In California, you are not aloud to catch and keep rockfish in general from months January through february, as this is mating season for them. So...very forward options present themselves. Sculpin, Sanddab, Halibut, Tune (haha, none around this time), sharks, eels, rays, and Bass are about all the things you can keep. Sculpin are the most common of them all, so, the boat decided to sculpin fish.
For sculpin fishing I use lures such as the 6 Inch Gulp Lures pictured below on a Warbaits underspin Led head (Also pictured). On top, I use a small circle hook or most likely J Hook with a live anchovy or Sardine. Sculpin are bottom fish, so a simple double dropped loop is what I use. The weight I used was 8-12 Ounces. The sardine attracts the sculpin over, and they bite the smelly grub with the shiny belly.
Even though the Gulp Lure is a grub and the underspin is meant for constantly moving, I keep it down there, and within a few seconds, a sculpin bites. I should add I put a strip of squid on the end to tantalize the sculpin.
The limit per person is 5 Sculpin. The boat limited out in an hour or 2 with 22 people
. We decided by unanimous decision that there were NOTHING that would have bitten, since halibut are rare, sand dab are usually not very fun, and bass like warm water. So...we sculpin fished for the rest of the day. I caught a lingcod, but lingcod are considered rockfish. We ended up having 5 pounds of sculpin meat and 2 people to eat it ?. Btw, someone caught a wolf eel. Let’s check out some pics!! The first one is my grandpa, my dads, and my catch. All the rest are of the wolf eel, besides the last 2, wich are the underspin and the gulp.
