Yummy fish 12/01

Fished today on 12/01/2005.
Caught this guy.

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He was legal size so I kept him.
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Just kidding.  Released

Nice staghorn sculpin.  That one's a bit small but has anyone eaten any of these?  They're related to cabs so they might taste pretty good. As for season and size limits, I don't believe there are any.

Brian

Nice staghorn sculpin. 
Brian

I stand corrected!   

This whole time I thought it was a Cabezon!  And this report was poking fun at the new regs.
Thanks bsteves for correcting me. 

Brian,
I always referred to those as bullheads.  Is a bullhead the same thing as a staghorn sculpin?

Stuart

Stuart,

To answer your question... yes and no.

First of all, let me restate that I really hate local common names.  I grew up fishing freshwater in New York and a bullhead to me is a small catfish.


However, the pacific staghorn sculpin (Leptocottus armatus) is sometimes refered to as bullhead in and around San Francisco Bay where it is often used as bait for striped bass.

Believe it or not, but the American Fisheries Society actually puts out a book with the accepted common names for fish.
http://64.224.98.53/publications/catbooks/x51029.shtml

Brian

I used to spend many a day as a kid in WA catching these things to pass the time while we had crab pots out.  I'd catch them from 1 inch all the way up to about 16-17 inches.  As a 10 year old, they were enough to keep me amused.  Bait of choice was a small chunk of chicken fat on a slow retrieve across a gravel beach.  If I let a larger chunk of fat sit, I was more likely to catch larger ones, but not as many.  One time 1 hooked a sea run cutthoat while messing around.

Hopefully this might be useful info for those of you that might be trying to catch some of these for bait.

-Allen

I used to catch bullheads off the pier at lawson's landing.  Funny when I caught my first cabs...I wondered if they weren't just big bullheads.

Well the first cab I caught I almost threw back as a short ling...

I did throw my first cabbie back as a short, out of season ling.   

Just when you thought you were done being confused.

What is this one?  (And don't click on the "properties" to see the jpeg title)



I caught a couple of these at Neah Bay this year.   You know what?  I don't recall catching a cabbie this year at all ... that's strange.  I did spend more time in deep water after lings and reds, but what gives with no cabbies?

Or what about this one?  I've caught these in WA too.



Both of these have ranges that extend down to  Monterrey although I've not caught them in CA.  More species to add to your list.

-Allen

Allen,

I know, I know ...  but that really isn't fair, I do this for a living (sort of) so I'll keep my mouth shut.

I will add however, that I've caught both of these off the Bodega Harbor jetties, in fact I had one day I could only catch Buf.... I'm mean the sculpin in the second picture.  I must have cuaght 5 of them in about 5 ft of water.

bsteve, I figured you'd know what these were.  Thanks for playing along.

As for food quality, the ones in the second picture don't get very big so there is not much worth in keeping them.  The ones in the first picture get to "eatable" size and I've tried them before.  IMO, they are nowhere near as good as cabbies.  I've only tried eating one, but don't plan on keeping any of these for the table anymore.

-Allen

Given that is from WA,
Is that a baby English Lord (or Irish Lord, or something like that.  I can't remember the right name)?

My dad caught one up in AK and his pict reminded me of a cross between a Ling and a cab.  Whole lotta head.

Stuart

OK,
Lucky guess.  Red Irish Lord.  They get pretty big up in AK, judging by the one my dad caught. 

Have no idea about #2.

Right on Stuart.  They get to be about 20 inches.  They look more or less like a cab, but they have a ridge (I think 3 ridges) of bigger scales along the lateral line.  And another ridge or 2 above and below that.  If you ever catch what you think is a cab and it clearly has scale ridges, it's most likely a red irish lord.

-Allen

I need to get a scanner.  I'm pretty sure my dad's fish was A LOT bigger than 20".  Going from memory, 10-15lbs.??

On that trip, the biggest king was either 53 or 56lbs.

Stuart