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Tuna within 3-day range Back in the Counts
Mind the rockfish regulations
(left): Two large petrale sole caught aboard the Daily Double while fishing off the Nine Mile Bank.
(right): Usually running much further for big game, the Tribute targeted rockfish close to home on a ‘friends’ trip which brought big smiles for the kids aboard.
(right): Usually running much further for big game, the Tribute targeted rockfish close to home on a ‘friends’ trip which brought big smiles for the kids aboard.
Dock Totals 11/24 – 11/30: 1117 anglers aboard 49 half-day to 3-day trips out of San Diego landings over the past week caught 26 bluefin tuna (up to 220 pounds), 13 bonito, 10 calico bass, 1 halfmoon, 8 lingcod, 2 petrale sole, 4 rock crab, 4951 rockfish, 79 sand bass, 298 sculpin, 60 sheephead, 20 spiny lobster (42 released), 625 whitefish, 85 yellowfin tuna, and 272 yellowtail.
Saltwater: After an absence in the counts during the week previous, yellowfin tuna and bluefin tuna along with a good number of yellowtail came over the rails as we headed into Thanksgiving. That said, all of the tuna in this week’s count were on one three-day trip on the Polaris Supreme south toward Cedros Island off the Vizcaino Peninsula. There have been signs of tuna north of there, but not much action from willing biters has been reported. Yellowfin tuna continue to bite very well for those fishing out of Bahia Asuncion down toward Bahia Magdalena for longer trips, but fishing Cedros is a long 26-hour, give or take depending on conditions, for a 3-day run.
Yellowtail have been sporadic off of northern Baja, with the better catches coming from further south in warmer water. There have been a few ‘homeguards’ caught north of the border, but if targeting the feisty jacks, heading south of San Quintin is your best bet. Many of the yellowtail caught off the mid-Baja Peninsula this fall have been on the larger end, including the fat one reported last week by the Searcher at Alijos Rocks, which weighed in at 64-pounds upon their return. My guess was just over 56-pounds, but I based that on eyeballing the size from their photo at 50 inches long and a 30-inch girth. My guess was a bit conservative, though I was closer on the length than the girth. To estimate the weight of a fish there is a basic formula used by marlin and tuna anglers, and it works with most species with a torpedo-shaped body. You measure the length from the lip to the fork as well as the girth at the widest point, which is usually just behind the head. You then square the girth and multiply that by the length, then divide by 800. So, a 50-inch long fish with a 30-inch girth would calculate out at 56.25-pounds. 30x30 equals 900, 900 times 50 is 45,000. 45,000 divided by 800 is 56.25.
Closer to home, most of the action has been on rockfish in deep water 300-feet and deeper, where anglers are limited in targeting them until December 31. From January 1 until March 31, rockfish will be closed, then will open at all depths on April 1, 2025. That is if there are no changes made to the specifications for 2024 by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. As rockfish, listed under groundfish on the CDFW website, are closely monitored and limits and depths can be adjusted seasonally, we might get news of changes for 2025 by the end of December. So far, it looks like the 2024 regulations will apply in 2025.
Though many still call the rockfish we catch off Southern California and Mexico ‘rock cod’, we have no true cod in our area. Pacific cod can be caught from Northern California to Alaska, with the majority coming from the northern half of that stretch. Rockfish are in the Sebastidae family, and we have some 56 subspecies off our coast. Historically, vermillion rockfish, bocaccio (salmon grouper), cow cod (also not a true cod) and lingcod (again, not a cod but in the greenling family), have been the most prized catches on rockfish outings, though lingcod are not considered rockfish as they are not in the Sebastes family. Over the past two decades, especially, these species have been more protected with special limits or, as in the case of the cow cod, completely protected as a ‘no-take’ species.
