Fishing for bait-fish on the ocean

If you are targeting rockfish with them you have to reduce the total hooks to 3…

For rockfish (or if RF are onboard), it would be 2 hooks, not 3, and 1 rod.

I stand corrected. I haven't cut any of mine down yet, since I've not gone for bait with RF on board.

If you are targeting rockfish with them you have to reduce the total hooks to 3…

For rockfish (or if RF are onboard), it would be 2 hooks, not 3, and 1 rod.

I stand corrected. I haven't cut any of mine down yet, since I've not gone for bait with RF on board.

I (think?) I read that the regs for SF Bay differ from the open ocean in CA regarding # of hooks, and I'm fishing in the ocean and want to get this straight. When fishing a sabiki rig for baitfish (without any RF on board) what is the max # of hooks? And then once you have non-baitfish on board (any kind of fish?) then you can only use 2 hooks, right? And 1 rod.

Thx

In SF Bay, it's three hooks, one line, regardless of target or take.

In the ocean, if targeting RF, lings, or any other fish in the RCG complex, it's two hooks, one line.  Regardless of target, if you have any of these fish on board, this rule applies.

In the ocean, for species not specified in the regs, it's pretty much whatever you want. So, regular sabiki with 6 hooks is legit for bait, as long as you don't have any RCG complex fish on.

Yeah that chart of baitfish is great!  Ty 3$J! I kept getting confused on the types and caught mackeral and thought I had caught a sardine 

Since they snag on stuff and take up a rod and are hard to store on the boat once opened (thanks for the pool noodle tip, SpeedyStein), I've gotten away from using sabiki rigs on the kayak.

Usually my shrimp fly/gulp rig for rockfish catches one or two big baits along the way to send down on a trap rig. But after catching my biggest lings this year on live baits, I wanted to get back to targeting a few mackerel or even anchovies with something more manageable that can be used with rockfish on board.

Used some #12 hooks, small enough even for anchovies hopefully, and did a hi-lo dropper loop rig decorated with tiny glow beads harvested from used sabiki rigs. In fact, the barrel and snap swivels were probably taken off of used sabikis as well. I always have a box of squid on board, and some tiny strips on the hooks will definitely get smelts or mackerel if they are around or kingfish. Will probably do a quick tie of some tinsel on some of the hooks. Gonna make a bunch over the winter along with a good stash of trap rigs for all those happy live baits!

I have also moved away from using a 6-hook Sabiki for catching bait.  A hand-tied gangion with two 1/32oz crappie jigs weighted by a  1/4once crappie jig on the bottom generally outfishes a Sabiki, when fishing is slow on the opposite side of CONUS.

Since they snag on stuff and take up a rod and are hard to store on the boat once opened (thanks for the pool noodle tip, SpeedyStein), I've gotten away from using sabiki rigs on the kayak.

Usually my shrimp fly/gulp rig for rockfish catches one or two big baits along the way to send down on a trap rig. But after catching my biggest lings this year on live baits, I wanted to get back to targeting a few mackerel or even anchovies with something more manageable that can be used with rockfish on board.

Used some #12 hooks, small enough even for anchovies hopefully, and did a hi-lo dropper loop rig decorated with tiny glow beads harvested from used sabiki rigs. In fact, the barrel and snap swivels were probably taken off of used sabikis as well. I always have a box of squid on board, and some tiny strips on the hooks will definitely get smelts or mackerel if they are around or kingfish. Will probably do a quick tie of some tinsel on some of the hooks. Gonna make a bunch over the winter along with a good stash of trap rigs for all those happy live baits!

Sweet rig!  I trim down sabiki rigs sometimes to meet the 2 or 3 hook requirements, and it also makes them a lot easier to store and a lot easier to manage on a kayak.  But, the pool noodle is for sure the best way I've found to keep it all under control when not actuvely using it.  Forgot to mention too, if you use pipe insulation foam instead of a pool noodle, they have a slit full length, that you can stuff a 1oz sinker into the hollow, and run the line through the slit, then wrap with the rest of the rig.  The whole thing stored like that is ready to go whenever you need, just clip onto your line and unwind it. 

I wish ocean regs would let us use 3 hooks for RF/Lings... would make the whole bait rig thing a bunch easier, then I could just cut it in half, use part now, if it breaks off, use the other half.  And it would align the regs between SF bay and RF/Lings, making it simpler for everyone to keep track of.  Would also let me use my fave RF/Ling setup when I was a kid in Oregon - hi/lo shrimp fly with lead head swimbait at the bottom.

If you are targeting rockfish with them you have to reduce the total hooks to 3…

For rockfish (or if RF are onboard), it would be 2 hooks, not 3, and 1 rod.

Yes, AND the bait fish count toward your limit...

If you are targeting rockfish with them you have to reduce the total hooks to 3…

For rockfish (or if RF are onboard), it would be 2 hooks, not 3, and 1 rod.

Yes, AND the bait fish count toward your limit...

No sure what you mean by ," your bait fish ".   I do know if you use a rockfish to entice other fish, then yes. If you use a rockfish as bait, then the rockfish counts as part of you bag limit.

You are also right about the bait fish.