How deep did you catch your biggest rockfish?

The thread about venting and releasing fish with barotrauma got me thinking. I rarely fish for rockfish in waters over 60 feet to avoid BT and actually have gotten my PB in 50 FOW. I've heard similar stories from a lot of others.

So I raise this question to you? How deep did you get your biggest rockfish?

Z

I've caught vermilions in depths between 30 and 90 ft, but I believe my biggest vermilion came in about 60 ft of water on the edge of a bull kelp bed. 

60-70 FOW

My biggest kayak ling was caught in 60ft (2nd and 3rd biggest were caught shallower). And my biggest kayak rockies was a verm in approx 80ft of water (but it was probably 20ft above the bottom).

I got my PB lingcod (35") in 40 FOW. I was going for my biggest ling & got it with the Fishunter "plan, target, implement" approach, and a terminal tackle setup I learned from SBD at the Fred Hall show 2 years ago.

PB vermilion I couldn't say, but I got a 21"er at Elk last year in under 30 FOW. Hail mary drop o' the day. I was watching some of you guys land when I caught the fish, that's how close in I was. I was expecting a blue or a black when Whammo! this fatty verm nailed the swimbait I was using.

11 pound Copper in about 30-40'.  Biggest lings in about the same range, maybe 40-50'.   

19.7lb ling in 20 feet.

I've heard tale of people getting lings and cabs while pokepoling.

6 lb rock off Davenport in 300+ fow  (back in late 80's)

got my largest ling in about 15 feet of water.  My biggest rockie in recent years was about 100 feet but that was in an area where you will want to keep whatever you catch.

I agree with Z that shallow water can be very productive, and less guilt ridden.  But for those where good karma alone isnt enough, I find shallow water rockies fight a heck of a lot harder.  You can let them dance a bit near the surface like the bass guys on tv.

In 1986 I was fishing on the party boat lady irma out of noyo. I caught a 28 pound ling on a shrimp fly with a  hex bar. The fish measured out at right around 4 ft long. In 60 feet of water . I think we were about 10 miles north of the harbor. Yea thats right, I didn't enter the pool that day. Oops!

I shot my biggest ling in about 15 FOW.  I'm not sure about hoook and line but I'm sure it was less than 60ft.  When we fished southern mendo (south of Point Arena) last year we tried all depths, but the fish were in 70 FOW.  As I said in the other post, the kelp production was so amazing last year that it was hard to find areas in less than 60 FOW that were clear of kelp.  Some places were so choked you couldn't paddle through it.

I C&R blues and blacks.  They don't seem to get too whacked.  When fishing deep water I take what I need to eat, then switch to giant swimbaits, small blues, or big metal to focus on lings and cabs.

50 feet and less - mostly due to the kelp forest edges' locations in the areas I have been out. I've tried deeper, but do not have sonar - it was not as productive, so I went back to the shallower areas where it was successful. My biggest were a 23" Verm and and a 35" Ling - both in the "South Coast" area of Mendo Co.

While not from a kayak, my biggest RF/Ling was caught from shore in about 8' of water.



I've also hooked a ling bigger than the one pictured from the Doran Jetty, but I couldn't get more than its head into my net and it eventually snapped my 12lb line. That one was in about 12' of water.

Are the responses so far catching the best in shallow water because that's where they fish most of the time or because that's where the large fish are?  I've caught plenty of nice fish shallow, but I think when I'm able to fish deeper I do get a better grade of fish. I notice better reds in 80+ feet of water and better lings the deeper I go.  That doesn't mean I don't catch nice fish up shallow, in fact I probably catch more fish shallow, but I catch bigger fish deeper.

-Allen

That's what I was wondering? What percentage of your fishing is in 60 fow or less if you are having better luck there? Did you end up fishing shallow more because you were having better luck there or dod you just happen to usually fish at that depth and so that's where you catch your fish.

How far out do you have to go along most of the Mendo coast to get out to the 180 fow limit? I think the deepest I've seen is around 105 or 110.

At what depth do the fish get Baro trauma?