Do rock fish stop biting when its stormy?

   Can I catch rockfish when its stormy like today?  Or do they hide in their holes and wait for the storm to pass?

In general my experience (from fishing and diving) is that when the swell is up they will hunker down in their holes and be less active...especially in shallower waters where the water column is more affected by the surge/swell.

 

Sincerely,

Jim

In general my experience (from fishing and diving) is that when the swell is up they will hunker down in their holes and be less active...especially in shallower waters where the water column is more affected by the surge/swell.

 

Sincerely,

Jim

X2 The shallows get affected the most. I remember some awesome winter storm days fishing at the islands in a party boat when it was open all year.

The best part was with half the passengers being sick the rest of us on the deck got to catch twice as many fish. 

I am so sad that our season is about to end. I hardly got to fish at all this year. 


-Eliot

No matter how tough the bite something will work.  Recently I've been using a 4 inch bass tube (berkley havoc cheap and durable) and a 4 oz scampi head when the bite is tough.  I trim the collar a little so it doesn't rip the tube.  This has never once failed me fishing for rock fish.

I gone out on 6-packs and charter boats where we did more upchucking then fishing, but we still managed to get on the fish. At +80' I really don't think the little fishy know whats going on uptop..... just not as fun as in calmer weather.

  Thanks for the tips.  Gave it a shot today at HMB.  Bought four ounce jigheads to go with my assortment of bass plastics, and a box of squid for flavor,  and my crab pot.
   My plan was to drop the pot in 50 feet and then head out to sea until I could find 80 ft plus.  I dropped the pot in 40 and headed out the channel,  but by 60 feet deep I was wondering if I could throw up over the side without tipping or should I aim for the mirage drive well.   
   Headed back and picked up my pot after barely an hour for three small keeper Dungeness and two rock crabs.
  Fished for rockfish for a total of about 80 seconds.  Think I'll try LM tomorrow, with some ginger as suggested by guy working at HMB kayaks.

  Thanks for the tips.  Gave it a shot today at HMB.  Bought four ounce jigheads to go with my assortment of bass plastics, and a box of squid for flavor,  and my crab pot.
   My plan was to drop the pot in 50 feet and then head out to sea until I could find 80 ft plus.  I dropped the pot in 40 and headed out the channel,  but by 60 feet deep I was wondering if I could throw up over the side without tipping or should I aim for the mirage drive well.   
   Headed back and picked up my pot after barely an hour for three small keeper Dungeness and two rock crabs.
  Fished for rockfish for a total of about 80 seconds.  Think I'll try LM tomorrow, with some ginger as suggested by guy working at HMB kayaks.

Be safe out there dude!