fish id

Hugh ball of them by Santa Cruz boardwalk

Short belly rockfish?

Was trying to make bait saw a few ball of over 20 ft swim by. Kept coming up with these. From surface to twenty to thirty feet deep.

just found it, not sure, but i think they are baby bocaccios. sure looks close.

just found it, not sure, but i think they are baby bocaccios. sure looks close.

that was my guess. I used to catch them on sabikis off the pier in Cayucos.

looks like a juvy boccaccio to me. there are usually tons of them in shallow in monterey this time of year.

After catching these things all over CA at different times of the year in all depths, over the last 7yrs...I started to doubt they were boccacio. After speaking w/a DFW biologist, I am convinced they are not boccacio. At least, not every single time I encountered them (perhaps a few of the schools were boccacio; but not all). He suggested they are a specific type of rockfish that only grow to 4" and travel in dense schools. If I remember correctly, he said they were called splitnose rockfish?

I believe that is a Gordons Fish Stick but not 100% certain.   

The salmon I caught off Bodega today was full of those little rockfish. I was also thinking baby boccacios.

Shortbelly rockfish, I believe. Salmon like to munch them. The one I caught the other day had a couple in it's stomach.

Well if salmon love them, they are ALL over Monterey and Santa Cruz right now.  Right off the beach in MBK a couple weeks ago, and pretty much everywhere I found a bait ball in Cap and SC, those guys were in huge thick groups.  Hopefully they will draw in the salmon soon! 

I am an expert in ichthyology, I can say without hesitation that those are known as the Monterey Bay LBF (little brown fish.) Now you know, and knowing is half the battle...

I caught a bunch of them from Cayucos pier this week.  People there call them "Lizard Fish".  Not sure of the real name but they are veracious and will hit anything up to as big as they are!