Rockfish Identification

March 23, 2023

Question: How do I know if I’ve caught a copper, quillback or vermilion rockfish?

Answer: This is an important question because new regulations to help protect depleted stocks of copper and quillback rockfishes go into effect this year. In addition to the new season and depth regulations, CDFW reminds anglers that there is still a one-fish sub-bag limit for both copper rockfish and quillback rockfish, and a four-fish sub-bag limit for vermilion rockfish.

While it can be challenging to identify rockfish, anglers are responsible for properly identifying the species they catch. CDFW has developed numerous fish identification resources for anglers ( https://wildlife.ca.gov/Fishing/Ocean/Fish-ID ) including flyers to help distinguish copper, quillback and vermilion rockfishes from similar looking species:

Copper rockfish, canary rockfish and gopher rockfish identification ( https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=197164&inline )

Quillback rockfish, China rockfish and black-and-yellow rockfish identification ( https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=197176&inline )

Vermilion rockfish, canary rockfish and yelloweye rockfish identification ( https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=138378&inline )

The Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission’s RecFIN website ( https://www.recfin.org/resources/fish-id-printed-materials/ ) has additional fish identification materials. Visit CDFW’s Groundfish webpage ( https://wildlife.ca.gov/Fishing/Ocean/Regulations/Groundfish-Summary ) for more information including frequently asked questions ( https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=199118&inline ).

I’ve made the mistake on Copper vs Gopher using a simplified DFG comparison photo and DFG description while on the water. Sometimes the coloring is nearly identical as in the 2nd 2 shots. I think they need to be a little lenient on the difficult cases.

This quiz from Oregon DFW could be useful.

https://myodfw.com/articles/rockfish-identification-tips

Sometimes fish just look different when you first pull them out of the water.  I know at least one person that swore he had a huge verm when he hooked and landed his fish.  But when he got back to the shore looked at it again and clearly it had a giant yellow eye.  That ID chart is pretty good, but still takes me a minute to say that's a blue or a black when they are small.