlooked aspect of gearing up is getting the right fish finder. I recently upgraded to a Raymarine es98 with a through-hull chirp transducer and a side-vision module. Most brands offer similar features these days, albeit called by different names.

The advantage of this fish finder is twofold. First, its through-hull transducer allows me to get a clear picture at a higher speed than I would with a transom mount. This, coupled with the clear chirp readings, allows me to cover water quickly when I’m prospecting for rockfish spots. The side vision allows me to see what’s off the sides of the boat, which makes it easy to get a visual of the extended area. I have to warn you, it takes a while to be able to interpret what you’re seeing off the sides of the boat, but once you do, you’ll never want to fish without it again.

Tackle Up

Picking out fishing tackle is probably the easiest part of pre-trip planning. Just about any rod-and-reel combo will work for rockfish, but for deeper water, I recommend a small levelwind reel, like a Penn Squall 15, matched with a medium-heavy 8-foot graphite rod. This combo will give you plenty of pulling power, and the levelwind reel takes a lot of the work out of winding up from the bottom. Whichever reel you choose, make sure it will hold at least 200 yards of braided line so your reel won’t be empty if you’re fishing the 360-foot max depth that is legal for rockfish off California. The Squall, for example, holds 300 yards of 50-pound line.

While fishing in deeper areas can be good, I prefer to target waters less than 250 feet. That allows me to use bass gear, like an Abu Garcia Toro Beast 60 with an 8-foot heavy-action bass rod. When filled with 50-pound braid, the reel holds plenty of line to land rockfish. In both cases, I’ll add 10 feet of 30- or 40-pound fluorocarbon leader before tying on hooks or lures.

Stocking up on terminal tackle is simple. All you’ll need are some hooks in varying sizes and torpedo sinkers weighing 8, 12 and 16 ounces. If you like to fish jigs, I’ve found that the Ahi Assault jigs in 8 and 12 ounces work great in deeper water, while the Savage Gear Squish Jig in 80 to 130 grams gets the job done in the shallower spots. Rockfish will also readily bite swimbaits in a variety of colors. I’ll usually fish a 5-inch MC Swimbait on a 3- to 4-ounce ­lead-head, but if I’m targeting lingcod, I’ll upsize to a 9-inch MC Viejos Series Swimbait. Both jigs and swimbaits are designed to draw reaction strikes, so drop them to the bottom and bounce your rod tip until you get a bite.

When fishing bait, my rigging configuration varies depending on my bait and depth fished. Live squid is by far the best rockfish bait, but properly cared for, fresh frozen is a close second. I tend to stay away from sardines because they attract salmon grouper (bocaccio), which aren’t the best table fare. As a rule, if I’m fishing less than 200 feet of water, I’ll fish a single dropper loop. Any deeper and I’ll add a second loop and hook. If using squid for bait in less than 200 feet of water, I’ll pin it on a 1/0 treble hook. The larger hook keeps the smaller fish away because they have trouble getting it into their mouths. This sometimes results in missed bites, but it does cut down on small-fish bycatch ratio. When fishing deeper or using two hooks, I’ll trade out the treble for a bait-appropriate light-wire circle hook; these set themselves, so you don’t need to swing on the fish when you get bit and risk tearing off your second bait in the process.

About the Author: Erik Landesfeind is a freelance fishing writer and the Southern California editor at BD Outdoors, a popular online fishing forum. He has more than 30 years of experience fishing California’s inshore and offshore waters for a variety of species.

The post Southern California Rockfishing appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Vermillion Rockfish Get the Nod, Along with 20 Other Species

Seafood Watch, arguably the most influential sustainable-seafood advocacy group, now believes a host of once-troubled Pacific Coast bottom fish have recovered so well that diners and seafood lovers should seek them out at restaurants and markets, according to a story in The Seattle Times.

Marine scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which oversees Seafood Watch, said this week that government regulators and fishermen had made such strides in how they manage and catch 21 species of rockfish, lingcod and flatfish that it listed all among the “good” or “best” seafood choices in the new edition of its guide, The Seattle Times reports.

This includes species that are on the protected list in some states, including the canary rockfish, which is illegal to keep or possess off the coast of California.

“This is the first time we’ve really seen this happen at this scale on the West Coast,” Santi Roberts, science manager at the aquarium, says in the report.

The aquarium’s Seafood Watch guide has red, yellow and green codes to help restaurant goers, chefs, grocers and shoppers determine which species of commercial fish and shellfish are caught in the most ecologically sensitive manner, the report says.

Many of the species upgraded this week were deemed by the federal government in the mid-1990s or early 2000s to have been badly overfished, some to such an extent that scientists were concerned about their survival.

But a series of major changes to management of the West Coast commercial groundfish fleet has turned around future prospects for many of these species, the report states.

Many of the species, from California to Washington, are caught using trawl nets that may drag along the bottom, harming some sensitive areas, The Seattle Times reports.

Most were managed using massive quota systems. Fishermen often scooped up species they weren’t targeting and ended up tossing away many fish that weren’t salable.

