Bottom fishing with Telstar Fort Bragg 9/9/22

[fish-ninja]

A six pack boat that I booked for this morning was cancelled due to too few passengers so I scrambled to find another spot. With a help from the skipper of Kyndall Lynn, I got in Telstar for a half day bottom fishing.


We fished shallows about 30 min north of the Noyo harbor pretty close to the shore. Depth was about 50 to 80 feet. Renter rig was spinning outfit with a single dropper loop with a small swim bait with a 6oz sinker with a large hook .

We achieved a boat limit of bottom fish mainly blue and black rockfish with occasional reds, chinas, cabezons and lingcods. These are some of my fish with a Deacon rockfish landed by neighbor.



Folks and crews were nice and we all had fun. The skipper brought an icefishing rod and rigged with a swim bait. It was catching fish after fish. I tried it a few times which was fun!



Vince from Sacramento having fun with his nice black cod above. All in all, it was a nice day learning about quite difference of how they do things from the SoCal ways that I am used to. Thanks for reading!

 

[Ken Jones]

Interesting trip with some nice variety; I wonder if the deep-water reefs are closed?

Your deacon rockfish sent me to my ID books since I didn't recall that name. But it's not in most books, it's a new classification. The only ID Book containing it is Miller and Lea's Guide To The Coastal Marine Fishes Of California, second edition by Milton S. Love and Julianne Kalman Passarelli but it's also searchable on the Internet. Very similar to blue rockfish and previously they were considered the same species.

 

[fish-ninja]

Interesting trip with some nice variety; I wonder if the deep-water reefs are closed?

Your deacon rockfish sent me to my ID books since I didn't recall that name. But it's not in most books, it's a new classification. The only ID Book containing it is Miller and Lea's Guide To The Coastal Marine Fishes Of California, second edition by Milton S. Love and Julianne Kalman Passarelli but it's also searchable on the Internet. Very similar to blue rockfish and previously they were considered the same species.

Yes, they are pretty similar to blue rockfish. Deacon's lower lip is one of the key features to look for I think.

 

[fish-ninja]

Interesting trip with some nice variety; I wonder if the deep-water reefs are closed?.

Forgot to reply to this question. I did speak with Telstar’s skipper who said that the deeper reefs are indeed closed currently. Forgot the exact depth limit he told me but I recall something like 160-180 feet max. He said the restriction should clear later season.

 

[Mahigeer]

300-350 fathoms come to my mind.

 

[Ken Jones]

300-350 fathoms come to my mind.

No, those aren't the depths that are usually closed. Typically they are trying to protect certain types of deep-water rockfish, i.e., yelloweye or cowcod at maybe 300 feet (50 fathoms). It's rare in California for a Sportfishing boat to fish much deeper than that. But, it's interesting that the state is actually opening up the depths for sablefish which can range deeper than 50 fathoms. One of my favorite eating fish but rarely caught on Sportfishing boats other than those at Santa Cruz. Apparently sablefish stocks are in good supply.

 

[Mahigeer]

Good to know and thanks for correction.

 

[fish-ninja]

No, those aren't the depths that are usually closed. Typically they are trying to protect certain types of deep-water rockfish, i.e., yelloweye or cowcod at maybe 300 feet (50 fathoms). It's rare in California for a Sportfishing boat to fish much deeper than that. But, it's interesting that the state is actually opening up the depths for sablefish which can range deeper than 50 fathoms. One of my favorite eating fish but rarely caught on Sportfishing boats other than those at Santa Cruz. Apparently sablefish stocks are in good supply.

I did not know that sablefish can be targetted at Santa Cruz. It is very well distributed fish in Japan as well in the name of "gindara" or silver cod. Have you landed one, Ken?

 

[SC McCarty]

Interesting trip with some nice variety; I wonder if the deep-water reefs are closed?

Your deacon rockfish sent me to my ID books since I didn't recall that name. But it's not in most books, it's a new classification. The only ID Book containing it is Miller and Lea's Guide To The Coastal Marine Fishes Of California, second edition by Milton S. Love and Julianne Kalman Passarelli but it's also searchable on the Internet. Very similar to blue rockfish and previously they were considered the same species.

Though not referred to by name, it is shown as the blue-sided form of the blue rockfish, in A Field Guide to Coastal Fishes From Alaska to California, and noted as a possible separate species.

Steve

 

[fish-ninja]

Interesting trip with some nice variety; I wonder if the deep-water reefs are closed?

Your deacon rockfish sent me to my ID books since I didn't recall that name. But it's not in most books, it's a new classification. The only ID Book containing it is Miller and Lea's Guide To The Coastal Marine Fishes Of California, second edition by Milton S. Love and Julianne Kalman Passarelli but it's also searchable on the Internet. Very similar to blue rockfish and previously they were considered the same species.

Did a little research and found that it was academically reported first time as the new species in 2015. Here is a link. It contains a PDF of the entire article if anyone is interested in details. FN