Currently, copper rockfish are limited to one per angler, vermilion rockfish are limited to two per angler, and lingcod are also limited to two per angler. There is a ten-fish total bag limit for rockfish, which, while fishing seaward of the fifty-fathom line, includes shelf and slope rockfish. A rough list of Sebastes species in the shelf zone is bocaccio, canary, chilipepper, dusky, flag, greenblotched, greenspotted, greenstriped, harlequin, honeycomb, Mexican, pink, redstripe, rosethorn, rosy, shortbelly, silvergray, speckled, squarespot, starry, stripetail, tiger, vermilion, widow, and yellowtail rockfishes. Slope rockfish species include aurora, bank, blackgill, darkblotched, redbanded, rougheye, sharpchin, shortraker, splitnose, and yellowmouth rockfishes, along with ocean perch and lingcod. Deep water rockfish can be caught on trips as short as half-day runs. The Daily Double was fishing the bottom off of the Nine-Mile Bank, which runs north to south to the border from off Mission bay about nine miles west of Point Loma. They not only had good success on rockfish, but reported two very nice sized petrale sole. Petrale sole are a flounder as are our California halibut. They do not get as large as our halibut, but their meat texture and taste is very similar. Females are larger than the males, and can grow to 28-inches long and weigh up to 8-pounds. Though more caught off Oregon to the Bering Sea, we see an occasional petrale sole caught off our coast, especially in deeper waters where it is much cooler in the lower water column.
Given the number of groundfish species and tight regulations, carrying an ID chart with on any bottom fishing outing is advisable. If on a sportfishing boat, the crews are adept at identifying your catch and will advise of limits. Given you will have to release some of your catch as per the species limits, carrying a descending device is a rule. As a rockfish brought up from the depths will usually have barotrauma that pushes the swim bladder out of its mouth, dropping the fish back down with a descending device gives it the best chance of survival as they cannot get below the surface while bloated. One old school way to get a bloated fish to swim down was to puncture the swim bladder to release the air, but studies have shown that this technique is usually fatal to the fish. Thus, the required descending device. Whether the beach, bay, lake, or offshore, they’re out there so go out and get ‘em!
Here's something you might be interested in.
Tuna within 3-day range Back in the Counts
Mind the rockfish regulations
Tuna within 3-day range Back in the Counts
Mind the rockfish regulations
(left): Two large petrale sole caught aboard the Daily Double while fishing off the Nine Mile Bank.
(right): Usually running much further for big game, the Tribute targeted rockfish close to home on a ‘friends’ trip which brought big smiles for the kids aboard.
(right): Usually running much further for big game, the Tribute targeted rockfish close to home on a ‘friends’ trip which brought big smiles for the kids aboard.
Dock Totals 11/24 – 11/30: 1117 anglers aboard 49 half-day to 3-day trips out of San Diego landings over the past week caught 26 bluefin tuna (up to 220 pounds), 13 bonito, 10 calico bass, 1 halfmoon, 8 lingcod, 2 petrale sole, 4 rock crab, 4951 rockfish, 79 sand bass, 298 sculpin, 60 sheephead, 20 spiny lobster (42 released), 625 whitefish, 85 yellowfin tuna, and 272 yellowtail.
Saltwater: After an absence in the counts during the week previous, yellowfin tuna and bluefin tuna along with a good number of yellowtail came over the rails as we headed into Thanksgiving. That said, all of the tuna in this week’s count were on one three-day trip on the Polaris Supreme south toward Cedros Island off the Vizcaino Peninsula. There have been signs of tuna north of there, but not much action from willing biters has been reported. Yellowfin tuna continue to bite very well for those fishing out of Bahia Asuncion down toward Bahia Magdalena for longer trips, but fishing Cedros is a long 26-hour, give or take depending on conditions, for a 3-day run.
