Rockfish Report (10/24) and Question

[sailboatfisher]

After a good summer of hitting it pretty hard offshore for tuna and tails, it was nice to enjoy a nice relaxing morning of rockfishing. Sure, it's not as exciting, but I really enjoyed sleeping in till 5:30 and being home by noon :-)

We hit up a few spots east of the 9 mile bank. Mostly around 200 ft of water, north and south. The fish finder crapped out on us so we had to rely on "taking a sample" to know whether we were on hard bottom or sand/mud. Every time we stop the boat, drop down a bit o frozen squid. If it comes back up attached to a sand dab, we keep moving but if it comes up with a rockfish we keep fishing :-)

The fish finder cramped our style a bit, but all-in-all a fun day and we were averaging more than 1 fish per drop all morning. Many were small and released, but still enjoyable with the weather and calm seas.

Anyone know what kind of rockfish that brown one is? I would have called it a brown rockfish like the many that populate our local deeper kelp beds, but it has that strange downward curving lower lip. We caught a few of these.

Also, has anyone used sand dabs as bait for big lings successfully? We kept pulling up tons of them especially since we didn't have a fish finder but I'm wondering if we should have thrown them into the bait tank and used them over some rocky terrain. Earlier we had tried to sabiki some live mackerel on our way out for this same purpose, but weren't able to get any going in our chum trail at green tank.

-Cheers

[calicokid123]

i think its called a bank perch

[Full Eclipse]

Copper? San Dabs are pretty tasty if you get a bunch and theyre nice sized.

[tuna taxi]

Originally Posted by sailboatfisher

Also, has anyone used sand dabs as bait for big lings successfully? We kept pulling up tons of them especially since we didn't have a fish finder but I'm wondering if we should have thrown them into the bait tank and used them over some rocky terrain.

Yes, Lings love the sand dabs. I've caught some of my largest lings on sand dags. I've had instances where I drop a sand dab to the bottom and it's gets hit within a minute......it's like crack for lings.

[tuna taxi]

The brown fish looks like a bocaccio except that it's hard to tell with it's mouth wide open. I suggest you carry around something that helps you identify fish species. If this was or is a bocaccio and you caught and kept more than two per person you'd be knee deep in fines if you were boarded by the DFG....Bocaccio limit is 2 per person with a 10" minimum.

[Adrian]

My biggest Lings have been snagged on dabs. Like potato chips for them. Greenie macks are excellent bait for them too. That is a Bank rockfish.

Nice trip.

Tight Lines,
Adrian

[HTA]

Yes indeed the sanddabs are are excellent bait for lings and large reds. Add a stinger hook close to the tail and when you are bit do not hesitate, stick em hard. 9 times out of 10 its a ling so lean on him and move him from the bottom as quick as possible to avoid being rocked. Glad you had a great trip, nice report and pics.

[crazy cajun]

Bank Perch

[fishnazzi]

Bank Perch don't freak out it is not repeat not a Bocaccio(salmon grouper) or a copper(chucklehead)

[circlehook55]

Bank perch very tasty...

[allenborchardt]

Also known as a Speckled Rockfish or scientically as Sebastesovalisx

[crazy hawaiian]

They even sell sand dab swimbaits in most local stores. Pretty realistic looking, makes you want to throw one on the barbi with a little butter.