First legal ling day

Only kayak out there fishing today. Swell was up but the wind wasnt and it was a great day for fishing. Bait fish right out the harbor of San Carlos. Hooked mackeral on a sabiki and headed straight out to drop them down on the trap rigs for halibut. However when I went back towards where I dropped it down I realized that it wasnt snagged. I reeled what I thought was a brick it was not moving but then I saw it…. A massive halibut. No guess on how big it actually was but 10 ft down I could tell it was big. I ended up birdsnesting my reel by hitting the free spool at the same time he ran while trying to keep myself head on with the swell. I then had a decision to make. Let him run the birdsnest out before I could reel in or hand crank him in. I decided to hand crank him in (😂 thought it would be fun havent done it since my PR tuna) however as I got him right under the boat I had no hands free to gadf him and he mustve not been hooked great cause he got off. I at least got to see him!after that took a break during that time hooked a couple small rockfish on a hi lo rig with squid. Dropped down the rockfish which got hit and it was a legal ling cod 24.5 and I was so stoked.  The  ling spit out a baby octopus so i dropped that down and within 10 mins my second keeper ling was on! This one was 25.5. Awesome day as I was headed back there was bait everywhere. I could see it on my fish finder and on top of the water jumping. Monterey is a truely special place and I love kayaking on it. Cheers and goodluck

I am confused, "With two lines in the water with live bait, I waited."  I think you are only allowed one line with a maximum of 2 hooks or 2 lures for rockfish, including lingcods in California.  For halibut, you are allowed multiple lines at most locations.

Paul

Wrote it fast appreciate the catch sorry long day. Had two rods when fishing for halibut with the mackeral. Switched to one after that as I was out of the sand and on the rocky bottom. Thanks for clarifying!

I am confused, "With two lines in the water with live bait, I waited."  I think you are only allowed one line with a maximum of 2 hooks or 2 lures for rockfish, including lingcods in California.  For halibut, you are allowed multiple lines at most locations.

Paul

CDFW general ocean fishing regulations states

When rockfish (genus Sebastes), California scorpionfish
(Scorpaena guttata), lingcod (Ophiodon elongatus), cabezon
(Scorpaenichthys marmoratus), greenlings of the genus
Hexagrammos, or species listed in Section 28.49 are aboard
or in possession, only one line with not more than two hooks
may be used pursuant to sections 28.55, 28.54, 28.27, 28.28
28.29, or 28.49, respectively

Paul's dead on. It gets confusing because 2 rods is and isn't legal from place to place and species to species but in general if you decide to keep any spiky little reef fish the second rod has to be put away. SF bay, for example, doesn't allow fishing for anything with over one rod. Scared me there for a sec lol

Some people interpret that to allow you to keep your first RF or ling with 2 rods out and then put one away once in possession. It certainly reads that way. I don't do that but I wonder how it is actually enforced.

Some people interpret that to allow you to keep your first RF or ling with 2 rods out and then put one away once in possession. It certainly reads that way. I don't do that but I wonder how it is actually enforced.

if you are targeting a species you must follow the regs for that species.. The same reason you cant troll around a barbed hook until you catch your first salmon...   At the time of take you would be violating the regulations prohibiting a barb for salmon.  Same thing with RF, at the time of take, you would be violating the rules of take... Same reason you cant keep rockfish on a sand dab rig, too many hooks.   Once youre in possession of a species you must follow the regs even if switching to another... Its the reason people who do rockfish and salmon combos rockfish first, otherwise you would be stuck doing it barbless.

Thats why I love posting in here because I learn alot but also have done a good amount of research but still nice to verify. My understanding is you can use two rods for halibut but if you have any ling cod or rockfish on board you can only use one rod even if you are fishing for halibut. If you were to catch a ling while trying to fish for halibut you would have to release it if you were using two rods. So once I lost the halibut and had spent a good amount of time fishing for halibut I then targeted the ground fish using one rod. This seemed like a weird law to me because before I got out there I didnt know it was possible to target only one species so thought id be releasing because i caught on accident but then you get out there and its pretty clear where both are at. But cheers and thanks for the reply! Any idea what rock fish this is? Released it because I wasnt 100% sure it wasnt a no take species.

That's a Copper - sublimit of 1. Even though they are very common in Monterey, they aren't as plentiful elsewhere.

Thats why I love posting in here because I learn alot but also have done a good amount of research but still nice to verify. My understanding is you can use two rods for halibut but if you have any ling cod or rockfish on board you can only use one rod even if you are fishing for halibut. If you were to catch a ling while trying to fish for halibut you would have to release it if you were using two rods. So once I lost the halibut and had spent a good amount of time fishing for halibut I then targeted the ground fish using one rod. This seemed like a weird law to me because before I got out there I didnt know it was possible to target only one species so thought id be releasing because i caught on accident but then you get out there and its pretty clear where both are at. But cheers and thanks for the reply! Any idea what rock fish this is? Released it because I wasnt 100% sure it wasnt a no take species.

These pdf files might help you identify your rockfish in the future.  I carry a hard copy of the first file and carry all of them in my phone.

Paul

Thats why I love posting in here because I learn alot but also have done a good amount of research but still nice to verify. My understanding is you can use two rods for halibut but if you have any ling cod or rockfish on board you can only use one rod even if you are fishing for halibut. If you were to catch a ling while trying to fish for halibut you would have to release it if you were using two rods. So once I lost the halibut and had spent a good amount of time fishing for halibut I then targeted the ground fish using one rod. This seemed like a weird law to me because before I got out there I didnt know it was possible to target only one species so thought id be releasing because i caught on accident but then you get out there and its pretty clear where both are at. But cheers and thanks for the reply! Any idea what rock fish this is? Released it because I wasnt 100% sure it wasnt a no take species.

Actually, you can use as many rods as you want for halibut. I've seen a kayaker (who shall remain nameless) with 5 rods deployed, which looked like an aquatic porcupine.

Also, it is not always the case that "its pretty clear where both are at" (presumably, meaning that rockfish and halibut are found in different places). Most of the halibut that I've caught have come from areas that also hold rockfish. Near popular rockfish reefs, there are often little sandy patches where halibut like to hang out. These are some of my favorite places to fish...

[/quote]

These pdf files might help you identify your rockfish in the future.  I carry a hard copy of the first file and carry all of them in my phone.

Paul
[/quote]

Very helpful! Thanks for the picture collection.

LOL, the title got me, made me remember my first 2 lings. Got a 9 ft yak from Costco around 2004, took it out at Van Damme for an ab dive and loved it but realized size matters. Then went and got an 11 ft Cobra Explorer, went out of Gerstle cove around the corner and had 2 legal lings on the clip in about 10 minutes. Perfect seas, FAC, and said to myself Wow that was easy, fresh fish in camp for a couple days. Yeah not always so easy, but was fun for years. Thanks for jogging that memory loose.