Sacking Bottom Critters (11/15)

[Latimeria]

Shaun, his son, and I had plans to look for tuna but conditions didn't look right for a long run and his son just wanted to "Catch Fish".  With the closure looming and the regulations set to cut the rockfish bag limit in half, this was a great time to pull up some denizens.

The tide was SUPER high this morning.  It looked way higher than a 6.33' as the water was up to the grass and there was a swell at the ramp!



Beautiful sunrise however.



The ride to the 9 was cold!  There were no sword fishermen out there, but quite a few cattle boats soaking for cod.



The action was steady and critters from 550' started coming over the rail.  Mexicas... Green Blotched....







Lots of Green Blotched.



Some that I think are Green Blotched but not sure.



Green Striped



More than enough big dabs.  A couple of varieties came up from the depths.



I thought we had a sablefish on our hands, but it only turned out to be a Pacific Hake.  Still a new species none the less!



Then I thought I had a Tiger Rockfish, but quickly realized I had a new species!  My first Cowcod!  After a quick picture, we sent it down on the descending tool and never saw it come up, so the fancy gadget seemed to work!



Chillipeppers





I forgot what fun it is to catch nice a grade of rockfish, but dropping and reeling up 30 times from 550 feet was a bit annoying and tiresome.  Time for an electric reel!

Thanks for reading and until next tide....

[jrodda]

Congrats on the hake and cowcod!

Some of those greenblotches could potentially be greenspots, some of whose spots are patterned in a line. Kinda gotta squint at the photos to see it though.

Nice rockfish session.

[Chris]

Good haul! That hake is pretty cool.

I hate that I never think about rockfish until right before it closes. Definitely going to be giving them more attention next year.

[Tim524]

 The 9 has some nice fish, we got limits last trip as well, good time to fill the freezer for Winter Not sure if I am understanding the Regs correctly, but it was explained to me that after Sept.15 2023
once a rockfish hits the deck of the boat (50 FATHOMS), you are no longer allowed to fish any other specie of fish    How they know what fish was caught first I don't know, unless they see you, but a few Captains have said the fine isn't worth it. Not trying to be a Karen, just giving a heads up about how stupid some of these Regs are Please correct me if I am wrong, I don't want to spread misinformation. Glad you got on some nice fish, Tom 

[Latimeria]

The 9 has some nice fish, we got limits last trip as well, good time to fill the freezer for Winter Not sure if I am understanding the Regs correctly, but it was explained to me that after Sept.15 2023
once a rockfish hits the deck of the boat (50 FATHOMS), you are no longer allowed to fish any other specie of fish    How they know what fish was caught first I don't know, unless they see you, but a few Captains have said the fine isn't worth it. Not trying to be a Karen, just giving a heads up about how stupid some of these Regs are Please correct me if I am wrong, I don't want to spread misinformation. Glad you got on some nice fish, Tom 

You're understanding them correctly Tim.

[Latimeria]

Some of those greenblotches could potentially be greenspots, some of whose spots are patterned in a line. \

Good eyes.  I knew a few were different, but at the time needed to keep dropping while we were over the spot.  He doesn't have spotlock unfortunately.  lol

[Pinoyfisher]

Deepwater rockfishing is underrated fun. I remember loading up on freezer filler trips back in 90s on the Indian during my days as the "reel boy" at H&M.