Seward, Alaska 08-26-07 40#Ling & 18# yelloweye

Check out how old those yellow eyed red rock fish are.
It is a real shame to take them after living all that while.
Halibut are much more prolific and grow much faster.
Just something to consider.
 
Jack in Alaska":29sq5g3a said:
Check out how old those yellow eyed red rock fish are.
It is a real shame to take them after living all that while.
Halibut are much more prolific and grow much faster.
Just something to consider.
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You must be the guy that throws them back with their air bladder /guts hanging out their mouth? Just something to consider. :moon
 
nice fish. I have to get up there some day soon. jack thats what limits are for and yes you can deflate the air bladder but I have a question about how well that works. I have not caught any rock fish so it has not been a problen for me. wish it was. I will say that I have seen small rock fish get tossed back in b.c. with the air bladder full and eagles swoop in and pick them off. the guide boat was showing off for a new york client. Every one has to eat.
 
I agree with Dan on this one. I have had some success with deflating the swim bladders of fish I have to release but the success is limited. with any fish brought up from more than about 80ft. down. I'd guess that fewer than 1/3 of the fish that I deflate, make it below the surface prior to getting eaten by birds, sea lions, seals etc.

In WA, we are now restricted to fishing for bottom fish inside of 20 fathoms to help protect yellow eye and canary rockfish (which tend to live deeper than other, more abundant species of rockfish). However, it still pains me to throw back a nice canary or yellow eye that I know has a limited chance of survival.
 
I've read several posts on other boards where guys put a milk crate upside down on the down rigger and push the rockfish into the milkcrate and lower them down with the downrigger. Supposedly that reduces mortality to less than 10%. Just going down 33ft would likely suffice to reduce the swim bladder size by a significant amount.

Note that I have never done this as the only rockfish I have caught were all in shallow water (less than 50ft).
 
I didn't mean to stir up the proverbial pot. Just thought a second or two consideration in taking a 40-50 yr old fish was worth it. I also realize it is hard to differentiate as to what will bite "your worm" on the bottom.
I have never personally caught a yellow eyed red rock fish but have caught plenty of gray cod which react the same way. Bladders out and pecked to death before they can go down. I use them for bait usually.

Anyway...nice catch. :)
 
Jack in Alaska":2qdni31u said:
I didn't mean to stir up the proverbial pot. Just thought a second or two consideration in taking a 40-50 yr old fish was worth it. I also realize it is hard to differentiate as to what will bite "your worm" on the bottom.
I have never personally caught a yellow eyed red rock fish but have caught plenty of gray cod which react the same way. Bladders out and pecked to death before they can go down. I use them for bait usually.

Anyway...nice catch. :)
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If the Cod are not wormy I eat them too!! :mrgreen: :beer :beer
 
I grew up in Seward and use to clean fish for the returning boats when I was young. I can remember boats returning with lingcod still flopping. I’d fillet them out on the cleaning table, toss them back in the water, and watch them swim away..no s—t.
That was 40 years ago.. If you know how to do it right you’ll never bust a gut.
 
According to "How to Catch Trophy Halibut" by C. Batin and T. Rudnick ( a great source, I spent 8 months on a waiting list to get my copy) , they quote the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) has tagged 350,000 halibut since 1925. Over 35,000 tagged fish have been recovered, some from depths to 3,600 ft. and or 2,000 miles from where tagged. Males mature at 8 years old, females (which grow faster and are largest) mature at 12 years. A few 500 lb. halibut have been documented, and one 700 lb. fish nearly documented. Every year some are caught by rod and reel at 300 lbs. The average commercially caught 'butt is 30-40 lbs. Few males reach 80 lbs. and nearly all over 100 lbs. are females. Halibut 9-14 years old comprise 67% of the commercial harvest. So, no, they aren't nearly as old as the rockfish above. A quick stab with a fillet knife to an air bladder will allow a rockfish to descend rapidly, but yes, my heart has sunk seeing a dead/dying floater around Neah Bay every hundred yards or so from the halibut sport fleet. C.W.
 
CW":18z83jhv said:
According to "How to Catch Trophy Halibut" by C. Batin and T. Rudnick ( a great source, I spent 8 months on a waiting list to get my copy) , they quote the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) has tagged 350,000 halibut since 1925. Over 35,000 tagged fish have been recovered, some from depths to 3,600 ft. and or 2,000 miles from where tagged. Males mature at 8 years old, females (which grow faster and are largest) mature at 12 years. A few 500 lb. halibut have been documented, and one 700 lb. fish nearly documented. Every year some are caught by rod and reel at 300 lbs. The average commercially caught 'butt is 30-40 lbs. Few males reach 80 lbs. and nearly all over 100 lbs. are females. Halibut 9-14 years old comprise 67% of the commercial harvest. So, no, they aren't nearly as old as the rockfish above. A quick stab with a fillet knife to an air bladder will allow a rockfish to descend rapidly, but yes, my heart has sunk seeing a dead/dying floater around Neah Bay every hundred yards or so from the halibut sport fleet. C.W.
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:? :? :? :? :? :? :?:
 
gljjr":pdd1q63v said:
I've read several posts on other boards where guys put a milk crate upside down on the down rigger and push the rockfish into the milkcrate and lower them down with the downrigger. Supposedly that reduces mortality to less than 10%. Just going down 33ft would likely suffice to reduce the swim bladder size by a significant amount.

Note that I have never done this as the only rockfish I have caught were all in shallow water (less than 50ft).
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That just delivers fresh food to the Ling & Halibut on the bottom. I kill it I eat it!! :mrgreen: :beer
 
Let me clarify. I disagree with Washington law that prohibits the retention of these fish when the halibut season is open. They are incidentally caught and then die on the surface, bloated with their guts hanging out of their mouths. I think a one fish limit would be appropriate, not affect populations any, and reduce the wasted kill. I too eat what I kill (okay, I don't eat coyote) and am okay with that. I also am not comfortable with the wild spring chinook we release by law that are bleeding from the gills and are destined to sink, dead, just because they have an adipose fin.

Shoot the damn sea lions and we'll save a lot of fish, endangered and otherwise. On the last day of the season last year there were ten boats in the hogline on the Columbia River near Rainier, OR. Eight hooked fish and released from their anchor line to reel in their catch (to keep from hanging up with their neighbors). None of the eight fish were boated, sea lions got all eight, including mine! I was there! The politics of "de listing" a specie is way too complicated. Nothing fights for its life like a beauracracy! C.W.
 
breausaw":1pj5ss9o said:
I can remember boats returning with lingcod still flopping. I’d fillet them out on the cleaning table, toss them back in the water, and watch them swim away..no s—t.
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Breausaw,

I thought I was the only one who witnessed something like this. My father used to do this to largemouth bass in Texas. I would watch him filet and throw them back in. Fish would swim off, skin dangling/trailing! He also used to trap and pull the head off of rabbits and squirrels alive! But then he was a Marine too!!
 
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