Rock Fish

[Jimmyz123]

Originally Posted by dsafety

I am going to boldly display my ignorance here so please be gentle with your responses.

I just read Adi's post that showed a boat load of small red rock fish that he and a bunch of buddies recently caught. While I am certain that all of those fish made for a wonderful dinner, I am not sure about the wisdom of catching limits of rock fish these days.

Everything that I have read tells me that of all the fish populations in our region, only the rock fish population is less than robust. Am I misinformed?

Since rock fish are easy to catch and a popular target for the party boats, (where a large portion of the catch ends up in the trash), I have always felt that this was not what I should target when out on the water.

I have very little knowledge on this subject but would like to know the facts. Those who know, please weigh in.

If this fish population is healthy, I see some tasty fish tacos in my future. If not, maybe we should all use a little restraint and encourage others to do so as well.

Bob

Alright I'll take the bait.

Rock fish are fun to catch and incredible to eat, that being said there are the regulations. A fisherman is ONLY suppose to take 10 fish, and that includes all rockfish, you could catch Vermilions, Tree fish, Starries, and such but you also need to know what you are catching. For example Bocaccio's you are only allowed 2 per angler, but they count toward your 10 fish total. If someone is going after Rockfish Get an up to date Regs book and know all the regs before you go out of carry them with you.

Also keep in mind that you are pulling these fish up from the deep so if you are catching small fish more than likely they will die. There are ways of dropping them back down to try and help them live, but you can also use them as bait so they are not wasted. Big lingcod can be caught this way.

It's very easy to go over your limit of fish if you're not careful, so I recommend that you keep a good count on them and know what you are catching so that you know if it's legal or not. There are some rockfish that are off limits completely.

Also if you are going to keep rockfish, bleed them and keep them cool. This will preserve the meat while you are on the water.

Does this help?