Rockfish ID

Can anyone steer me to a good site that will teach me what the heck I am catching on friday so I don't get in trouble.....

Thanks.

MolBasser

Here's the one that Sean turned us on to a year or so ago... very good...

http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/groundfish/rockfishguide/index.htm

Also... Dr. Milton Love's website is pretty informative, as are his books.

http://www.id.ucsb.edu/lovelab/

I'm no marine biologist, so there's no way I'm going to remember the fine details for every species.

I made a simple cheat-sheet using the 8-/12 x 11", double-sided, color fish chart  that's in the 2005 Ocean Sportfishing Regs.  I pulled it out, annotated the size and bag limits for each species, and then laminated it using my foodsaver to make it waterproof.

I bring it with me every time I rockfish.  It could save my ass the next time I get checked by the man.

I'm no marine biologist, so there's no way I'm going to remember the fine details for every species.

I made a simple cheat-sheet using the 8-/12 x 11", double-sided, color fish chart  that's in the 2005 Ocean Sportfishing Regs.  I pulled it out, annotated the size and bag limits for each species, and then laminated it using my foodsaver to make it waterproof.

I bring it with me every time I rockfish.  It could save my ass the next time I get checked by the man.

Just learn the ones you can't catch or have limits: Canary Rockfish, yellow eye rockfish (learn vermillion because they look alike, basically red, but vermillion have a rough chin), bocacio, then there is Cabezon 2 over 15", ling cod 2 over 24 (easy to mix up with cabezon).

Another way is to post where you are  going fishing and kayakers on the is forum could tell you what fish you are likely to catch.

Only 1 cabezon per trip this year.

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mrd/bfregs2005.html


Also, the 2 lings don't count toward your rcg limit.

Thanks!

I am either going out of the santa cruz harbor, or going up to davenport depending.

MolBasser

The online guide mentioned earlier is really good.  It's also useful to really get to know which species you are likely to run across.  You really only need to know about a dozen or so species out of the nearly 70 listed in the guide.  In our neck of the woods just north and south of San Francisco Bay you're likely to run into the following nearshore species.  

Black, Blue, Gopher, Black and Yellow, Copper, Grass, Kelp, Brown, Vermilion, China, and Quillbacks.  

There's a slight chance you may also run into the following deeper water species but you'll need to learn these well because they have special regulations.

Canary, Yelloweye, and Cowcod (possession prohibited)
Bocaccio (allowed 2 at 10" minimum size)


There of course there are the non-rockfish memebers of the RCG complex
that have special regulations so you'll need to know them as well.

Lingcod 2 @ 24"
Cabezon 1 @ 15"
Rock and Kelp Greenlings 1 @ 12"

I pretty much agree with everyone's suggestions, and I've already memorized the important limits and what I can't catch...... but I still feel it would be easier if you just pulled the centerfold out of the official regs and use that as your guide.

Without some visual reference, most guys (including many DFG officers) couldn't positvely tell the difference between vermillion and yelloweyes, coppers and cowcod, or olives and bocaccio.

You just can't go wrong by using the DFG's own species chart as your guide.