Scorpionfishes and Rockfishes — Family Scorpaenidae

 Genus Scorpaena

California Scorpionfish

Species: Scorpaena guttata (Girard, 1854); from the Greek word scorpaena (scorpion, referring to the poison spines), and the Latin word guttata  (a form of small drops or spotting).

Alternate Names: Commonly called sculpin although also called scorpionfish, scorpion, little poker, rattlesnake and scorpene. Early records show stingfish and spinefish as favorite appellations. In Mexico they’re called escorpión Californiano.

Scorpionfish caught by KJ from the Cabrillo Mole in Avalon in 2010

Identification: Typical rockfish shape, heavy-bodied and with strong head and fin spines. Their coloring is red (deeper water) to brown (more shallow water) with dark spotting over the body and fins. Fin spines are venomous and can cause a very painful, although not fatal, wound.

Size: To 17 inches, although most caught from piers are less than 12 inches long. The California record was for a fish weighing 3 lb 0 oz. It was caught at the Silver Strand Beach in 1997.

Scorpionfish from the Mole in 2010

Range: Uncle Sam Bank, central Baja California, and the Gulf of California, to Santa Cruz. They are uncommon north of Point Conception.

Scorpionfish from the Oceanside Pier in 2012

Habitat: Most abundant in shallow rocky environments such as rocky reefs, sewer pipes and wrecks; frequently found in caves and crevices. Some are also found on sand. Found from fairly shallow water down to 620 feet. May travel over 200 miles in annual spawning migrations (spring and early summer) that see them form large spawning aggregations on or near the bottom (at a variety of depths)

Scorpionfish missing a piece out of its tail — Green Pleasure Pier in Avalon in 2013

Piers: Although scorpionfish are most common around rocky areas and reef areas, I have seen them caught at almost every oceanfront pier in southern California. Best bets: Balboa Pier, Newport Pier, Redondo Beach Pier, Redondo Sportfishing Pier, Hermosa Beach Pier, Santa Monica Pier, Green Pleasure Pier (Avalon) and the Cabrillo Mole (Avalon).

Shoreline: Occasionally caught by shore anglers fishing rocky areas in southern California.

Scorpionfish caught by Kien at the Cabrillo Mole in 2011

Boats: A common catch by boaters in southern California, especially those fishing at Catalina and the Horseshoe kelp area of Los Angeles.

Bait and Tackle: Scorpions are carnivorous, ambush predators that are primarily nocturnal, feeding at night. Their main diet consists of small crabs, octopus, shrimp, and small fish. A high/low leader with size 4 hooks baited with squid or shrimp seems to work best although they also really like ghost shrimp. Still, I’ve caught them on cut anchovies, strips of mackerel, pile worms, and one on a live queenfish that seemed almost as large as the scorpionfish; they’re not too discriminating as far as food.  

Scorpionfish caught at the Oceanside Pier in 2013

Food Value:  An excellent eating, mild-flavored fish that is best fried (although they are a favorite fish for sushi and command top prices when fresh fish are available).

Scorpionfish caught by KJ from the Cabrillo Mole in Avalon in 2014

Comments: Handle with extreme care. California scorpionfish are the most venomous member of the family found in California. If handled in a careless manner and a puncture wound does occur there will usually be pain (sometimes intense) and perhaps swelling that should subside after a few hours. If possible, soak the affected area in hot water as soon as practical (since the hot water alters the toxin and makes it less harmful). Multiple punctures may require doctor’s attention or even hospitalization. The worst story I ever heard of such multiple punctures concerned a middle-aged angler fishing from a boat near Catalina. This lady had caught upwards of a dozen scorpionfish that were dutifully deposited into her gunnysack. Unfortunately, many of the long spines were protruding from her bag when a heavy wave caused her to lose her footing and to fall, bottom-first, onto the bag. The result was butt-porcupine and a helicopter trip back to a hospital.

Ed Roberts of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and his son Daniel’s first scorpionfish. At the Belmont Pier Kid’s Derby in 2006.

Although studies showed a decline in population before 1980, they seem to have increased and today have a healthy population.

A nice scorpionfish caught at the Green Pleasure Pier in Catalina in 2002

A scorpionfish caught at the Hermosa Beach Pier by Mahigeer (Hashem) in 2006

Scorpionfish caught by Eugene Kim at the Cabrillo Mole in Catalina in 2010

A scorpionfish caught at the Goleta Pier by SteveO in 2003

Not the way I would hold a scorpionfish since even the small ones can inflict a painful sting

Scorpionfish caught at the Coronado Mini Piers in 2003 by OBPier.rat

16-inch scorpionfish from the Oceanside Pier in 2012

A baby Scorpionfish caught at the Cabrillo Mole in Avalon by Cole in 2010

You look’in at me? 

