# Rockfishing in Morro Bay, CA #1



## Desperado

Where California Highway 41 meets the Pacific Coast Highway, you will find the small town of Morro Bay. Most noticeable upon entering Morro Bay is a nearly 600 foot tall rock, named _Morro Rock. _ Legend has it that the rock was named by explorer Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo in 1542. The Rock is actually a part of an ancient extinct volcano. Once used as a source of rock for building the breakwaters & jetties in the area, the Rock is now a sanctuary for Peregrine Falcons, and other bird species. It is not at all unusual to see sea otters, sea lions, & all types of birds playing, swimming, diving, as well as catching & eating the sardines, anchovies & other fish that swim the harbor.

http://www.slostateparks.com/morro_rock/default.asp

Aerial view:


















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In the mid Atlantic states, the term _rockfish_ refers to the Striped Bass. On the west coast, _rockfish_ refers to a large family of fish (_Sebastidae_) that inhabit the rocky bottom areas of the Pacific. These fish are also referred to as _rockcod,_ because the delicious meat is very much like cod. However these fish are more closely related to the scorpionfish than cod. While all the various rockfish are very good eating, the red rockfish seem to be the most popular of the rockfish. However, a big lingcod is usually the most prized catch on a rockfishing trip. Lingcod are not considered to be a rockfish, but often are found in the same areas.


As you can see, it started out as a foggy morning as I made my way to the boat.










Looking back toward the harbor, it is still very foggy as we begin our journey.












Near Morro Rock, the fog burns away, as another boat heads out for a day of fishing. The end of pier you see there, turned out to be a good spot for catching sardines. Some fishermen were catching them by the bucketful on sabikis. I caught a few myself for bait.










Panoramic view:











This slideshow shows that as we move away from Morro Rock, the fog re-appears.











As we head for the fishing grounds, we look back again at Morro Rock.










The previous day had been stormy. As you have seen, the morning started out foggy & somewhat overcast. Brian, the deckhand on the boat, said that the day after a storm can be tough fishing. It was true that the bite started out slow, but picked up as the day went on. The basic rig for rockfish is a shrimp fly rig. Basically looks like a double dropper rig where the hooks are dressed with feathers & shiny streamers. We fished in depths of 150 - 240 feet, and used 1 lb sinkers. For bait, we used strips of squid. Some people preferred using jigs, such as diamond & hex bar jigs & similar. I started with the shrimp fly, but then switched to Gulp swimming mullets later on.

Just basically let your rig drop to the bottom, then crank a couple of turns to keep from getting snagged. The captain will then tell you if the fish are on the bottom, or how far from the bottom they are. These fish are usually not shy about biting. If you get a fish on, wait a few seconds to see if you can get a second fish. If they don't bite right away, you can try cranking up a few turns to try a different depth, or try jigging your bait a little to induce them to bite. 


1st fish. Surprise, not a rockfish, it's a sand dab! Small but still very tasty, just like his bigger flounder cousins. I had the camera set wrong in this pic, so some of the colors may seem off. The fish was basically brown with darker brown & orange spots. And all white on the other side. 











A copper rockfish. Also called "white belly". Good eating!










Rosy Rockfish. Good eating but usually one of the smaller sized rockfish. This is actually a pretty decent sized specimen. This guy obviously couldn't take the pressure (change).











This rockfish is commonly called a "Gopher" cod. Another of the smaller sized rockfish.










Then we got into some canary rockfish. Fish & Game recently made these illegal to keep. Too bad, because a) they are a good eating fish that commonly go 3 to 6 lbs, on up to 10, and b) about 99% of them die when you throw them back. I caught 3 or 4 of these, including one that went over 3 lbs. Hated to let the birds get that one (or the others for that matter)...










Another canary:











Sun finally broke through for good.











Blue rockfish, also called blue bass. These fish are excellent fighters on light tackle.










Another sand dab. Greedy little guy just about completely swallowed a 4" gulp swimming mullet plus a squid strip bait.










By the end of the day, I had probably caught about 25 fish. I kept my limit of 10 rockfish, plus the 2 sand dabs. The rest went to a group bucket for those that didn't catch their limit. I didn't get to keep any really big fish this day, but still ended up with enough fillets for a few good fish dinners.

Just to be out on the ocean on what turned out to be a beautiful day, with the scenic central California coast as a background, plus catching some of the best tasting fresh fish around, it was all well worth it.



Heading back to the harbor:











In California, even the birds stop & pose for a photo op. 









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After getting off of the boat, I drove over to Morro Rock and crawled out onto the breakwater.
This looks to me like a potentially excellent area for surf/jetty type fishing. Trouble is, it's difficult walking across all the boulders, & dangerous to get close to the water.










































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To be continued.....


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## Blloyd

That was great!


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## earl of DC

excellent slideshow Desparado!!!


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## RuddeDogg

*Awesome*

Great read and pics.

BTW, the lead you were using, never seen anything like that. What are they called?


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## Desperado

RuddeDogg said:


> Great read and pics.
> 
> BTW, the lead you were using, never seen anything like that. What are they called?


I don't know if it has any special name, I just call it a rock cod sinker. I bought a pack of 3 at my local BPS in Maryland, intending to use them at Ocean City on the Morning star. Then I found out that they typically use 8 oz. So then I dragged them with me back to California rather than let them waste here.


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## GhostCrab

This is an awesome post D!  - getting ready to look at the other ones in this set... Thx for the PICs!


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## stonemason

badass


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