What are Southern CA fishing measurement regulations for ocean fish?
Posted on Oct 20, 2011 under Fishing | 2 CommentsI am trying to put a book together for my father as a gift. He loves to fish at the huntington harbor in huntington beach, CA. I am trying to find out all the regulations for each fish as to how long they have to be for you to bring it home and include a picture of the fish with a basic description.
I tried reviewing the CA fishing and game site but no such luck, any ideas as to where I can get the information I need?
October 20th, 2011 at 9:46 pm
freshwater: http://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=10351
ocean: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/sportfishing_regs2010.asp
other: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/
October 20th, 2011 at 10:09 pm
There are more and more regulations every year.
Here’s a document which shows pictures of a number of fish which have size (or other) restrictions:
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/pdfs/fishid2010.pdf
Unfortunately, the regulations aren’t on the document, they’re buried in the dfg regulations booklet.
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/pdfs/oceanfish2010.pdf — or you can pick up a printed copy of the booklet at a tackle shop. Regulations vary depending on where in the state you are, so make sure you’re checking the southern region.
In Huntington Harbor, the fish he’s likely to see are the spotted scorpionfish (sculpin), kelp bass (calico bass), barred sand bass, spotted sand bass (not pictured), and halibut, maybe some perch or sheep-head, and a number of fish which don’t have any special regulations. If he goes out on a boat into deeper water he’ll see the rockfish and lingcod, plus other fish with size limits which aren’t pictured, like bonito, barracuda, yellowtail, white seabass, etc.
For inshore fish, bass and sheep-head have to be 12 inches, sculpin 10 inches, halibut 22 inches. If he gets a barracuda, they have to be 28 inches, but you’re not likely to get one that big in the harbor.