 Cusk-Eels—Family Ophidiidae

Cusk-eel (Photo courtesy of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science)

Species: Ophidion scrippsae  (Hubbs, 1916); from the words otophidium (referring to the large sacklike inner ear) and scrippsae  (in honor of Ellen Browning Scripps who helped establish the Scripps Institution of Oceanography).

Alternate Names: Eel or California cusk-eel. In Mexico they’re called congriperlass or congriperla canastera, while in far off Denmark (where they could only go as tourists, they are called skæflettet slangekvabbe).

Identification: Typical elongated eel-like shape that tapers toward the rear (one identification chart says it resembles a letter opener). The head contains large eyes and a large mouth with a pair of chin whiskers. Dorsal and anal fins are pale with black margins and continuous, joining the pointed caudal fin. Adults are brown to olive above and tan below. The body is plain with no spots but the small scales on the side present a criss-cross pattern similar to a basket weave.

Size: To 10 3/4 inches although most seen at piers are less than 8 inches.

Range: From Guaymas, Mexico, in the Gulf of Mexico, to Point Arguello, Central California. Found on the Pacific coast of Baja, Mexico from Todas Santos north.

Habitat: A bethnic (bottom dwelling) species typically found in nearshore, shallow-water areas, both sandy and muddy, as well as some estuarine areas. Found to a depth of about 360 feet.

Basketweave cusk-eel taken at the Newport Pier in 2003

Piers: Caught infrequently at southern California piers. Best bets: Oceanside Pier, Balboa Pier, Newport Pier, Seal Beach Pier, Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier, Redondo Beach Pier, Hermosa Beach Pier and Santa Monica Pier.

Shoreline: Rarely seen by shore anglers.

Boats: An inshore species rarely taken from boats.

Bait and Tackle: Cusk-eels are an incidental catch by anglers fishing on the bottom for other species. An angler has to have some luck to catch one of these fish. Generally during the day they hide in caves or crevices so most are caught at night or on overcast days. In addition, they typically will bury themselves in the sand and strike out at a passing meal. Their typical foods are small crustaceans, small clams, polychaete worms, and other invertebrates. Thus a small hook baited with worms, pieces of shrimp, or small pieces of clams will offer the best chance for these small fish.

Food Value: Not sure of their food value. Most I have seen were really too small to offer up much of a meal. The only two I have caught now reside in bottles of formaldehyde. However, the kingclip, a cusk-eel that reaches five feet in length in southern and eastern Pacific waters is considered a commercial species and its flesh is considered excellent.

Cusk-eel (Photo courtesy of Mex-Fish)

Comments: I caught my first cusk-eel when I was a neophyte angler fishing from the Newport Pier in the fall of 1962. Since I already fancied myself an amateur ichthyologist, I was determined to identify what this strange fish was, especially since no one I asked had a clue as to its identity. After an exhaustive search through antiquated reference books, I identified the fish. According to Marine Fishes of Southern California by Percy Spencer Barnhart (University of Californiua Press, 1936) it was a Southern California Cusk Eel (Otophidium Scrippsi) [Common and scientific names since changed]. Next, the fish was pickled in formaldehyde for my biology class at Newport Harbor High School. It may, for all I know, still be there. In December of 2002, I caught another of these little cusk-eels out at the end of the Newport Pier and it too was destined for preservation. However, it resides with the Fish and Game Department and is used by them to train game wardens in fish identification. By the way, the fish now has a new common name—basketweave cusk-eel. This fish has a closely related relative called the spotted cusk-eel (Chilara taylori). It is similar in shape to the basketweave cusk-eel but covered with dark blotches on its upper body. It is slightly larger, ranges all the way to Oregon, and is actually more common in California than the basketweave cusk-eel. But, it is also more of a deep-water fish and encountered less often at piers. However, I have seen several caught at the Balboa Pier and Newport Pier, piers that are located near deep-water canyons.

Horn shark from the Cabrillo Mole in Avalon in 2015

Species: Heterodontus francisci (Girard, 1855); from the Greek hetero (different) and odont (tooth) and the Latin francisci (referring to San Francisco). (They have a small pointed tooth at the front of their jaw and a blunt tooth at the rear.)

