Bottom fish closing!!??

There is a thread on ifish about bottom fishing closing this week.

According to a poster, Tinman, "This was announced by ODFW at a presentation to the Sportfish Advisory Council earlier this afternoon. " That was posted yesterday.

All bottom fishing would be closed except for flat fish.

Has anyone heard anything?

Unconfirmed but very credible info from multiple sources. Looks legit to me.

South gets screwed as usual. 4K lbs in halibut quota given to central coast out of 10k total quota, then close groundfish and tell us to go fish for halibut.

Gee, thanks.

I wish they could have given us until the end of the month.  Saturday might be good.  Anyone thinking about DB or PC for a last hurrah?

ODFW EMAIL NOTICE

Recreational Bottomfish Closure set for end of day Sunday, September 17
 
Oregon’s recreational bottomfish season will close to all species but flatfish as of Sunday, Sept. 17 at 11:59 p.m. due to the annual quotas for several nearshore species having been reached. After Sunday, Sept. 17, anglers may no longer catch or retain lingcod, any species of rockfish, cabezon, greenling, or other bottomfish, except for flatfish species (sole, flounders, sanddabs and halibut other than Pacific halibut).
 
Recreational efforts have been higher than anticipated this year, higher than any other year in the last 15 years, and peaked during the month of August. High catch rates, good fishing weather, and fewer other angler opportunities led to more boats and anglers targeting bottomfish this year. “It’s been a poor salmon season and tuna haven’t really made a strong showing within range of most recreational anglers,” said Maggie Sommer, ODFW. “This increased fishing pressure on bottomfish, and anglers had a lot of success pursuing these species.”
 
And the News Release: http://www.dfw.state.or.us/news/2017/09_sep/091217b.asp

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Well that changes my weekend plans.

Saturday is looking good for a Depoe Bay run.  Hope to get a final 2017 limit of lings, then go for flatfish.

Ouch! Guess it's surfing only at PC for me after this week.

I'm fairly new up here, and fish quotas don't exist in southern California... Is this a routine each year that is just coming early, or is this fairly unusual for bottom fish to close?

Decided I would try to figure out how to tell California Halibut from Pacific Halibut other than by the type of sandles. I found: https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Marine/NCCFRMP/Halibut-ID

While this was interesting, this part really clarified it for me:

They may have white spots, especially juveniles, which often fade after death.

So, no eating the dead ones with faded white spots. (Good rule to follow for Chum and Humpies I think.)

If that wasn't enough, I laughed thinking about someone in a kayak holding a 75-lb halibut in his/her lap long and still enough to count dorsal ray fins...

Pacific halibut have more than 80 soft dorsal rays and the eyes are always on the right side of the head whereas California halibut will have less than 77 soft dorsal rays and the eyes may be on the right or left side (dextral or sinistral).

...while spinning it end to end  to see if the eyes were on the right or left side, depending on which way the mouth was pointed.

Now that's funny and a good place to shut down for the day.

It closed yesterday.

It closed yesterday.

It closes on Sunday the 17th at 11:59pm.

I assume it reopens January 1 but have no confirmation.  Anybody hear about reopening?

It closed yesterday.

It closes on Sunday the 17th at 11:59pm.

I assume it reopens January 1 but have no confirmation.  Anybody hear about reopening?

Yup. That's when the quotas reset.

What the hell is this, California?!?!   

Seriously, this sucks.

I got a response from ODFW Facebook account:

Douglas Kaber Yes, next year meaning January 1st. Regarding longleader, ODFW staff are currently at the Pacific Fishery Management Council working to get a bit more yelloweye so that we can allow longleader gear October - December of this year.  But, we will know for sure later in September if we can do that, but it is something we are working very hard to allow.

So reopening this year outside 40fm with longleader gear is possible and it will reopen January 1 as normal unless something else comes up. They got back to me pretty quick. I'm impressed.

Glad I'm already in the planning for Pacific City Friday

Since all the 23rd plans for rock fishing just got shot... Y'all can join us at Town Lake