Trip Report: Rockfish in Mexican Waters 01/12/2023
By Jeff Luzod
Customer Service/E-Commerce Support
We ended 2022 with quite a few storm systems and non-ideal fishing conditions. I tried to get out and fish for rockfish but these trips were cancelled. With the new regulations in 2023 (more on that below), we won’t be able to fish for rockfish until April 1st here in Southern California. Since my original trips in December were cancelled, I had the big urge to catch some rockfish because I do enjoy it. Thankfully, the landings in San Diego offer “extended ½ day” trips into Mexican waters, where there are no seasonal closures for rockfish from 7:00am-3:00pm.
Seaforth Landing offers trips aboard the Sea Watch/New Seaforth. Fisherman’s Landing offers trips aboard the Dolphin and H & M offers trips aboard the Premier. Be sure to check the landing website for exact schedules and don’t forget to bring your passport because it is required when you are fishing within 12 miles of the Mexican coast. On Thursday, January 13. I was able to get on the Premier, a boat I remember fishing on in the early 2000’s when it was at Pierpoint landing in Long Beach. Eventually it was sold and ended up at H & M landing.
As far as the fishing goes, we fished depths from 280-400 feet in Mexican waters along the 9 mile bank, with both the Coronado Islands and Point Loma in sight looking either way. We were only about an hour outside of San Diego Bay. Everything worked: strips of squid, sardines, jigs such as Ahi Assault Diamond Jigs and Live Deception Jigs, rigs like our rock cod squirts. A lot of the bigger rockfish we caught on this trip was caught on live bait and jigs. There were still a few caught on the strips of squid, you just had to go through lots of mini rockfish to get a bigger bite. Nothing wide open but was pretty steady every stop. Our best stop was the last few stops of the day, where we pulled on decent bocaccio, reds, and big chilipeppers. Final count for the boat: 20 Anglers 200 Assorted Rockfish.
This is probably the last boat trip I will do until Rockfish season here in US waters opens up again. With that said, up and down the coast we will see shorter seasons. We will be able to fish at all depths certain times of the year. Please check out the link below for your to see the specific regulations for your region.
Summary Of Groundfish Regulations
Here's a short little video i made from the trip with some footage i was able to get off my GoPro camera. I was able to capture using an Ahi Live Deception w/Assist, 8oz Sardine.
