Fishing at Russian Gulch

Hey All, 
  Camping season has finally arrived and I'll be camping at Russian Gulch the first weekend in May.  I'll be abalone diving of course, but thought I could fish as well.  I haven't spent much time fishing on the coast, other than charters.  I need to know if anything is in season, how to fish for it, and what to use.  Rods/Reels are no problem, as my wife says, I have a tackle shop in my garage.
  Thanks in advance for the help.

Steve

Steve,

The rockfish and ling cod complex opens June 1 for boat fishing up here.  You can spear fish and fish from the rocks  all year.  You can fish perch from the yak, which I've done sometimes:  light tackle with 1/4 oz weight and piece of abalone gut or mussel cast back into rocky coves...shallow.  I guess you could try halibut or other flatfish out deep, but I never have.

These long rockfish closures suck.  I would gladly go to half limits to extend the season.

Check this link,then do a search in our database.http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/bfregs2008.asp#northcentral

Steve,

You can spear fish and fish from the rocks  all year. 

I have spear guns and would love to try, but have always been afraid of doing something wrong... what can I take (limits and type), and what is the size requirements.  Any other gear not allowed while spearfishing?  Thanks!

Steve

Steve,

It wouldn't take too much arm twisting to get me out fish shooting.  Send me a PM before you come up and I'll show you some stuff.  The biggest thing you can do wrong, regulation-wise is to shoot short fish fish and bring them in.  Mistakes happen, but don't bring them to the beach.  This happens a lot with ling cod.

I'm about 10 minutes away from russian gulch.

Dave

In 1985, the first dead fish I saw on my scuba check out dive was a lingcod about 23" long with a hole in it's side.  Hmmmmm, wonder what happened?? In the 23 years since, I've got a couple of those myself, of course that was a long time ago, I just couldn't bear to waste the fish so I gambled and kept them (only twice). Since then when in doubt, just don't shoot!!!!!  There'll be a bigger one right around the next rock.

That is one of the saddest things about fishing... It would be nice if the law allowed you to keep a "mistake", but then some prick would be out there intentionally making "mistakes".  What a waste... same thing with fish with barotrauma... do those things that "send them back down" really work, or is it just a burial at sea?  The peace of mind of not watching a yelloweye get eaten by a lazy sea lion is nice, but are you "sending him back down" to be eaten by a lazy lingcod instead?