Butterfly house

Yep, it's perfectly fine to fillet fish once you get to shore.

(From CA DFG Outdoors Q&A Archives)

Question: Is it legal to fillet stripers and sturgeon once they are brought ashore? (George L., Madera)

Answer: Yes. According to Assistant Chief Rob Allen, all fish (with size or weight limits) in an angler’s possession or when brought ashore must be in a condition where they can be identified and the size
and weight determined (Fish and Game Code, sections 5508 and 5509).

Striped bass and sturgeon may not be filleted on a boat while in the water, nor can they be brought ashore as fillets (California Code of Regulations Title 14, Section 27.65). Once ashore, though, legal-sized stripers and sturgeon may be filleted.

to relax I recommend a shark shield neck tie, split fins with floatline in the split, spring straps and add a hundred pounds.  Then the kelp will seem like cake 

Good reply Rick but from my understanding its illegal to spear stripers or sturgeon. 

Yeah it's fine to clean your fish on the beach, just be careful with the carcasses.  I had always just tossed them out as far as possible or handed them off to the sea-chickens, but had a DFG fishcounter give me a lecture on how that was illegal and I needed to dispose of them in the garbage, or take them at least 300 yards offshore and dump them.  Sounded like BS to me and I haven't checked into it, anybody heard of this?

Yeah it is illegal to spear stripers and sturgeon, but the fillet reg applies to all fish, regardless of species/take.

Hey Hotplate,

Awesome catch and delicious looking spread! Mango/fruit chutney salsa - oh yeah!! Reminds me of the Mango Cafe in Isla de Mujares!

I guess Ill add my two cents, since Im a noobie still and feel your pain.

Like everyone mentioned, relaxing and cursing in your head is the first step to engaging the Rasta carpet.

When and if you have a chance, diving down under the kelp mats toward the point you are destined for tends to be way easier than navigating through the surface. Obviously Right...

But if you are in the shallows, and diving under the kelp is not an option, Ive found that the boogie board really comes in handy. It slides across the top of the kelp almost effortlessly, and you can get your chest and arms out of the water leaving only your legs and fins to slap the surface propelling you forward.  Im not sure that the same concept would work with the tube, as Ive never tried it.

The biggest hangup is swimming around with your gun and fish stringer. I find if you cant put your gun up on something, and you have to swim with it, point it backwards. In otherwords, when swimming in the kelp, I use one hand to push or pull the kelp around, and the other holds the handle and drags the gun, butt first, with the tip pointed towards my fins. Its less likely to get caught on anything, and easier to pull through if need be. Also, turning your body sideways,  so that feet are up and down as opposed to left and right or side to side, while pointing your leading arm (usually the arm beneath you) upwards with a fist poking out of the water above the kelp and pushing/kicking in that direction really does help in getting you up, over, and through the thick stuff, whille dragging a gun in the other hand( laying on top of your leg/hip), and waist with stringer full of fish. Id probably have to show you this method in person, but it really does work when you dont bring a board/tube, and cant dive under the mats because its shallow.


On a last note, I once saw a guy out there using the pitch and pull method with a tube. Keep in mind that the swell/wind were down and nothing was really moving. He had a float line tied to his tube and something on the end that looked like a weighted crab float. Then he would proceed to toss the crab float end out  and swim to it, next pulling the float tube to him and repeating this untill he was clear of the kelp mat. Just an idea that looked to work for him, but probably too much trouble.

At any rate, keep up the good work and way to catch dinner!! Totally Awesome bud!


Geoff

I just bite through it

I just bite through it

Yeah I heard you like long slippery things in your mouth.

 

 

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim