Santa Cruz 11/17 and 11/19

I feel like I might be getting the hang of this. New to kayak angling, but I'm catching fish!

Had the morning off Sunday and decided to get on the water for a few hours. Fished off Steamers in about 50 feet of water. Got the following.





Had a number of snags on the bottom. It's rocky out there. Got frustrating losing about 4 set ups to the rocks.

Yesterday a buddy from work and I set out early to sink my home made crab trap and get some fishing in. Paddled out midway between the mile buoy and steamers. Went out maybe 2 miles. Bout 100 feet of water. Sank the trap and headed inshore for a few hours fishing. We each got 5 keepers and a few smaller rockfish.





Just before heading in, I caught this.



What is it? Does it taste good? I let it go since I couldn't ID it and am making sure to follow all the rules out there on size limits/protected species.

Pulled up the crab trap after about 2 1/2 hours fishing with a little sanddab and a good size rock crab. Not a banner catch but I felt accomplished that the trap actually works. Next time I'll take it out even deeper and hopefully soak it longer.







Tasty stuff. If the wind isn't terrible, I might sneak out again tomorrow morning.

Looks like a female Hexagrammos decagrammus

Looks like a female kelp greenling

+1  They have to be 12" to keep - that looks like a pretty good one.  18" is huge. 

Nice report and way to get on it. 

18" would put it at about 9/10 years old.

nice report and pictures..rock fish are!!! great eating ...see you out on the water
Craig

COOL! This fish was about 14/15 inches. They're the ones with the neon green meat right?

Nice fish!  Fishingforthecure is correct: that's a kelp greenling.  The females have those yellow-golden fins like the one you caught--the males are much darker and almost look like a different species.  Kelp greenling have to be at least 12 inches long to keep and are part of your 10-rockfish limit.  How do they eat?  It depends who you ask!  Personally I think they're only "okay." I'll take any rockfish, lingcod, or cabezon over a greenling.  They're a bit softer than the aforementioned fish.  I do hear they steam well, but I haven't tried it.  For the most part, I enjoy greenling for the nice photos they present with those pretty colors and fins  .

Rock greenling will often have that neon-blue flesh you're referring to, I don't think I've seen it in the kelp greenling I've kept.  I recommend doing an image search on both kelp and rock greenlings to help familiarize yourself with the wide range of colors and patterns they come in.

Very nice!  I like the DIY crab cage, thinking of doing one myself.

Not a bad haul you got there Bucktailpath.

Jedmo

COOL! This fish was about 14/15 inches. They're the ones with the neon green meat right?

No. The ones I have caught all have white meat. The neon fish are ling cod. They come in white and green typically.  Same fish regardless of color.

Good stuff matt

Haha Matt is a NCKA addict now

Nice catch!! Very cool looking custom crab pot!!!

The greenling is one of my favorite of the small-er rockfish to eat. Of course, nothing beats a ling cod/halibut, etc. Compared to other rockfish, it typically has a longer fillet - and they aren't 30% 'fish head' like most small species... lot's more meat & filet... I've only caught them while camping (only males - first time seeing a female), so they've been cooked or steamed in a wrap of foil w/ light seasonings over a camping stove/fire... always delicious. Past years had limits of 2 per day (I think?) - am I correct to think that you can catch 10 per day now as part of the RGC bag limit? Bravo!!