2005 Rockfish Reg Update...LOTS OF GOOD NEWS (some bad)

I for one am really looking forward to spearfishing in 05, and it will be open all year.

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

Check out the rules for big sur:
May only be taken in waters between 120 ft (20 fm) and 240 ft (40 fm) deep, May-Sept.  

WTF?

Its really deep for all of So Cal...I have no idea what they are thinking.

Maybe they're thinking that they can rotate fishermen through different depths to give different reef ecosystems a rest every couple years.  Or maybe they just consigned ALL the cabbies and greenlings in big sur to the live fish industry as nobody will catch them in 120'.

Fortunately, 120' is not very far of a paddle in the areas around pacific valley in the nornern edge of that region.  We could probably still do a pre-season trip or two down there.

If we had to paddle to 120 or worse 180' up here it'd really be a bummer.  Fort ross is the only place where I've been over 100ft near rockfish habitat.