Reminder when filleting fish

I know its a little late (post Elk), but just a reminder when filleting rockfish.
You required by law to keep a 1" patch of skin so the DFG can ID the fish in the event you get checked.  If not, they can write you up.

Hope this info helps anyone from getting a ticket.

Stuart

Wow, I didn't know this.  So even when i'm off the water and the fish is in the ice chest in my car it is required to have a 1" patch of skin?  It has to be attached to the fillet?

Isn't this requirement only for boats on the water?
And, at what point is it okay to remove the patch of skin?

Chuck,
I checked the regs and think you are right.  My bad.  I was always told to keep the patch of skin on for ID.

I suppose if you have a undersized silver salmon fillet in your icechest (on land), you can't get busted.

However, if you have some leftover fried abalone in your icechest, you can technically get written up.

Makes perfect sense to me.  :>)

I just ice everything down whole, maybe bleeding them out, and do the cleaning at home.  No chance of trouble that way home and the wife is more impressed with some fish in the cooler than some fillets in a baggie.

I do the same thing Prometh.

My in laws are Korean and they go to town on everything but the tail and fins.  Soup is popular and filleting is frowned upon because of the meat loss.

I was more the exception at the tourney, because I kept quite a few rockfish (7).  Ernie gave me his fish too and after Monday’s dinner, everything was gone.  I got the pleasure of sharing fresh fish/abalone with family and friends.  It’s a great feeling.  My little freezer at home is ¾ full, but there still isn’t any fish in it.   It helps to give me an excuse to go fishing.

Stuart
Sandab today, surf perch status tomorrow!!

those rules apply on the water, however you are only allowed to posess a limit in your cooler, 11 rockfish in your cooler with only you and your one liscense standing around is illegal, this bust is rare but some north coast campers were busted for salmon over limits last year. they were approached at the boat ramp where they had salmon limits, they were question and admitted to possessing salmon at their camp-BUSTED! as a rule of thumb, i do not volunteer information to law enforcement, i am always polite, but rarely does any good come from interaction with cops.

That’s true Chris.
Best thing to do when fishing multiple days is to bring a spouse along.  One could catch the daily limit, gift the fish to the spouse, then go out the NEXT day to catch another limit.  
Doing this, you stay within both the daily bag limit as well as the possession limit.

PS, the non fishing spouse does not need to possess a license either.

Stuart

I can bring 20lbs of fillets to lolas house on sunday and it'll be gone by evening.

I was on Cattle Boat trip recently down here out of Port San Luis and we were boarded by DFG while fishing about 3 miles out. Everybody was near limits so the deckhands were busy filleting the catch and leaving the appropriate 1" patch of skin. The female Warden told the deckhand that she wanted to see the entire skin attached to the fillet not just 1".  We never could get a reasoning for this request but she did say that once you were on land then no skin was necessary. Also, the cattle boat crew will not fillet Ling Cod till they get back to the dock.

I was on Cattle Boat trip recently down here out of Port San Luis and we were boarded by DFG while fishing about 3 miles out. Everybody was near limits so the deckhands were busy filleting the catch and leaving the appropriate 1" patch of skin. The female Warden told the deckhand that she wanted to see the entire skin attached to the fillet not just 1".  We never could get a reasoning for this request but she did say that once you were on land then no skin was necessary. Also, the cattle boat crew will not fillet Ling Cod till they get back to the dock.

DFG really needs to be more consistant in their enforcement of these rules.  I'm pretty sure the rules state 1" patch.  It would suck to get busted for following what is stated in the book...

BTW - I was on a party boat out of SC last week and the deck hand fileted Lings...

What are they going to mistake a ling fillet for?  Fillet o' smurf?


( Rockfish: Fillets must have the entire skin attached. Brown-skinned rockfish: Fillets
shall be a minimum of six and one-half inches in length. Bocaccio fillets must be a
minimum of five inches in length.The minimum size and minimum fillet size for rockfish
may be changed during the year or in-season by the department under the authority
of sub-section 27.82(e).

I hate getting fish slime on the meat, so like I said, I just fillet them at home.