Note-No Yelloweye OR Canary with Halibut

Orca · 05-05-2003, 08:57 AM

Just in case some of you have missed this change for this year -

Unlike last year, you cannot keep any Canary's this year during all-depth halibut days if you have a halibut on-board.

Mello-Yello · 05-05-2003, 09:02 AM

I understand the reasoning behind this rule, but it's sure gonna hurt to let one of these 'eye's bulging out of their head, stomachs bulging out of their mouths' fish drift off for bird-bait.

fish assassin · 05-05-2003, 09:27 AM

If'n you don't like leaving them for bird bait ... go to your local feed and grain
store (or anyplace else that sells stuff like horse tack, etc) and get one of the
big syringes with the largest needle size that will fit the syringe. When you pull
one of the "red fish" up off the bottom, poke the needle into the fish and let the air
out of the air bladder.

The correct place to poke the needle in: lay the front fin (the one just behind
the head) down flat. Right behind the fin (towards the tail) where the color meets
the white part of the fish. Push the needle in about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch. You'll
hear the air 'whoosh' out if you have the plunger out of the syringe when you do the
above operation. You can then *gently* push the stomach back into the mouth is you want,
but this is not needed as the fish will re-swallow it's stomach in just a few minutes.

No more floaters!! Hope this helps!

-assAssin-

Mello-Yello · 05-05-2003, 09:42 AM

Wow! I'd have never guessed. Do their eyes go back in their head too?

It must be he77 being a bottom fish. What a mean world...

fish assassin · 05-05-2003, 10:17 AM

Well, I'm not pulling the fish from as deep as the Halibut guys are ... I'm only
fishing in 20-25 fathoms of water ... but they *do* come up "bug eyed" and seem to
recover from that in the live tanks at the fish buying station. Not sure how well they
fair in the deeper water situations.

... And yeh, I agree, must be heck being a bottom fish. I think that maybe I'll do my
best to remain at the *TOP* of the food chain! :grin: :grin: :grin:

-assAssin-

Fish_N_Russ · 05-05-2003, 01:08 PM

just curious, whats the reasoning behind this rule? I havent caught either Yelloweye or Canary.......are they in low numbers or ?

OceanBlue · 05-05-2003, 01:32 PM

Russ: Yup, these fish are in trouble - they are very slow growers.

edsr · 05-06-2003, 10:29 AM

Remember the popularity of the "Orange Ruffy" bottom fish of a few years ago? It was the gourmet fish of choice. Then all of a sudden the fish stocks seemed to dwindle dramatically. Those fish were 40 years old and it didn't take long to really hurt the population.

Thanks for the info about de-pressurizing bloated bottom fish I didn't know it was possible.

edsr

Miss B Haven · 05-06-2003, 10:47 AM

Orange ruffy- hehe. Marketing schemes, hehe. Ya- used to be just "rockfish" then "snapper" then ruffy. Rougheye - you can still keep those Orange guys. Easy to identify as well by the 80 grit sandpaper-like eyebrow. Give em a feel!

Fish_N_Russ · 05-06-2003, 01:43 PM

So I wonder how old is a normal 2-3lb black rock bass? They are all in the same family arent they?

skein · 05-06-2003, 01:55 PM

Fish-n-Russ,

A biologist told me this fish was probably 72 to 75 years old. I never targeted them again after learning that, and that was 12 years ago. Seems like he indicated the "keeper" size black bass could easily be 12 to 15 years old.

Skein