Need help finding and catching small blue rockfish, for science!

Hi Kayak Anglers-

I'm a student at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, and my master's thesis work concentrates on defining the maturity of the blue rockfish, sebastes mystinus. 

Please don't laugh, but I've been having a hard time getting blue rockfish of the small size of my sample range, in the 15-23 centimeter total length (5.9-9.1 inches). 
I go out kayak fishing fairly regularly, and also have tried freediving and surveying on fishing charters, but it seems where ever I am, the small fish aren't.  The only solution I can think of is to get as many poles in the water, as much as possible, which is why I am asking for your help, if you'll so kindly lend some.

If anyone is fishing in the Half Moon Bay, Monterey, or Morro Bay areas, and happens along a school of small blues of that size range, please reply to this post and let me know when and where they were, so I can go sample/fish there myself.

If you would go a step future to help me, you could keep them, I will happily come either sample and return the fish to you as quickly as possible (if you live in the Monterey area), or if you don't really want them, freeze them whole and I'll come pick them up.  Please do not bleed or clean the fish, as I need a whole body weight and some of the internal organs, or I can't use them as samples. 

If you plan to do either of these things, please call my office line: (831) 771-4479, at the Starr Lab at Moss Landing Marine Labs, so I can know to be ready and come get the fish.  (Please leave name and contact info if you get the voice message!) 

Please follow regular fishing regulations; daily nearshore bag limits apply, stay out of State Marine Reserves, two hooks per line, etc.  And remember I am only interested in blue rockfish, which can look like either of the pics attached (pics courtesy Janna Nichols).
 
In advance, to anyone who looks on this request as a challenge and is willing to give up a some slots of the daily bag limit for fish they may not want, thank you so much.  It would really help me out. I will remove/ alter this post once I have adequate samples of certain sizes of fish, for particular areas.

Targeting a certain species is harder then one might think, so good luck out there,

rockfishforever

Do you mind if they have a spear hole in them??? 

I see schools of little baby blues quite frequently while spearfishing and would be happy to try and shoot some and save them whole for you!

I don't really need 10 fish a day to eat, so would be no problem to use a few of my limit to help science and work on my aim!

 

Lemme know if you think that would help you out!

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Do you mind if they have a spear hole in them??? 

...or if they have a nice fat lingcod around them?

Funny how a certain fish can be a pest until you need them, and then they become the most elusive fish around.

I would try a sabiki rig at stillwater.

My thesis adviser Dr Love always seemed to be cutting otoliths out of small rockies whenever I visited him. His lab smelled like a fish cleaning station.

Hi BigJim-
I certainly would not mind a spear hole or two, if it gets me the fish! 
I know sizing can be hard underwater (at least it is for me!) but basically I am looking to get 10 of each size of fish, in the range I mentioned, about 6-9 inches).  Please call the lab number if you plan on going speardiving soon, or freeze the fish whole until you have a mess of them and I can pick them up all at once.

Hi PISCEAN-
I know, my advisers wouldn't believe that I can't get fish!  It was a weird year last year, and blues were way down on numbers in the H&L catch.  I've probably been out collecting at least 45 times since I started late last summer.  (You'd think that would equal at least 450 blues, not counting all those I sampled from anglers on party boats?  Nope.)   
Dr. Love is one of what we students call the Rockfish Gods.  He's excited to hear what I find out about my fish, and I'm excited to show him, once I have concrete results.  And you know, I don't even notice the fish smell from my work station anymore... though people tell me "it smells like fish in here!" all the time. 
I agree, small sabikis are the way to go.  They'll catch just about anything, the trick is can the little rigs hold something like a big vermilion?  (I let those go, only allowed to keep blues on my sampling trips, but it's still tricky). Fishing those midwater will almost always land you blues, if they're there.

Thanks guys,
Keep me posted on what you get!

I will keep my eyes open every time I get out, harvest as many small ones as I can and bag and freeze whole and keep you posted.

If they are above the 9 inch size range they are big enough for me to fry whole and eat, so no worries there!

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Hi BigJim-
I certainly would not mind a spear hole or two, if it gets me the fish! 
I know sizing can be hard underwater (at least it is for me!) but basically I am looking to get 10 of each size of fish, in the range I mentioned, about 6-9 inches).  Please call the lab number if you plan on going speardiving soon, or freeze the fish whole until you have a mess of them and I can pick them up all at once.

I'll help out too.   


Do you need just 10 of that size range or additional ones as well?


I know of several reefs that are always covered with a thick cloud of blues...

I'll help out too.   

Do you need just 10 of that size range or additional ones as well?

I know of several reefs that are always covered with a thick cloud of blues...

I can just see it now    Fuzz will bring you 10 blue RF in 1 centimeter increments, exactly 

Hi Fuzz & AlsHobieOutback-

Yes, I need 10 of each cm bin, 15-23 total length (so I'm looking for about 90 more fish).  Great underwater shots & go'on ya for being a great freediver like that.  I'm so jealous...
When were these videos taken?

The blues in the first video look a little big too me, but the ones in the second video look about just right.  I would recommend bringing a small ruler (metric) with you, shoot one, and measure it for reference.  If its too big, then you know. 

To be exact, I'm looking for females.   How do you tell if a rockfish is a guy or girl without cutting into them?  Unfortunately, you have to have them in hand, and it's a very small difference externally, so it will be nearly impossible to tell before shooting.  (However, I can show someone who is hook&line fishing, since they don't have to kill the fish to get them in hand.)  I will take data on both males & females, but my study focuses on females and how many eggs they produce, etc.

Also, there are actually two species of blue rockfish so I need a set of those sizes for each species. If you look at the photos, there is coloration difference.  Notice how one is completely dark sided, while the other looks like most speckled blues you'll find around Monterey (photos in original post).  In fact, I've found the dark sided ones to be very rare in Monterey (your video shows the speckled kind exclusively), but more abundant in Half Moon Bay, and about 50/50 in Morro Bay.  I am trying to define the maturity characteristics of both species, so I need samples of both. 

Kind of confusing, I know!   

Thanks again, hope you get into the fish soon!