Only 6 sea bass!!!?

[Black Plague]

man! this has maybe been beaten to death...but geez, we will be out at Neah Bay August 9-14 for some fishin...I guess you can only retain black or blue rockfish...unless you are out past the Banilla tatoosh line....no other rockfish may be retained...like quilbacks, china rockfish, copper rock...etc....and you can only have 15 bottomfish total ...good thing there are a dozen of us going...

[ouchfoss]

I actually went out to Sekiu a week ago and between me, my cousin and his friend, we only caught 10 black sea bass between the 3 of us for 2 days worth of fishing. We actually caught more copper rock than black sea bass, I wanna say it was like 20 of them for the 2 days plus we actually got a 9 lb yelloweye but had to toss him back even though he was dead from being reeled up from 200 ft.    Seems to me that there is alot less of them out there then there used to be a few years ago ( or maybe we just suck at fishing  ). We actually caught way more lingcod than anything else, plus we each got our halibut too.

[PolarBear]

That 9 lb yelloweye was probably close to 30 years old.  What a waste.  You think the regs suck now just give it 5 years and there will be 0 fishing for any kind of bottom fish other than lings and halibut and their limits will be cut down to nothing.

[dirty24d]

[plus we actually got a 9 lb yelloweye but had to toss him back even though he was dead from being reeled up from 200 ft. 


Isnt it only legal to fish 120 feet and above for bottom fish other than lings and halibut? To protect the rockfish?  Thought i read that in the regs this year.. Maybe I misread anyone care to clarify that?

[PolarBear]

Yes but I think that it only applies to the Puget Sound and San Juans.  I'll haver to go look it up.

[dirty24d]

yeah that sounds about right. but not sure if it specified. dont have my regs ..

[BigGoonTuna]

pretty sure it applies to neah bay and sekiu too.

this is one of those regs that's there for a reason.  i doubt we'll ever see fishing for canaries and yelloweye opened up again, because they spend their whole lives in one area and can live for 200 years.  there's yelloweye down there that have been alive longer than washington has been a state.

how many rockfish do you need to bring home?  they aren't exactly tiny little things, unless you like keeping the 10"ers.

[PolarBear]

All marine waters EAST of the Bonilla-Tatoosh line, fishing for bottom fish deeper that 120' is prohibited.
I caught a 35 lb yelloweye in Alaska and was told that it was probably well over 100 years old. 

[Sneaky]

You can fish deeper than 120 feet FOR halibut, and any other fish you catch have to be returned to the water. The rules are getting out of hand, less fish so pack all the fisherman into one area? doesn't make sense to me unless they are trying to create a situation of less fish in order to shut it down totally.

[Dansk]

There are still plenty of fish.  Last weekend's haul out of Neah bay.  Couldn't find the picks of the chickens- landed a boat full of small halis as well.

[Dustin07]

There are still plenty of fish.  Last weekend's haul out of Neah bay.  Couldn't find the picks of the chickens- landed a boat full of small halis as well.

is that your boat or did you have a guide? nice harvest. I would love to get out there once.

[ouchfoss]

You can fish deeper than 120 feet FOR halibut, and any other fish you catch have to be returned to the water.

The spot we were fishing was about 200 feet and once we each had our halibut I believe it was technicly illegal to be fishing in anything over 120, or at least thats what we were told.

Yeah it really sucks to kill that fish thats older than me and then have to let the seagulls have it. They are a damn pretty fish too, I wouldnt mind getting one mounted if you could legally keep one.

I have several pics so I'll just start my own thread.

[Sneaky]

We were fishing the dump and caught several nice tru-cod and lings that had to go back. Thing that gets me is pulling into neah bay for fuel and watching the trawlers dump orange fish into totes  Not saying they should waste the incidental catch, but if yelloweyes are really in as bad of shape as the department suggests, there should be something down about the tribal trawling in washington waters. Heather Reed, WDFW bottomfish manager, basically told me it was up to the tribes and out of their hands.

[Dustin07]

You can fish deeper than 120 feet FOR halibut, and any other fish you catch have to be returned to the water.

The spot we were fishing was about 200 feet and once we each had our halibut I believe it was technicly illegal to be fishing in anything over 120, or at least thats what we were told.

Yeah it really sucks to kill that fish thats older than me and then have to let the seagulls have it. They are a damn pretty fish too, I wouldnt mind getting one mounted if you could legally keep one.

I have several pics so I'll just start my own thread.

you could still get a mount made, you don't need to keep the fish. just take a picture of it and get the measurements. I'm told the replica type mounts last longer, don't stink, and cost less anyways than a true skin mount.

[ouchfoss]

How much would a mount like that cost?