As noted in recent reports, the lizardfish are back.
Lizardfish seem to cover the bottom along much of the SoCal coast and people are catching them 4-5 at a time. But, it reminds me of a note from Paul Gregory, a retired Fish and Game biologist, who replied to a similar post I made back in 2013 — "Don't forget, Ken, the limit is 10 per day. In the ninety's we were invaded by lizardfish and the wardens were writing over-limit citations on the piers much to the confusion of the anglers. They forgot that if the fish is not named in the regulations the general provision of ten fish applies."
The good news is the number of halibut being caught by people using lizardfish for bait. Snookie, the Halibut Queen at Balboa Pier has been using them for bait and has NEVER caught as many halibut as this year.
A lizardfish caught by longtime PFIC member Eric at the Balboa Pier
Lizardfish—Family Synodontidae — California Lizardfish
Species: Synodus lucioceps (Ayres, 1855); from the Greek word synodus (the ancient name of a fish in which the teeth meet), and the Latin word lucioceps (pike head).
Alternate Names: Gar, barracuda, candlefish. Called lagarto lucio or chile lucio in Mexico.
Identification: They are cylindrical shaped with a broad lizard-like head and a mouth full of large canine-like teeth; the snout is almost triangular. Their coloring is mostly brown or greenish-brown above with a brassy luster on the side; blackish stripes along the lateral line; some criss-cross lines running at angles from the lateral line to the back; sides and belly usually a light gray; lower jaw and fins yellow. Young fish have a series of blue-colored diamonds along the lateral line.
A lizardfish caught at the Crystal Pier
Size: Reported to 25.2 inches although most caught from piers are less than 14 inches.
Range: From Guaymas, Mexico, and Gulf of California, to Cape Beal, British Columbia. Common from Bahia Magdalena, Baja California, to southern California. Listed in most “fish” books as an uncommon catch, especially north of Point Conception, and rare north of San Francisco. I used to agree. I fished California piers for 16 years before I caught my first lizardfish, a fish from the Newport Pier in 1978. Four years later I caught my second, a fish at Port Hueneme, and then in 1984 a third was caught at Wharf #2 in Monterey. It would stay that way, basically an occasional, incidental catch into the mid-90s when they began to show up in big numbers along the coast. Then, in 2006, it seemed like their numbers exploded and for a decade they became a regular catch at most oceanfront piers from San Diego north to Santa Cruz. In 2013 PFIC reports showed a vast number being caught from San Diego north, and in personal visits to Stearns Wharf (Santa Barbara), Gaviota, Port San Luis, Avila, the Morro Bay T-Piers, Cayucos, San Simeon and Wharf #2 in Monterey, they seemed to literally cover the bottom. Anglers using Sabiki-type bait rigs were bringing in 4-6 fish every cast and, for whatever reason, some anglers were catching and keeping several hundred lizardfish a day. The huge numbers remained in 2014, saw a slight drop in 2015, and then saw a huge drop in 2016. Since then they’ve once again become an occasional catch at many piers.
Habitat: A demersal (bottom dwelling) species that prefers shallow, sandy areas 5 to 150 feet deep although recorded down to a depth of 751 feet. Lizzies are ambush predators that spend most of their time sitting motionless on the bottom with the body at a slight angle (using their large pelvic fins) waiting for food to swim by. They then dart out at a fairly amazing speed to grab their meal with their long, pointed teeth.
Piers: Once uncommon but now occasionally showing up at many piers—Imperial Beach Pier, Crystal Pier, Oceanside Pier, Balboa Pier, Newport Pier, Venice Pier, Malibu Pier, Port Hueneme Pier, Stearns Wharf, Goleta Pier, Avila, Port San Luis, North T-Pier in Morro Bay, and Wharf #2 in Monterey.
Shoreline: Taken occasionally on skiffs and kayaks fishing in bays or in shallow to moderately shallow water areas.
Boats: Rarely seen on boats.
A lizardfish caught at the Cabrillo Beach Pier in 2009
Bait and Tackle: Commonly caught when fishing the bottom for other species. Seems to hit almost any bait but the key is to keep the bait moving. I have caught them on cut bait, strips of squid, pile worms and Sabikis. Use light or medium tackle and a size 6 to 2 hook. Several people have reported that small lizardfish themselves make good bait for halibut, another predator species that mimics the lizard’s behavior.
