2026 Bottom fishing regs changes

from todays e-mail from ODFW, great news on lingcod, still a bit of uncertainty about our year round season (see below for more on that):
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"Key proposed changes for 2026 are:

Lingcod: The daily catch limit would increase from 2 to 3 fish under the staff proposal, since their populations are healthy and bycatch of yelloweye rockfish (a protected species) is still low.

Rockfish: The black rockfish harvest guideline for 2026 is slightly higher than last year but remains below levels prior to 2024. Under the staff proposal, the daily limit for marine rockfish would stay at 4 fish all year, with a sub bag limit of 2 canary rockfish.
In 2025, the planned 5-fish summertime limit had to be reduced to 3 fish in September because of high fishing activity and success. ODFW is working with coastal anglers to understand their preferences for managing black rockfish which are the main driver of the general marine bag limit and season. Some are now leaning toward higher daily limits, even if it means a shorter season — which could influence future rules.
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What caught my eye in the presentation made in October (attached) was on slide 23.  It's basically the correct (obvious) conclusion that you could close bottom fishing for 4 months during the winter and it doesn't help much.  If you want a 5 fish bag limit, it requires a shorter season and you can't get that by closing winter months (when some/many of us enjoy lingcod fishing and don't care how low the marine bag limit is).  My view is that it's best to just accept that there are going to be in-season changes or accept a reduced black rockfish sub-bag limit and manage to use up all the quota available with a year round fishery.

cheers, roger

A 3-lingcod daily limit would be fantastic. I'd hope an "extra" lingcod in the bag might make a reduced RF bag limit more palatable for some folks. Besides, lingcod tastes better than rockfish. Prove me wrong! 

Regarding black RF, why not put a sub-bag limit on them like they're proposing for canaries? Is the CnR mortality for nearshore blacks really that high to negate the benefits of a sub-bag limit?

I really hope we can stick with the year-round bottomfish seasons. Those little windows of nice ocean in the winter usually result in lights-out bottomfishing.

totally agree, the option of a 5 marine bag limit with 3 sub-bag for black rockfish limit seems like an obvious winner.

It’s good to see some positive movement from today’s ODFW update, especially the bump in the lingcod limit. For many of us heading out with a Waterproof Roll Top Bag and our usual tackle, what really stood out to me was the point made in the October presentation, especially the slide showing that shutting down bottom fishing for a few winter months doesn’t really change much. If we want a 5-fish bag limit, it’s going to come with a shorter season no matter what, and closing winter, when many of us actually enjoy chasing lingcod, doesn’t solve the problem. It seems more practical to accept that in-season adjustments will happen, or lower the black rockfish sub-bag if needed, and focus on using the full quota while still keeping a year-round fishery.

The charter boats are the ones that bugger up the quota, not kayakers.  I would like to see ODFW begin to recognize that aspect of the fishery and provide some mechanism which provides equal opportunity.

Commission approved a Marine Bag limit of 4 with a sub bag of 2 for canary rockfish and a limit of 3 for lingcod for 2026.

The feedback they have had is strong and consistent-  priority is a year round season and bag limit of at least 4 is important primarily to the charter operators.  These may not both be possible at the current quotas and fishing effort during summer months.  The best news, besides the extra lingcod, is that ODFW has correctly concluded is the only time a closure does any good is in July or August.     

Commission approved a Marine Bag limit of 4 with a sub bag of 2 for canary rockfish and a limit of 3 for lingcod for 2026.

The feedback they have had is strong and consistent-  priority is a year round season and bag limit of at least 4 is important primarily to the charter operators.  These may not both be possible at the current quotas and fishing effort during summer months.  The best news, besides the extra lingcod, is that ODFW has correctly concluded is the only time a closure does any good is in July or August.   

July and August, loads of charter boats out there. ODFW won't likely shut it down because of the loss of license revenue.

Commission approved a Marine Bag limit of 4 with a sub bag of 2 for canary rockfish and a limit of 3 for lingcod for 2026.

The feedback they have had is strong and consistent-  priority is a year round season and bag limit of at least 4 is important primarily to the charter operators.  These may not both be possible at the current quotas and fishing effort during summer months.  The best news, besides the extra lingcod, is that ODFW has correctly concluded is the only time a closure does any good is in July or August.   

July and August, loads of charter boats out there. ODFW won't likely shut it down because of the loss of license revenue.

agreed, what's important is that ODFW is telling them "if you want a minimum 4 fish marine bag limit as long as possible each year and don't mind a partial year closure, that closure needs to be a few weeks in July or August.  A winter closure just doesn't help with the rockfish quota issue"...and it appears the feedback was "that's different, never mind.  keep it open all summer at a 4 fish bag for as long as possible, even if that means dropping to 3 fish bag by September".

Commission approved a Marine Bag limit of 4 with a sub bag of 2 for canary rockfish and a limit of 3 for lingcod for 2026.

The feedback they have had is strong and consistent-  priority is a year round season and bag limit of at least 4 is important primarily to the charter operators.  These may not both be possible at the current quotas and fishing effort during summer months.  The best news, besides the extra lingcod, is that ODFW has correctly concluded is the only time a closure does any good is in July or August.   

July and August, loads of charter boats out there. ODFW won't likely shut it down because of the loss of license revenue.

agreed, what's important is that ODFW is telling them "if you want a minimum 4 fish marine bag limit as long as possible each year and don't mind a partial year closure, that closure needs to be a few weeks in July or August.  A winter closure just doesn't help with the rockfish quota issue"...and it appears the feedback was "that's different, never mind.  keep it open all summer at a 4 fish bag for as long as possible, even if that means dropping to 3 fish bag by September".

Always wondered if a "catch card" process like that used with salmon would work for bottomfish and for that matter even crab.  My thinking is that a disproportionate share of the catch quota is going to a smaller share of the anglers.  Have you ever seen any studies that reveal who is catching most of the quota?  It is clearly not kayakers or shore anglers, so that leaves charter boats and non-commercial power boat anglers.  Granted, enforcement might be an issue but it is done for salmon.  I live out at Netarts during the winter months and see the bay carpet bombed by crabbers during good weather days, with infrequent presence of "creel checks".  Rarely see an enforcement boat on the water ensuring that crab pots are legal in number and configuration.  Just thinking out loud......