Glad you didn't call them "sea bass"! Actually you have two species that look very similar out there: blue rockfish and black rockfish. I don't have my book here at the office but the blue rockfish are much smaller than the black rockfish. I think you can only tell them apart by the length of the maxillary bone, somewhat similar to fresh water large and small mouth bass. Black rockfish are a blast down here but are actually a nuisance in Alaska. This species is also a good water quality indicator which might be why you don't see too many in Puget Sound anymore.

Beezer