The recreational offshore longleader gear fishery daily bag limit will be increasing from 10 to 15 fish per day beginning on Wednesday, March 1, 2023.
ODFW staff worked with our federal partners to allow this additional opportunity for anglers on healthy rockfish stocks. The increased bag limit may also help take some pressure off nearshore rockfish species, such as black, copper, and China rockfish.
The longleader gear fishery targets healthy underutilized midwater rockfish stocks such as yellowtail and widow rockfish.
To participate in the longleader gear fishery, anglers must be outside of the 40-fathom regulatory line and have a minimum of 30 feet between their weight and the lowest hook with a non-compressible float above the hooks. This helps keep the gear away from yelloweye rockfish.
The 15-fish bag limit applies to 10 species of midwater rockfish only (yellowtail, widow, canary, redstripe, greenstriped, silvergray, chilipepper, blue, deacon, and bocaccio rockfishes). Other bottomfish, including lingcod, are not allowed with longleader gear fishing.
More information on the longleader gear fishery can be found at: https://myodfw.com/articles/offshore-longleader-gear
