Where are the great, all-time, never-fail rockfishing spots? Time was you could never obtain that information, for money nor love. But fortunately, the State of California has published a series of wonderful fishing maps on its web page at http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mrd/mlpa/concepts_maps_hd.html Study them carefully. Many of these areas have been slated to be "protected" under the provisions of the Marine Life Protection Act. Some of them might be closed forever as "marine reserves."

After you've inspected the rockfishing hot spots the environmentalists and the DFG want to close, you'll probably wonder what you can do about this fiasco. There's plenty to do. Rockfish are in trouble because of commercial overfishing, and I include commercial party boats in this equation. The average saltwater angler fishes off the banks, the piers and jetties. We have a negligible impact on species like bocaccio, but we are being impacted by these offshore closures on the off-chance that we might catch one of these rare fish. Meanwhile, commercial trawl boats continue to operate offshore, catching these "precious" fish by the ton. Inshore, a new commercial livefishery has exploded since 1990, and there is still no cap on the entrants into this business. Enforcement is so weak, 60% of the fish reaching the market were illegal, according to a DFG report. Meanwhile the 2 million sportfishers who buy their licenses year after year are left with a short season and less and less to fish for.

If you've had enough of this, then join United Anglers, North or South. If you are an experienced skiff fisher for rockfish, please email me if you'd like to work with other anglers and divers in the Nearshore Chapter of UA, a grassroots group that works directly on nearshore issues. If you're a freediver you probably already know about the Nearshore Chapter, as the spearfishing community is an active and tight-knit group, not to mention, well fed by the fruits of the ocean. Together, we've fished and eaten and gone to DFG meetings. We have a 80-member email list of anglers and divers where we keep each other informed about developments in fishery management and pursue our fight to protect "the shallow end of the pool" for the everyday public by fighting to take back our nearshore fishery from commercial interests.

Okay, end of rant. There are numerous websites that discuss the biology, behavior and habitat of various bottomfish species. A great resource on lingcod can be found at http://www.psmfc.org/~wvanbusk/pub/bull176/rockfish.htm. This is a fairly technical, scholarly paper, but there is a great deal of information for the dedicated angler. I've been rockfishing for 20 years and never realized that the reason why lingcod fishing is good in the fall and winter months has to do with their spawning behavior. Females come in from the deeper water, spawn with a male, and the male aggressively defends his nest against any intruders.

There will be a longer season in California in 2002 for lingcod, with the size limit going down to 22" or 24" instead of the current 26" size limit. Surf perch bag limit will be reduced from 10 to five.

Part One: Changing Regulations

Part Two: Rockfishing Techniques and Tackle