Bad news for near-shore fishing at Albion & to Central Coast on Sept 1

It would be interesting to see if a consideration for long leader gear would be given. Might be a bit of a hassle in the kayak, but totally doable and it would target the midwater fish while leaving the bottom dwellers alone.

https://myodfw.com/articles/offshore-longleader-gear

The longleader fishery is great but you have to be outside 40 fathoms. I don’t think it would work to protect juvenile quill back to allow it closer than that. Oregon has the same problems with coppers chinas and quill backs that we do.

https://www.dfw.state.or.us/MRP/finfish/docs/2023_what_can_i_keep.pdf

It would be interesting to see if a consideration for long leader gear would be given. Might be a bit of a hassle in the kayak, but totally doable and it would target the midwater fish while leaving the bottom dwellers alone.

https://myodfw.com/articles/offshore-longleader-gear

The longleader fishery is great but you have to be outside 40 fathoms. I don’t think it would work to protect juvenile quill back to allow it closer than that. Oregon has the same problems with coppers chinas and quill backs that we do.

https://www.dfw.state.or.us/MRP/finfish/docs/2023_what_can_i_keep.pdf

I did not see an issue with chinas in the link provided. Where did you get this info?

I just read an interesting article about how whales are following trolling fishing boat to eat the fish that escape the nets, at first glance they say this is good and show the wales are getting fish to eat. However when you talk to the biologist they give a different story. They think that the whales are not well fed and can not find good food sources so they are following the trolling boats as that is where the fish they would eat are and in fact they can be in a very bad state of health. In addition they have also notice that orcas are attacking large full size whales to eat and this is not normal as it is very dangerous as a quick swipe of the whales tail can cause severe injury. So this is a new behavior that can be attributed to less food for them. Now regarding D-crab, a new market in Asia is to just eat the crab legs and this is much cheaper to ship the legs as opposed to the whole body with legs attached and as this market will grow, this could cause a end to the D-crab population in a few years. This could be true with the introduction of a new crab trap that uses a inflatable float that can be activated by remote control so there is no need to have a line with a float. This means there will be no need to cut the season short to protect the whales and could also lead to a black market catching crab out of season. So again these are all indications of a not health eco system in out oceans and commercial fishing is at the heart of the problems, just my opinion, thank you all for your views, Ron.

I have never caught a quillback from the San Mateo Coast on down.

Bushy

I have never caught a quillback from the San Mateo Coast on down.

Bushy

+1. On another note,  caught quite a few of Coppers on almost every trip this year.

It would be interesting to see if a consideration for long leader gear would be given. Might be a bit of a hassle in the kayak, but totally doable and it would target the midwater fish while leaving the bottom dwellers alone.

https://myodfw.com/articles/offshore-longleader-gear

The longleader fishery is great but you have to be outside 40 fathoms. I don’t think it would work to protect juvenile quill back to allow it closer than that. Oregon has the same problems with coppers chinas and quill backs that we do.

https://www.dfw.state.or.us/MRP/finfish/docs/2023_what_can_i_keep.pdf

I did not see an issue with chinas in the link provided. Where did you get this info?

The minor nearshore complex historically included China, copper, quillback, black-and-yellow, brown, calico, gopher,
grass, kelp, olive, and treefish rockfishes. 

Minor nearshore complex has two management areas for the PFMC, north and south of 40 degrees 10 minutes north.  Chinas are/were a problem in the north management group.  QUillbacks have been seperated out of the minor nearshore complex and are managed separately. 

China, copper, and qullback were constraining species in the north.  Quillback and copper are constraining species in the south.

https://www.pcouncil.org/documents/2022/03/f-4-attachment-2-2023-2024-management-measure-analytical-document-electronic-only.pdf/

Vermillion are also constraining and were a part of the minor shelf rockfish.

More and more, the constraining species will be pulled out of the minor complexes and managed separately. 

I rarely catch quillback unless I’m fishing 120ft or deeper.  The quillback fishery is healthy.  The data or pseudoscience that CADFW is using is horsehit

I'm a biologist and I'm going to have to agree Rob.  Been kayak fishing the Sonoma and Mendocino Coasts since '05 and only caught 2 before and they were around 75 feet deep.  Both let go as I knew how old they were and they are one of the rockfish that really don't have much meat.  I sincerely doubt folks caught a couple thousand pounds of quillback rockfish, in just 4 weeks??  They don't get too large, so maybe at 1.5 lbs each that is a lot of quillbacks CDFW is saying that were caught. I call complete BS.  What I really think happened is extreme extrapolation of few data points.  Notice how the actual cath data isn't reported just percentages.  How about actual data and locations with error bars, so we know it's real.  I hate to say it but until someone sues CDFW to see the actual data, this will continue.  Rockfish might well become the new red snapper fishery in the Gulf, where it gets opened a couple weekends a year.

I have never caught a quillback from the San Mateo Coast on down.

Bushy

+1. On another note,  caught quite a few of Coppers on almost every trip this year.

I also have never caught (or seen) a Quillback anywhere......because I like to fish for near shore rockfish typically in 50' or less.

Seems stupid to force people to fish in deeper water to protect a fish that probably lives primarily there and will have a harder time returning to considering the depths.

I just bought the license for bat fishing and have not fished yet. I just found out about this yesterday because I am about to take my boat out. I will call for refund.

I have never caught a quillback from the San Mateo Coast on down.

Bushy

+1. On another note,  caught quite a few of Coppers on almost every trip this year.

Mee too. Never see this fish.
I also have never caught (or seen) a Quillback anywhere......because I like to fish for near shore rockfish typically in 50' or less.

Seems stupid to force people to fish in deeper water to protect a fish that probably lives primarily there and will have a harder time returning to considering the depths.