A lizardfish from the Hermosa Beach Pier in 2010
Food Value: Some people report they are good eating although quite bony. Some say the flesh has a strong “fishy” odor and an iodine taste. I haven’t eaten them so I can’t give my opinion. Tommy Gomes, “The Fishmonger,” says they are “seriously delicious” so that’s a pretty good recommendation. Anglers on a “San Diego Fishing” thread said the following: (1) Erik Wahirab—“good with a little soy sace and wasabi on a bagel.” (2) Curt Mitchell—“We call them Vietnamese French fries. Really good fried and salted.” (3) Brian Jiminez—“Bleed and ice. Best sashimi ever.” So there you go, sounds like they are worth a try (assuming you catch one big enough to eat.
I do know lizardfish are one of the fish used by the Japanese to create surimi for Japan (they usually use Pollock for U.S. surimi). There is also a large market for dried lizardfish in Asia. According to Wikipedia, “The Bombay duck or bummalo (Harpadon nehereus, Bengali: bamaloh or loytta, Gujarati: bumla, Marathi: bombil: Bombeli, Sinhala) is, despite its name, not a duck but a lizardfish. It is native to the waters between Mumbai (formerly Bombay) and Kutch in the Arabian Sea, and a small number are also found in the Bay of Bengal. Great numbers are also caught in the South China Sea. The fish is often dried and salted before it is consumed, as its meat does not have a distinctive taste of its own. After drying, the odor of the fish is extremely powerful, and it is usually transported in airtight containers. Fresh fish are usually fried and served as a starter. In Mumbai, Konkan and the western coastal areas in India this dish is popularly known as ‘Bombil fry.’”
Comments: While large lizardfish can be eaten, many are too small for a meal. However, they make decent bait, especially for halibut. In fact, a big money halibut tournament in Los Angeles was won one year by an angler using a lizardfish as live bait. Other fish will also hit a live lizardfish being used for bait; perhaps most surprising was a 40-pound giant (black) sea bass that was taken in San Diego Bay in July of 2013 on a lizardfish (and returned to the water since they are illegal). Some large white seabass have also been reported on lizardfish. You just never know. One nickname some anglers use for them is “halibut candy.”
At least one derby itself was won by a lizardfish. The 1975 Long Beach Kids’ City-Wide Fishing Rodeo (at Belmont Pier) was won by Jackie Bomar, age 8, who caught a 1-pound, 8 ½ ounce lizardfish. It was so uncommon that veteran anglers from the Southern California Tuna Club who helped stage the rodeo didn’t recognize it. They finally called the Department of Fish and Game to come and identify the fish.
You can’t always choose your relatives (and luckily mine are a nice group). But consider the poor lizardfish. Lizzies are a cyclosquamate fish placed in the order Aulopiformes along with a dozen or so other families. Nothing strange about that except that all of those other families are deep-water fish, what one Ichthyology book (Fishes, Moyle and Cezh) calls “a mixed bag of odd fishes.” Included are the barracundinas, sabertooths, pearleyes, lancetfishes, greeneyes, spiderfishes and grideyes. All of these either occupy the water column of the deep sea or are actual deep-sea bottom-dwellers.
Only the various lizardfish are considered inshore fish (although two species are deep-water fish). And while both the California lizardfish and Atlantic lizardfish reach fairly cool waters, most lizzies call tropical and subtropical waters their home.
I found that out during a trip to Hawaii in 1993 while chaperoning a group from Anderson Valley High School. We were staying near Waikiki Beach and several of us headed over to the beach to do a little surf fishing. In two hours I only managed three fish but one surprised me by being a lizardfish—a variegated lizardfish (Synodus variegates). It was the only lizardfish I caught on that trip although a return trip to Waikiki Beach two years later yielded up another variegated lizardfish. Two trips doesn’t mean they’re common for that beach but they were certainly common for me.
Notwithstanding their oddball cousins, lizardfish do have one honor. Not too many fish have had Naval vessels named after them. Not so with the typically maligned lizardfish. The USS Lizardfish (SS-373) was a Balao-class submarine commissioned December 30, 1944. Built in Illinois, she was towed down the Mississippi River to Algiers, Louisiana before putting out to sea where she traveled through the Panama Canal on way to Pearl Harbor. Soon after, she was headed out to the Java Sea and South China Sea where she was successfully engaged in several battles. The ship earned one battle star for World War II but the end of the war brought an end to the need for her service. The ship was decommissioned on June 1946 after less than two years of service.