But in the mid- to late 2000s, the Pacific Fishery Management Council, which oversees West Coast commercial fishing, began closing many ecologically sensitive areas to fishing. The council also divvied up quotas and redistributed them to individual fishermen as catch shares, which made it easier for fishermen to take their time and be more selective in the species they targeted. That reduced waste, The Seattle Times reports.

The council also started putting paid monitors on board ships with fishermen during every outing. These observers helped make sure fishermen brought up the right species from the right areas. And the council became much more conservative in setting quotas.

The result, the aquarium scientists said, is a conservation success story.

“We have excellent data on what is being caught, and things are improving,” Roberts said.

Issues remain, according to Seafood Watch. Species are recovering, but fishermen still have to settle for a far lower catch than in previous decades. But scientists believe the new management strategies mean those catch levels could rise again in coming years.

Sablefish, known as black cod, are still declining, though managers and aquarium scientists believe they will rebound in future years. And some nearshore rockfish species managed by the states rather than the federal government are still in poor shape.

The post Pacific Bottom Fish: A Conservation Success Story appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

mp day 4

Today was a day of new species.

The morning gray light brought spitting rain, wind and a killer yellowtail bite. Anglers used dropper-loop rigs, baited with sardines or mackerel, to hook into the tasty fish that resembled Florida’s amberjack. Apparently, the yellowtails taste much better! I was busy, walking the decks, taking photos of different anglers when the bite slowed down. When I finally dropped bait down, the bite had stopped and I missed an ideal opportunity.

I told myself after the missed yellowtail chance that I’m going to put the camera down and truly try to target some of these new-to-me gamefish species. Yesterday, I had some chances at wahoo and missed out. Today, the same could be said for yellowtail. Though I’ve learned an incredible amount about these fisheries already, I still want to make sure I’m catching and sampling some of the fish. I’ve got my work cut out for me tomorrow.

The wahoo bite slowed today and yellowfin tuna still haven’t shown, but we did spend time trolling and anchoring at different areas around the rocks. At one spot, we dropped down butterfly jigs and hooked into a number of species including sheephead, rockfish, sculpin and grouper. All the species were new to me, and some had some pretty fantastic colors. The sheephead was red and black, plus had massive teeth like Dracula.

Tomorrow, we’re fishing offshore, looking for kelp paddies and floating debris as we make our way toward the tuna banks. Capt. Ekstrom says to expect dolphin, wahoo, yellowtail, and maybe some tuna too. They don’t have sargassum weed out here, but I bet the style of fishing is similar.

I have some fish to catch tomorrow!

The post A Long-Range Journal: Day 4 appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Fear of Incidental Cowcod Catches Trigger More Depth Restrictions for Southern California Ocean Anglers

The California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) is limiting fishing depths in the Southern Groundfish Management Area to reduce interactions with cowcod. The DFG’s action follows a recommendation made by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) at its September 2012 meeting.

The DFG has determined that the cowcod take is projected to exceed the federal limit established for recreational and commercial fixed-gear fisheries in 2012, unless in-season action is taken. So the DFG has opted to limit recreational groundfish fishing depths to 50 fathoms (300 feet) in the Southern Groundfish Management Area (34°27′ north latitude to the Mexico Border) effective on Novomber 1, 2012. The previous depth limit was 360 feet, except in Cowcod Conservation Areas where no bottom fishing is allowed in depths of more than 120 feet. The recreational rockfish season will close entirely in Southern Californria as January 1, 2013, and re-open on March 1, 2013.

Cowcod are one of the largest rockfish species, reaching a length of 37 inches and weight of 29 pounds. They range in color from orange to pale pink/white. Cowcod cannot be taken or possessed by sport anglers in California. Possession was prohibited to facilitate rebuilding the stock when it was declared overfished in 1999. However, they are incidentally taken on occasion when anglers are targeting other species. By limiting bottom fishing activity for target species to shallower depths, the DFG hopes that the incidental take of cowcod will be reduced.

“Allowable take limits for cowcod are the lowest of all the West Coast groundfish managed by PFMC, and these low limits pose the greatest constraint to Southern California anglers and a significant challenge to fishery managers,” said Paul Hamdorf, acting DFG marine region manager. “Implementing a 50-fathom depth constraint is expected to keep cowcod impacts within allowable limits and maintain conservation goals, while still providing anglers with fishing opportunities through the end of the year.”

From the time that the cowcod was declared as an overfished species, the state of California has worked closely with PFMC and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to implement protective measures for cowcod, including closing critical habitat (Cowcod Conservation Area) and prohibiting retention in most fisheries. Cowcod primarily occur in depths greater than 50 fathoms in Southern California, and are slow-growing and long-lived.

Full color illustrations of cowcod are available in the California Ocean Sport Fishing Regulations booklet to help anglers identify and release this fish. For more information regarding recreational groundfish regulations and to stay informed of in-season regulation changes, please call the Recreational Groundfish Fishing Regulation Hotline at 831-649-2801, or visit the DFG Marine Region website at www.dfg.ca.gov/marine.

The post California Fish and Game Imposes New Rockfish Depth Restriction in Southern California appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.