Yellowtail have been sporadic off of northern Baja, with the better catches coming from further south in warmer water. There have been a few ‘homeguards’ caught north of the border, but if targeting the feisty jacks, heading south of San Quintin is your best bet. Many of the yellowtail caught off the mid-Baja Peninsula this fall have been on the larger end, including the fat one reported last week by the Searcher at Alijos Rocks, which weighed in at 64-pounds upon their return. My guess was just over 56-pounds, but I based that on eyeballing the size from their photo at 50 inches long and a 30-inch girth. My guess was a bit conservative, though I was closer on the length than the girth. To estimate the weight of a fish there is a basic formula used by marlin and tuna anglers, and it works with most species with a torpedo-shaped body. You measure the length from the lip to the fork as well as the girth at the widest point, which is usually just behind the head. You then square the girth and multiply that by the length, then divide by 800. So, a 50-inch long fish with a 30-inch girth would calculate out at 56.25-pounds. 30x30 equals 900, 900 times 50 is 45,000. 45,000 divided by 800 is 56.25.
Closer to home, most of the action has been on rockfish in deep water 300-feet and deeper, where anglers are limited in targeting them until December 31. From January 1 until March 31, rockfish will be closed, then will open at all depths on April 1, 2025. That is if there are no changes made to the specifications for 2024 by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. As rockfish, listed under groundfish on the CDFW website, are closely monitored and limits and depths can be adjusted seasonally, we might get news of changes for 2025 by the end of December. So far, it looks like the 2024 regulations will apply in 2025.
Though many still call the rockfish we catch off Southern California and Mexico ‘rock cod’, we have no true cod in our area. Pacific cod can be caught from Northern California to Alaska, with the majority coming from the northern half of that stretch. Rockfish are in the Sebastidae family, and we have some 56 subspecies off our coast. Historically, vermillion rockfish, bocaccio (salmon grouper), cow cod (also not a true cod) and lingcod (again, not a cod but in the greenling family), have been the most prized catches on rockfish outings, though lingcod are not considered rockfish as they are not in the Sebastes family. Over the past two decades, especially, these species have been more protected with special limits or, as in the case of the cow cod, completely protected as a ‘no-take’ species.
Currently, copper rockfish are limited to one per angler, vermilion rockfish are limited to two per angler, and lingcod are also limited to two per angler. There is a ten-fish total bag limit for rockfish, which, while fishing seaward of the fifty-fathom line, includes shelf and slope rockfish. A rough list of Sebastes species in the shelf zone is bocaccio, canary, chilipepper, dusky, flag, greenblotched, greenspotted, greenstriped, harlequin, honeycomb, Mexican, pink, redstripe, rosethorn, rosy, shortbelly, silvergray, speckled, squarespot, starry, stripetail, tiger, vermilion, widow, and yellowtail rockfishes. Slope rockfish species include aurora, bank, blackgill, darkblotched, redbanded, rougheye, sharpchin, shortraker, splitnose, and yellowmouth rockfishes, along with ocean perch and lingcod. Deep water rockfish can be caught on trips as short as half-day runs. The Daily Double was fishing the bottom off of the Nine-Mile Bank, which runs north to south to the border from off Mission bay about nine miles west of Point Loma. They not only had good success on rockfish, but reported two very nice sized petrale sole. Petrale sole are a flounder as are our California halibut. They do not get as large as our halibut, but their meat texture and taste is very similar. Females are larger than the males, and can grow to 28-inches long and weigh up to 8-pounds. Though more caught off Oregon to the Bering Sea, we see an occasional petrale sole caught off our coast, especially in deeper waters where it is much cooler in the lower water column.
Given the number of groundfish species and tight regulations, carrying an ID chart with on any bottom fishing outing is advisable. If on a sportfishing boat, the crews are adept at identifying your catch and will advise of limits. Given you will have to release some of your catch as per the species limits, carrying a descending device is a rule. As a rockfish brought up from the depths will usually have barotrauma that pushes the swim bladder out of its mouth, dropping the fish back down with a descending device gives it the best chance of survival as they cannot get below the surface while bloated. One old school way to get a bloated fish to swim down was to puncture the swim bladder to release the air, but studies have shown that this technique is usually fatal to the fish. Thus, the required descending device. Whether the beach, bay, lake, or offshore, they’re out there so go out and get ‘em!
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