Alternate Names: Bullhead Shark, Port Jackson shark, horned shark, hornback shark. Called tiburón cabeza de toro, tiburón cornudo or tiburón puerco in Mexico.

Identification: Horn sharks are spotted sharks with a somewhat pig-like snout. They have a strong spine at the front of each dorsal fin (which accounts for their name) and an anal fin. Their coloring is tan to dark brown or grayish with black spots above, pale yellowish below.

Horn shark from the Cabrillo Mole on Catalina Island in 2015

Size: Reported to 48 inches, but the largest verified was just over 38 inches long and 22 pounds. Most hornies caught from piers are under 30 inches in length.

Range:  Found from the Gulf of California to San Francisco.

Habitat: Prefers rocky areas although also found near sandy areas that contain kelp. They are nocturnal, bottom-feeding foragers who prefer to spend their daylight hours resting on the bottom or in caves and crevices. At night they head out in their search for food—primarily squids, urchins, crustaceans, anemones and mollusks—but rarely are they found more than six feet from the bottom.

A horn shark taken at the Long Beach Finger Piers in 2011 by MrWoodstream

Piers: Most are caught at southern California piers but a few are caught as far north as the pier at Cayucos. Generally found near piers that are close to reefs or kelp. Best bets: Ocean Beach Pier, San Clemente Pier, Hermosa Beach Pier, Green Pleasure Pier (Avalon), Cabrillo Mole (Avalon), Santa Monica Pier, Paradise Cove Pier, Gaviota Pier and Goleta Pier.

Shoreline: Occasionally caught by anglers fishing rocky areas near kelp.

Another Catalina horn shark, this one caught by Kyle Pease in 2015

Boats: Sometimes taken by boaters and kayakers fishing the southern California kelp beds.

Bait and Tackle: Crabs, shrimp, squid and small fish are prime baits but hornies appear to take almost any natural bait. Most horn sharks taken by pier anglers are fairly small fish so light-to-medium tackle equipped with size 2 to 2/0 hooks will suffice.

Food Value:  Reported to be quite tasty, similar to most other sharks.

A horn shark taken at the Morro Bay North T-Pier in 2004

Comments: An interesting little shark. Small horn sharks are frequently sold in aquarium shops where they command top prices. They are generally harmless but anglers should be careful of the dorsal spines and be aware that agitated fish may try to bite careless handlers.

Horn sharks are in the Class Chondrichthyes and Subclass Elasmobranchii (as are all sharks and rays) but in the Superorder Galea, which only includes some of the sharks found at California piers. Many of the sharks found at piers are in the Superorder Squalea, which includes sharks as well as guitarfish and rays. Thus some of the sharks are more closely related to rays than to other sharks.

A horn shark taken at the Belmont Veterans Pier in Long Beach in 2009

A small horn shark taken from the Goleta Pier in 2008

Horn shark caught at the Redondo Beach Pier in 2003

]]> http://kenjonesfishing.com/2016/10/horn-shark/feed/ 0 http://kenjonesfishing.com/2015/08/big-skate/ http://kenjonesfishing.com/2015/08/big-skate/#comments Mon, 10 Aug 2015 19:43:54 +0000 kenjones http://kenjonesfishing.com/?p=7887 Cartilaginous Fishes—Class Chondrichthyes — (A skeleton of cartilage that is not true bone)

Subclass Elasmobranchi—Sharks and Rays

Skates — Family Rajidae — Big Skate 

A big Big Skate taken from the Paradise Park Pier in 2007

Species: Raja binoculta (Grard, 1855); from the Latin words raja (skate), bi  (two), and oculata  (eyed, referring to the markings on top of the skate).

Alternate Names:  Skate, barndoor skate, and Pacific great skate. Called raya gigante or raya bruja gigante in Mexico.

Identification: The only skate with a notch in the rear edge of each pelvic fin. The nose is long, bluntly pointed, and broadly triangular. The body is flat with two separate dorsal fins near the end of the tail. Their coloring is gray, brown, reddish brown, olive brown, or blackish, with smaller white spots and two prominent eyespots above; whitish with a possibility of dark spots below.

A small Big Skate taken at the Paradise Park in 2006

Size: Reaches eight feet in length and to over 200 pounds. Those caught at piers rarely exceed 100 pounds in size although two big skates, one at the Cayucos Pier in July 2004 (estimated at 5 feet by 5 feet) and another one taken at the Trinidad Wharf in the summer of 1996 (4 1/2′ wide and 5 1/2′ long), seemingly were over the century mark.

