>>>> better yet leave the poor rockfish alone!!
I agree. 
Go catch the yellowtail and seabass. 
-----------------------------
If you MUST fiddle with your electronics over deep water, like me, and
MUST pull on a vermillion occasionally, like me, the key may be to
minimize catching ANY little rockfish if you are targeting the bottom.
There are effective ways to accomplish that.
You may have seen the article in Pacific Coast Sportfishing, I provided a
couple tips on how to avoid catching (and subsequently trying to release)
small rockfish, as we all need to be very environmentally conscious these
days, extra especially. There are two main things to avoid.
-
Avoid using any bait or scent;
-
Avoid using a "jig", meaning iron like Salas or Tady or Iron Man;
The first attracts every little rockfish down there right to the hook, and,
the second snags the little ones often, especially when you "jig" it.
As many of you know, I always use a 2 to 3 ounce 5+ inch plastic or
bucktail with a good sized hook and I only "set" the hook when I feel a
strong thump. Keep it near the bottom in rocky areas. That's it. It's not
easy, and, you will not catch a ton of fish. But it's fun.
P.S. This weekend, all of what I released were sculpin, except
for one barberpole, but nothing "little". Sculpin can handle the 100 foot
release well, and even the little ones will POUND on the plastics.
I hope this was helpful.