Lizardfish seem to cover the bottom along much of the SoCal coast and people are catching them 4-5 at a time. But, it reminds me of a note from Paul Gregory, a retired Fish and Game biologist, who replied to a similar post I made back in 2013 — "Don't forget, Ken, the limit is 10 per day. In the ninety's we were invaded by lizardfish and the wardens were writing over-limit citations on the piers much to the confusion of the anglers. They forgot that if the fish is not named in the regulations the general provision of ten fish applies."
The good news is the number of halibut being caught by people using lizardfish for bait. Snookie, the Halibut Queen at Balboa Pier has been using them for bait and has NEVER caught as many halibut as this year.
A lizardfish caught by longtime PFIC member Eric at the Balboa Pier
Species: Synodus lucioceps (Ayres, 1855); from the Greek word synodus (the ancient name of a fish in which the teeth meet), and the Latin word lucioceps (pike head).
Alternate Names: Gar, barracuda, candlefish. Called lagarto lucio or chile lucio in Mexico.
Identification: They are cylindrical shaped with a broad lizard-like head and a mouth full of large canine-like teeth; the snout is almost triangular. Their coloring is mostly brown or greenish-brown above with a brassy luster on the side; blackish stripes along the lateral line; some criss-cross lines running at angles from the lateral line to the back; sides and belly usually a light gray; lower jaw and fins yellow. Young fish have a series of blue-colored diamonds along the lateral line.
A lizardfish caught at the Crystal Pier
Range: From Guaymas, Mexico, and Gulf of California, to Cape Beal, British Columbia. Common from Bahia Magdalena, Baja California, to southern California. Listed in most “fish” books as an uncommon catch, especially north of Point Conception, and rare north of San Francisco. I used to agree. I fished California piers for 16 years before I caught my first lizardfish, a fish from the Newport Pier in 1978. Four years later I caught my second, a fish at Port Hueneme, and then in 1984 a third was caught at Wharf #2 in Monterey. It would stay that way, basically an occasional, incidental catch into the mid-90s when they began to show up in big numbers along the coast. Then, in 2006, it seemed like their numbers exploded and for a decade they became a regular catch at most oceanfront piers from San Diego north to Santa Cruz. In 2013 PFIC reports showed a vast number being caught from San Diego north, and in personal visits to Stearns Wharf (Santa Barbara), Gaviota, Port San Luis, Avila, the Morro Bay T-Piers, Cayucos, San Simeon and Wharf #2 in Monterey, they seemed to literally cover the bottom. Anglers using Sabiki-type bait rigs were bringing in 4-6 fish every cast and, for whatever reason, some anglers were catching and keeping several hundred lizardfish a day. The huge numbers remained in 2014, saw a slight drop in 2015, and then saw a huge drop in 2016. Since then they’ve once again become an occasional catch at many piers.
Habitat: A demersal (bottom dwelling) species that prefers shallow, sandy areas 5 to 150 feet deep although recorded down to a depth of 751 feet. Lizzies are ambush predators that spend most of their time sitting motionless on the bottom with the body at a slight angle (using their large pelvic fins) waiting for food to swim by. They then dart out at a fairly amazing speed to grab their meal with their long, pointed teeth.
Piers: Once uncommon but now occasionally showing up at many piers—Imperial Beach Pier, Crystal Pier, Oceanside Pier, Balboa Pier, Newport Pier, Venice Pier, Malibu Pier, Port Hueneme Pier, Stearns Wharf, Goleta Pier, Avila, Port San Luis, North T-Pier in Morro Bay, and Wharf #2 in Monterey.
Shoreline: Taken occasionally on skiffs and kayaks fishing in bays or in shallow to moderately shallow water areas.
Boats: Rarely seen on boats.
A lizardfish caught at the Cabrillo Beach Pier in 2009
Bait and Tackle: Commonly caught when fishing the bottom for other species. Seems to hit almost any bait but the key is to keep the bait moving. I have caught them on cut bait, strips of squid, pile worms and Sabikis. Use light or medium tackle and a size 6 to 2 hook. Several people have reported that small lizardfish themselves make good bait for halibut, another predator species that mimics the lizard’s behavior.