Range: Cabo Falsa, southern Baha California, and Gulf of California, to the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands, at least west to Unalaska Island; also eastern Gulf of Alaska. Rarely seen south of Point Conception.

Habitat: Generally found in water of moderate depth although ranges to a depth of 2,200 feet; luckily for pier fishermen, they’re also found over sandy-shore beaches and in bays.

A Big Skate taken from the Cayucos Pier in June 2007

Piers: A few are caught each year, generally at piers north of Point Conception). Best bets: Pismo Beach Pier, Morro Bay T-Piers, Cayucos Pier, Seacliff State Beach Pier, Santa Cruz Wharf, Pacifica Pier, San Francisco Municipal Pier, Paradise Park Pier, McNear Park Pier, Fort Baker Pier, Del Norte St. Pier (Eureka), Trinidad Pier, and the B St. Pier (Crescent City).

Shoreline: An occasional catch for northern California fisherman in Humboldt and Arcata Bay.

Boats: A few are reported from boaters and kayakers fishing in Humboldt and Arcata Bays.

A Big Skate taken from the Pacifica Pier in 2006

Bait and Tackle: Due to their potential size, medium to heavy tackle should be used. However, most biggies are caught by anglers seeking other species, few anglers fish specifically for skates. Most any bait will tempt a skate but squid, clams, ghost shrimp, marine worms, and small fish seem to work best.

Big Skate taken at the Berkeley Pier in 2004

Food Value: Like guitarfish, skates when used for food are really delicious. The most common method is to cut off the skin around the wings and then use cookie cutters to punch out pieces of meat that are very similar in taste and texture to scallops. Many stories tell of skate being sold in stores as scallops. Deep-frying is the most common method of cooking for skate prepared in this manner. Another common recipe says to pan-fry the wings in butter (yes, of course after the wings have been skinned).

Big Skate taken at the Berkeley Pier in 2004

Comments: Far less common than bat rays but the average big skate taken is fairly good size. According to the CA DF&W, “skates have paired electric organs along the sides of their tails, which generate weak, low-voltage electric currents believed to be of use in intra-specific communication, possibly for mate recognition or to demonstrate aggression. These electric currents are not harmful to humans.”

A really big Big Skate taken from the Cayucos Pier in 2004

One of my favorite stories is about Rosie and The Creature From The Black Lagoon. The story’s main characters were Rosie, who used to work at Salty’s Bait and Tackle in Trinidad, and an unidentified creature that fell in love with our heroine. Well, not exactly! That might be a slight stretch. The actual incident took place during the summer of 1996 when Rosie decided to get in a couple of hours of late afternoon fishing down at the picturesque old pier in Trinidad Harbor. She was using an Abu-Garcia outfit loaded with 20-pound test line, and for bait she had brought along some herring. Maybe a salmon would grab her bait.

Rosie cast her bait out to the waters on the north side of the pier and began to wait for a strike. When it came, she was in the fight of her life. Something grabbed the bait and took off on the start of a long, long fight. Rosie was soon joined by friends and onlookers who shortly thereafter dubbed her unseen foe, “The Creature From The Black Lagoon.”

It actually wasn’t anything quite so exotic but you never know until you see your quarry. Eventually she did see the fish, a large 100+ pound big skate (and a name was never more appropriate) that measured 4 1/2′ wide and 5 1/2′ long.

It took Rosie, and several of her friends, 45 minutes to land the obstinate critter that apparently did not want to end up in Rosie’s kitchen (but it did). It may have been, in fact probably was, the largest fish ever landed from the pier. Although local boaters have brought in some huge salmon, lingcod, and Pacific halibut, I doubt if any was as hard to land as Rosie’s big skate. Keeping the fish out of the rocks and kelp that surround the pier, as well as keeping it out of the pilings, had to be a combination of Herculean skill combined with a good amount of luck.

A Big Skate taken from the Cayucos Pier in 2000

A Big Skate taken from the Belmont Veterans Pier in Long Beach in 1998

A Big Skate taken at the Berkeley Pier by promethius in 2002

Rare fish caught at Belmont Pier

Casting a bait and then sitting down and watching the rod tip on Belmont Pier isn’t the most glamorous and exotic fishing along the Pacific Coast, but it’s restful and sometimes productive for perch, an occasional halibut and other species. Then too, you meet interesting people.

