Nov 7 How stupid are Bocaccio?

They are so stupid that you can catch 4 of them on a 3 hook rig. The line must of gone slack when the sinker hit the bottom and tail wrapped the one on top while the other three went to town on the cut squid.

Found these on the east side of the 9 over what looked like squid on the bottom. I picked up 5 Speckled rockfish off a big rocky area on the south end of the bank and metered and marked a few new spots to the west that Jeff showed me.

Back at the beach I worked the halibut for a few hours for 3 shorts and a nicer fish dumped 10 feet under the boat.

Mike

http://bocaboard.com/data/noslack/4bocaccio.JPG

Goojob, thats hard to do!

Mike we should take a poll

I have heard from so many people they won't eat
Bocaccio, I eat it and it taste great whats everyones opion ?

Russ

I bleed them out in the bait tank, ice them down and have never heard anyone complain about the free fish they were eating.

All fish are much better bled out and this time of year I don't mind disturbing the bait by tossing them in the tank for the next couple drifts before icing them down.

Mike

In my opinion, they have a nasty smell about them once they are out of the water for even a few minutes. Maybe something in their slime is different from other fish (maybe excessive iodine)? Like Mike said, if they are not bled right away and then well iced, I think that their meet gets mushier than other rockfish. If bled, gutted, and iced well they seem fine. But, that's just me.

Scott

They do have a nasty smell, it's in the slime that covers their body; I've never bled a rockfish in my life and I can bet a paycheck you couldn't tell the difference between a cooked piece of a red and a bocaccio if they were both iced right after the catch and cooked within 3-4 days of the catch. I've never had frozen bocaccio so I can't speak for that.

Those Mexican Rockfish that are about the same size and shape as bocaccio and darker but caught in deeper (700-900') water, they taste just like bocaccio smell!

Good to know Jeff I'll stay out of the 7 to 9 hundred foot stuff

I can remember as a kid fishing 5 to 6 hundred with 10 hook set ups and a coffie can filled with led

Fun Days they were

Russ

I tell my friends the same thing.
They always give them to me after the trip. My wife hates the worms so I cut those out or cook them so she can't see or tell the difference.

I punch the gills on all fish and put them in the bait tank. I never have a problem with the bait and I don't have to clean another container.