Abalone Scouting Before Start Time

June 18, 2015

Question: I know I cannot start picking abalone until 8 a.m. I usually get to my spot around 7:30 a.m. If I leave all my gear on the beach, can I search the rocks to locate any abs that might be legal, mark the spots with my gloves and then at 8 a.m. go back and get them? Thanks for your assistance. (Larry P., Paradise)

Answer: Abalone may be taken only from 8 a.m. to one half hour after sunset. Take is defined as to “hunt, pursue, catch, capture or kill, or attempt to hunt, pursue, catch, capture or kill (Fish and Game Code, section 86). Searching and locating abalone prior to 8 a.m. as you describe is prohibited because it would fall within this definition of take.

Stupid rule.

What if I'm looking for scallops, urchins or fish....

How the hell can a warden say what I was looking for underwater?

My ab iron is also my scallop iron.

 

Sincerely,

Jim

like Jim said stupid rule . think of it like a highway speed limit 65 miles an hour yeah there's no cops around to give you a ticket for doing 9miles an hour over the speed same with this man boatlimit. if you should spill coffee in between your legs on the general and swerve and kill a family of five due to neglige. pops when I went on to become a Bolognance. that's why laws are in place , I lived in Santa Cruz in the early seventies there were still plenty abalone in those waters. dad belonged to cen cal dive club. I could see Cannery Row smokestacks from my bedroom window on a clear day

have no more power on my cell phone  to finish my rant I've seen 30 pound lobster because dads friends turned .into comercial AB divers and lobster divers hunters of 350 pound black sea bass. the rules ensure that we will still have  a fishery north of San Francisco. we don't own it we are simply the stewards of it for children and grandchildr and great-grandchildrenen

Stupid rule.

What if I'm looking for scallops, urchins or fish....

How the hell can a warden say what I was looking for underwater?

My ab iron is also my scallop iron.

 

Sincerely,

Jim

They have very big, powerful spotting scopes that (fines)t money can buy.they see 10% of what your doing and guess the other 90% so thats what the warden told me

like Jim said stupid rule . think of it like a highway speed limit 65 miles an hour yeah there's no cops around to give you a ticket for doing 9miles an hour over the speed same with this man boatlimit. if you should spill coffee in between your legs on the general and swerve and kill a family of five due to neglige. pops when I went on to become a Bolognance. that's why laws are in place , I lived in Santa Cruz in the early seventies there were still plenty abalone in those waters. dad belonged to cen cal dive club. I could see Cannery Row smokestacks from my bedroom window on a clear day

What on earth are you going on about?!

But yes, the 8AM start time is dumb. If it's legal to dive with a scallop iron in abalone country in January, then it's legal to do so at 7AM in June.

Just another potential revenue source through fines and nothing more. Like a spearo isn't eyeballing for trophy abs while peeking around in cracks and under ledges anyways, or like mentioned, plucking scallops. They might as well say that you can't dive or even play around in tide pools until 8am, because if the right (or wrong) warden wants to site you, what's gonna stop them?

"Bolognance"  wtf is that?

Just another potential revenue source through fines and nothing more. Like a spearo isn't eyeballing for trophy abs while peeking around in cracks and under ledges anyways, or like mentioned, plucking scallops. They might as well say that you can't dive or even play around in tide pools until 8am, because if the right (or wrong) warden wants to site you, what's gonna stop them?

Yeah, if I see a 10" ab at 7AM while hunting lings, I'm not going to NOT go back there at 8AM. I can't just forget that I saw it.

Yeah, if I see a 10" ab at 7AM while hunting lings, I'm not going to NOT go back there at 8AM. I can't just forget that I saw it.

I'm calling CalTip!

 

 

Stupidest rule ever.

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Dumb for sure!

The rule is garbage.  I hate it.  It's a destroyer of tradition, and it fosters a climate of distrust among sportsmen and enforcement.

There should be ethics training and a test to get a fishing license, IMO - instead of stupid rules that treat us all like assholes.

Can I go pet a ten inch incher before 8AM?  Can I go back to one I've been visiting for YEARS and photo it in January?  NO on both accounts - what a total joke.

By this definition you cannot even take a picture of an abalone in the off season unless you do it by accident.  What a goddamn shame this is.

The rule is garbage.  I hate it.  It's a destroyer of tradition, and it fosters a climate of distrust among sportsmen and enforcement.

There should be ethics training and a test to get a fishing license, IMO - instead of stupid rules that treat us all like assholes.

Can I go pet a ten inch incher before 8AM?  Can I go back to one I've been visiting for YEARS and photo it in January?  NO on both accounts - what a total joke.

By this definition you cannot even take a picture of an abalone in the off season unless you do it by accident.  What a goddamn shame this is.

Well said.

I don't support the rule of no diving for abs before 8am either, but a warden told me that was implemented to limit the amount of low tide picking by shore hunters.

 Maybe they should have stated you can't shore pick abs before 8 rather then no one at all.

I don't support the rule of no diving for abs before 8am either, but a warden told me that was implemented to limit the amount of low tide picking by shore hunters.

 Maybe they should have stated you can't shore pick abs before 8 rather then no one at all.

I think the problem with that was how to define shore-picking. Some rock-pickers wear masks and get their heads down in the water. Some divers look in super shallow water. It's hard to tell one group they can't take abs while someone else 30 feet away can.

I don't support the rule of no diving for abs before 8am either, but a warden told me that was implemented to limit the amount of low tide picking by shore hunters.

 Maybe they should have stated you can't shore pick abs before 8 rather then no one at all.

I think the problem with that was how to define shore-picking. Some rock-pickers wear masks and get their heads down in the water. Some divers look in super shallow water. It's hard to tell one group they can't take abs while someone else 30 feet away can.

"You must wear fins and be totally submerged."