Gerald Osier of 221 Grand Ave., who has worked on the pier and still does some part time work there in the summer months, likes to fish the pier and just loaf. Just recently he caught one of the rarest fishes in the Pacific Ocean. It was small, and there was no way that he could have filleted it and got a dinner for two  So he reported to the department of Fish and Game, and  one of  the DFG biologists came to take a look and carry the fish back to the laboratories at 350 Golden Shore.

The fish was red, looked like a perch, had large blue eyes almost the size of nickels, weighed 11 ounces, and was 9 ½ inches long. Now Osier has a letter from John Fitch, research director of the State Fisheries Laboratories at Long Beach DFG, saying that the fish is a catalufa, extremely rare. In fact, said Fitch, fewer than 15 had ever been caught either by hook and line or in commercial nets in all the time that he has been with the DFG. Fitch, in his letter to Osier, said that the largest  that he had ever seen was 13 inches long and weighed two pounds. He also told Osier that the fish was being sent to the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles. It will be made into a mount and displayed.

This is just one sample of what can happen in pier fishing, which can be fun for individuals or a family except for the fact that all piers now are afflicted with vandalism. What public facilities are not endangered the same way? Belmont Pier is the one remaining public fishing facility in Long Beach and it deserves enough security protection to keep it clean.

 —Donnell Culpepper, Long Beach Press-Telegram, November 21, 1975

This nearly 50-year-old story ranks among my favorite pier fishing stories of all time.

Eye Opener—Belmont Pier Marlin Club

Thursday wasn’t exactly a good day to have lunch with the Belmont Pier Marlin Club, but it was the best offer I had. I mean I don’t want to be a prophet of gloom and doom and I’m not going to mention that nasty word that ends in “cession,” but don’t you think luncheon invitations are getting scarcer?

It was a bad day for the Belmont Pier Marlin Club because the wind was blowing, which is bad for fishing, but, anyway, I made my way to the pier and found Pop Shoat, the club’s executive vice president, leaning over the railing and gazing placidly at the spot where his line slanted into the blue water.

“Hiya, son.” he said, waggling his white beard-stubble in greeting. He unwrapped a piece of newspaper from around a package of sandwiches. “Have a sandwich. That’s your column they’re wrapped in.” “Gee, thanks.” I said, overwhelmed by this expression of esteem. “I read Hollingworth. too,” he explained, “but I save him to wrap the fish I catch.”

“It’s fresher material.” I agreed. There is not an ounce of professional jealousy in me. “Do they pay Hollingworth, or is that just a hobby?” “Dr. Honk Hollingworth.” I said, “is on the payroll as director of our department of vicarious physical education.”

A three-wheel electric auto came dashing down the pier blandly ignoring the sign that said, “No motor vehicles beyond this point.” There were more vehicles beyond that point than on the legal side of it. Some Long Beach electric auto salesman has been making a killing by telling his customers they are driven by rubber bands, maybe.

“What I wanted to talk to you about,” Pop said as he rebaited his hook, “is getting the city to put up a flagpole on the pier for the Marlin Club. Stand back while I cast.” He gracefully snapped an overhand cast that carried his hook far out from the pier and watched his sinker splash into the water. I watched the sign that said. “No overhead casting.”

“I’m no lobbyist.” I said. “Besides, why does the Belmont Pier Marlin Club need a flagpole?” “To fly a marlin flag, in case somebody catches a marlin.”

“I have checked this out with Riley Compton of the Belmont Bait & Tackle,” I said. “You catch mostly small fish—perch, herring, corbina. Now and then you get a 10 or 12 pound halibut. Last year, a big white sea bass was landed. But in the history of living man, no one has caught a marlin off the Belmont Pier.”

Pop pulled a flask from his gear box. “How about a snort?” he said. I glanced disapprovingly at him and then at the sign that said, “Consumption of alcoholic beverages not permitted on pier.” “Geritol,” he said. “Somebody might catch a marlin. And it would bring an awful lot of fishermen to Long Beach if there was a marlin flagpole here and they thought we needed it.

“Mere tourists,” I said. “The dropline trade. They’d crowd the regulars away from the railing.” “That’s happening now,” Pop said.

“The truant officers ought to tighten up on kids playing hookey. Us retired gaffers can’t elbow on even terms against those kids.”

He reached for the Geritol and kicked over the carton of ghost shrimp that was the bait of the teenager next to him. “Sorry,” he said. The teenager gave him a hurt look, “That’s the third time you’ve done that,” the boy said. He picked up his gear and moved down the pier. Pop chuckled gleefully. “Whippersnapper,” he said

—Bob Wells, Long Beach Independent, February 3, 1962