Fishing for Salmon and Rockfish with Mixed Tackle

June 9, 2016

Question: I fish out of Port San Luis. When fishing for salmon in a private boat, as long as I am trolling with barbless hooks, am I allowed to have barbed hooks in my boat? I am asking because we would like to troll for salmon in the morning and rockfish in the afternoon. Last year we didn’t know what to do so we fished with salmon gear in the morning, then came back in and swapped for our rockfishing gear. That extra trip cost us two hours of travel time and a lot of extra fuel. When asking around I heard from one guy that I was not allowed to have barbed hooks in the boat while salmon fishing, but then another guy said it was ok to have barbed hooks in the boat as long as I was trolling barbless hooks. What’s the correct answer? (Carl R.)

Answer: You can have the two types of gear on the boat, but since you’re fishing north of Point Conception, once you begin fishing for salmon or have salmon on board, you can troll using only one line with up to two single-shank, barbless hooks regardless of what you’re fishing for (California Code of Regulations Title14, section 27.80(a)(2)).

You did mention that you’re usually trolling, but if you’re mooching for salmon using bait and not trolling, you’re allowed to use only barbless circle hooks between Point Conception and Horse Mountain.

For complete salmon fishing regulations, please visit our ocean salmon website. For a summary of the recreational groundfish (including rockfish) fishing regulations for 2016, please check our regulation summary tables online. Complete sport fishing regulations are also available online. Regulation booklets are available on this website for download; paper copies are also available at your local California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) office and wherever sport fishing licenses are sold.