How is the result?

Bearcat,

Used them on rockcod and lings at the Northern Channel Islands. Worked well until the closure. Oh ya, even used Senorita fish on the rockcod and lings. Worked just as well. Once got into an unusually good bite on Calico's at Santa Cruz. Tried it because we ran out of bate. Go figure. LOL .

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AMP2564

Ive used buttermouth and any other perch that gets caught in my net.The spotties and halibut love those perch.But i would say the spotties really dig them,specially the smaller ones.5000

Just about any fish that lives on or near a reef and is physically capable of swallowing a bait fish will at times eat a black smith perch. I've seen seabass, yellowtail, calicos and sandbass eat them. Once while fishing San Clemente for calicos and lings we caught a few small black seabass on them also.

They would not be my bait of choice, but might help you out on a tough day when nothing else will.

BURGIE

be careful it's not a perch or other fish that is now listed as "game fish", i.e. barred perch. Might be some others too.

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Fongster, Im pretty sure that rule only applies to freshwater.

hmmm, this site is pretty cool!

I was told by a person who is really in the know, that guys would love to use barries as marlin bait but can't as it's a gamefish. I would assume that would be the same for any "desirable" species that has a minimum size and/or bag limit. I'd love to pin on a baby calico to get a larger one (just kidding, an example) but can't. The regs are so hard to decipher, maybe I'm wrong--I do know that it is like that for fresh as you mention. Maybe species with a min. size is the key?

EDIT: I believe you are correct--my friend was referring to baby barries, so that would indicate you can't use any undersized fish. The only thing I saw was that there is no tilapia allowed as bait in salt.


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When i was a pinhead i remember the guys would put on baby calicos for seabass.Its wrong and illegal but i was only 14.So i just watched and learned.5000

I was onec told that you can use game fish for bait (in the ocean). The only thing you have to worry about is:

(1) Make sure you only have your daily bag limit in your baitwell.
(2) Make sure they are the legal size if it applies.

I could be wrong but game fish are used everywhere as bait. For example the use of tuna and wahoo pices for chunk fishing. Tomcod are often found mixed in at the bait receivers even though there is a baily bag limit. Salmon is used as Halibut bait in Alaska. When rockcod and lings were legal people often use rockcod, whole or stips, for bait. The list goes on....

If someonw out there knows the skinny on this topic, please let us know.

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AMP2564

Sounds good to me, thanks for clarification.


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The blacksmith perch average only 5 or 6 inches definately is no sport fish. The reason why I asked is they steal my bait all the time and maybe I could make some use of it. They are like anchovies so abundant; I wonder if there is any limit on these.

Check the DFG regs--I believe there's a section that names certain species where there is no daily limit. If blacksmiths aren't named in that section, there is a 20 fish total daily bag limit that would apply.

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