Fishing for Science --- Rockfish tagging study.

I realize this has nothing to do with kayaks and might be a bit far away for many of you, but I just got in from volunteering on a rockfish tagging study in Marin County.  As for a report, I caught about 30 rockfish and 2 lings including one really fat one at 83 cm (about 33").  I was too busy helping with the tagging and catching to take any photos, but it was pretty fun despite the sea conditions.

Here's a link to more information.

http://www-csgc.ucsd.edu/EXTENSION/StarrFishing/FishingStory.html

Basically, they need people to catch as many rockfish (including lings, cabs, greenling) as they can out at Duxbury Reef near Bolinas.  The scientists and volunteers meet at 6am in Sausalito to board a charter boat and return at about 3pm (depending on the weather).  

Of course, this is a scientific study so no one is allowed to keep anything, but if you have a need to catch some rockfish before the season opens for free this is a pretty good deal.

I'm not sure how many more volunteers they need or exactly which days are still open but the chief scientist Rick Starr told me that they still need more volunteers.

-Brian