That was our conclusion while on the water and certainly after reading the regulations. I would also point out that this rule will also be in effect during the salmon fishing season in areas 3, 4, and 5 where some bottomfish retention is allowed subject to depth restrictions, so no salmon fishing in waters deeper than the depth restriction if you have a bottomfish on board.



There is more truth in this statement then one might suspect. The best lingcod areas in Admiralty Inlet are flat topped pinnacles that range in depth from 120 to 90 feet and rapidly drop off to depths of 250 + feet on all sides. Even with light winds and slack tides the drift across the tops is about 10 minutes. If you run back to repeat a drift, cut your motor and drop your line at 120 feet your boat will most likely coast out to the 150 foot depth (in many places only 10 yards) before drifting back over the 120 depth. If you go past the 120 foot depth, out to 150 feet depth and the drop your gear as you drift back over 120 foot depth you will be at 100 foot depth before it hits bottom. It is a similar situation when you are pulling your gear. The result is that when your gear is in the water, fishing, you have to keep an eye on the depth at all times. A good mapping GPS and depth sounder is a plus when your setting up to start a drift but even with that help it seems that it take more time to find the fishing spots than actually fishing.

I do think the 120 foot rule will help rockfish, and lingcod too, it just adds some difficulty that makes it interesting. In our few hours of fishing we hooked 20 ling cod, 2 were of legal size, 27" and 30". We also hooked 2 small rockfish at about 100 feet. I had made a weighted release cage but in both instances the rockfish went back down on their own before we could get them in the cage. We have fished that area for many years and know that the best ling cod fishing is on the drop offs, 120 to 180 feet deep. At those depths about 1 out of 3 lingcod were legal size. One often hooked rockfish at those depths and they didn't do well. Several years ago there were bottomfish charters operating out of Port Townsend, that fished the area and caught a lot of fish. The past few years we have seen very few rockfish and they have all been small. I hope the 120 foot rule works.