A lizardfish from the Hermosa Beach Pier in 2010
Food Value: Some people report they are good eating although quite bony. Some say the flesh has a strong “fishy” odor and an iodine taste. I haven’t eaten them so I can’t give my opinion. Tommy Gomes, “The Fishmonger,” says they are “seriously delicious” so that’s a pretty good recommendation. Anglers on a “San Diego Fishing” thread said the following: (1) Erik Wahirab—“good with a little soy sace and wasabi on a bagel.” (2) Curt Mitchell—“We call them Vietnamese French fries. Really good fried and salted.” (3) Brian Jiminez—“Bleed and ice. Best sashimi ever.” So there you go, sounds like they are worth a try (assuming you catch one big enough to eat.
I do know lizardfish are one of the fish used by the Japanese to create surimi for Japan (they usually use Pollock for U.S. surimi). There is also a large market for dried lizardfish in Asia. According to Wikipedia, “The Bombay duck or bummalo (Harpadon nehereus, Bengali: bamaloh or loytta, Gujarati: bumla, Marathi: bombil: Bombeli, Sinhala) is, despite its name, not a duck but a lizardfish. It is native to the waters between Mumbai (formerly Bombay) and Kutch in the Arabian Sea, and a small number are also found in the Bay of Bengal. Great numbers are also caught in the South China Sea. The fish is often dried and salted before it is consumed, as its meat does not have a distinctive taste of its own. After drying, the odor of the fish is extremely powerful, and it is usually transported in airtight containers. Fresh fish are usually fried and served as a starter. In Mumbai, Konkan and the western coastal areas in India this dish is popularly known as ‘Bombil fry.’”
Comments: While large lizardfish can be eaten, many are too small for a meal. However, they make decent bait, especially for halibut. In fact, a big money halibut tournament in Los Angeles was won one year by an angler using a lizardfish as live bait. Other fish will also hit a live lizardfish being used for bait; perhaps most surprising was a 40-pound giant (black) sea bass that was taken in San Diego Bay in July of 2013 on a lizardfish (and returned to the water since they are illegal). Some large white seabass have also been reported on lizardfish. You just never know. One nickname some anglers use for them is “halibut candy.”
At least one derby itself was won by a lizardfish. The 1975 Long Beach Kids’ City-Wide Fishing Rodeo (at Belmont Pier) was won by Jackie Bomar, age 8, who caught a 1-pound, 8 ½ ounce lizardfish. It was so uncommon that veteran anglers from the Southern California Tuna Club who helped stage the rodeo didn’t recognize it. They finally called the Department of Fish and Game to come and identify the fish.
You can’t always choose your relatives (and luckily mine are a nice group). But consider the poor lizardfish. Lizzies are a cyclosquamate fish placed in the order Aulopiformes along with a dozen or so other families. Nothing strange about that except that all of those other families are deep-water fish, what one Ichthyology book (Fishes, Moyle and Cezh) calls “a mixed bag of odd fishes.” Included are the barracundinas, sabertooths, pearleyes, lancetfishes, greeneyes, spiderfishes and grideyes. All of these either occupy the water column of the deep sea or are actual deep-sea bottom-dwellers.
Only the various lizardfish are considered inshore fish (although two species are deep-water fish). And while both the California lizardfish and Atlantic lizardfish reach fairly cool waters, most lizzies call tropical and subtropical waters their home.
I found that out during a trip to Hawaii in 1993 while chaperoning a group from Anderson Valley High School. We were staying near Waikiki Beach and several of us headed over to the beach to do a little surf fishing. In two hours I only managed three fish but one surprised me by being a lizardfish—a variegated lizardfish (Synodus variegates). It was the only lizardfish I caught on that trip although a return trip to Waikiki Beach two years later yielded up another variegated lizardfish. Two trips doesn’t mean they’re common for that beach but they were certainly common for me.
Notwithstanding their oddball cousins, lizardfish do have one honor. Not too many fish have had Naval vessels named after them. Not so with the typically maligned lizardfish. The USS Lizardfish (SS-373) was a Balao-class submarine commissioned December 30, 1944. Built in Illinois, she was towed down the Mississippi River to Algiers, Louisiana before putting out to sea where she traveled through the Panama Canal on way to Pearl Harbor. Soon after, she was headed out to the Java Sea and South China Sea where she was successfully engaged in several battles. The ship earned one battle star for World War II but the end of the war brought an end to the need for her service. The ship was decommissioned on June 1946 after less than two years of service.
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