Favorite lures for rockfish

I’m hoping in the next couple weeks to finally get out and give rockfishing a try. If anyone has some go to lures and or rigs I’d appreciate the help.

I’m hoping in the next couple weeks to finally get out and give rockfishing a try. If anyone has some go to lures and or rigs I’d appreciate the help.

When I used to go after rock fish on Abalone trips, I remember the white plastic jigs with the curved tail always worked wonders. Although I am likely the least qualified person on this forum to talk about hook and line stuff.

Big hammer swimbaits in 4 and 7 inch models rigged on 1 to 4 oz heads
PLine Lazer minnows in any weight- generally the lightest needed to achieve (near) bottom contact. 

These two baits will catch fish just about anytime they are willing to cooperate at all.

Shrimp flies or hoochies or bare hooks... always tipped with squid.

7 inch big hammer with a gulp saltwater grub on the teaser hook about a 12-18 inches above

My wife and I been using 5.3oz 150g Inchiku Jigs with Octopus Assist Hook lately and been happy with what we were catching.
You have to try several different options to see which one you like best. 

Seafloor Control 900g or bust: https://tacklehq.com.au/collections/lures-jigs/products/sfc-gawky-900g-htgldr

But real talk, I'm a big fan of the Savage Gear Squish series (squid on one side, fish on the other), and the Saltiga SK jigs are also phenomenal in NorCal.

I am addicted to bar jigs.  4oz for 60ft, 6oz for 80ft, and 8oz for 100 feet.  Such a blast to use and if you switch to assist or single hooks, they dont snag that much and are pretty easy to pop out if they do snag

6 inch gulp grub on 4 or 6 oz head.

I'm a big fan of 4-6oz jighead with a 6.5" big hammer swimbait with a shrimpfly or 4/0 octopus hook above that with piece of squid or whole squid depending on how much squid I have and how late it is in the day.

I've never caught a fish on a speed jig, or a bar jig, but I have handed my own bar jig to my friend and seen him catch a 27" Cabezon moments later.

If it’s your first time rockfishing, I suggest keeping it very simple and cheap. (You will inevitably lose tackle, and it’ll sting less if it’s cheap tackle.)

Start with some lead jig heads in the 2-4 ounce range, add a plastic bait in the 4-7” range (swimbait, curly tail grub, scampi, they all work), and get to it.

I wouldn’t recommend any of the more expensive options until you’ve learned not to snag on every drop. 

Shrimp flys work great and they’re cheap, but they snag easily, especially if you’re fishing kelp beds.

Adding a “teaser” (shrimp fly, tube bait, whatever) to your rig is a great way to bring up more fish, but it definitely increases (doubles?) your chances of snagging.

Keep it simple at first, and focus on water less than, say, 50 feet deep until you get the hang of it. As an added bonus, most of the fish you catch in shallow water won’t suffer barotrauma, which means the small fish you release will swim away happy instead of becoming gull food floating on the surface. (Read up on fish descenders  if you want to fish deeper water!!!)

Good luck!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Anything and everything that’s weighted.... rockfish don’t care.  Jig heads wrapped with a big hoochie...big curly tail grub aka kalin

6 inch gulp grub on 4 or 6 oz head.

This. unless over a school of blues or blacks - they'll eat anything and they eat the tail off these grubs too quickly. But the lings love the Gulp grubs too.

Rockfish dont give shit. They even attacked swivels  , I had ling swallowed my sink before hahahaha. But........my favorite 2-4 oz Jig Heads (white/red/chartreuse) depend on how fast the drift and color of water. With big hammer 6.5" swimbaits. My 3 got to colors in order Halloween, Senorita, Pacific Chovie) Speaking of big hammer, does anybody know why I cannot find Hot Karl color anymore?

Speaking of big hammer, does anybody know why I cannot find Hot Karl color anymore?

I'm pretty sure they stopped making that color. Maybe give these guys a call though, as they still have them listed online, unlike big hammer's website.
https://www.outkastfishingtackle.com/Big_Hammer_Swim_Bait_p/big_hammer_hotkarl_6.5in.htm