50 pound halibut caught at Paradise
- Thread starter StripeDoc
- Start date
Holy Smokes! Awesome fish. Congrats to him on the catch. 
Don't think this applies to California halibut. Pacific halibut, yes. The California halibut is regulated by state laws whereas the Pacific halibut is federally (or even internationally) managed.
Pacific Halibut Commercial Regulations:
https://iphc.int/uploads/pdf/regs/iphc-2021-regs.pdf
California Halibut Commercial Regulations
https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=34385
"Commercial fishing laws prohibit the sale of California halibut less than 22 in. long, unless the weight is at least 4 lb whole, 3.5 lb dressed with the head on, or 3 lb dressed with the head off. Four halibut less than the legal minimum size may be retained for personal use if taken incidentally with a gill, trammel or trawl net."
"A decade after the introduction of the trawl fishery to San Francisco Bay, set gill nets and trammel nets were used to fish for halibut coast-wide. Currently, the mesh size must be at least 8.5 in. to harvest California halibut. In southern California, gill and trammel nets are prohibited in State waters from Point Arguello to the U.S.-Mexico border, and in waters less than 70 fathoms (fm) or within 1 nm, whichever is less, around the Channel Islands."
So, you can still use those methods up in the Bay Area if you are a commercial fishermen.
In short, commercial regulations have little do with California halibut caught up here by recreational anglers. The truth is, the catch rate has diminished substantially in the last decade and more. Party boats used to brag about halibut limits per customer. Now they crow if the boat provides one per customer.
Every year we see some fine local flatfish. But the numbers are down.
Last edited:
Commercial and recreational laws are different although both can be, and frequently are, impacted by decisions of the Pacific Management Council. I do not think the recreational rules for California halibut have been changed for quite a while and though I do believe the prohibition on the inshore use of gill nets has improved recreational fisheries overall, I do not know the impact on the population of California halibut. I just haven't seen any recent data. Perhaps I can get some information from the DF&W.