Why It’s a Bad Idea to Keep Surfperch: Angler’s Opinion
An Opinion on the Topic of Catching to Keep
In this article, we’ll talk about the main reasons why I don’t keep surfperch for eating purposes (anymore). Reason #1: Lack of meat. Reason #2: Pregnant surfperch. I’ll open this article by clarifying a few points:
- I am not against keeping fish for eating purposes.
- I love eating fish… especially fresh fish caught by myself.
- Occasionally, I do keep fish, but I normally practice catch and release.
- If it’s legal to keep your catch, you can keep your catch.
- If surfperch is simply your favorite eating fish out there… great.
- I’m just bringing a subject to light via my own experiences and opinions.
Throughout my years of surf fishing, I’ve come across many types of anglers. Some anglers are out there for the pure joy of the sport, catching and releasing and loving the moment. Some are out there for the joy of the sport and a meal is an occasional perk. Others keep every fish they can legally keep. And then there are some who keep every fish they catch, regardless of the law.
I’m not “after” anyone as I write this article. But, I am going to offer my perspective on the idea of catching to keep when it comes to surfperch fishing.
A Little Bit About Myself
I’ve been fishing the surf since 2014 and I love surf fishing. I also love eating fish. Given my profession, I have the luxury of fishing quite often and I am ever-thankful for the gift of nature – fish, the ocean, and the beach being high-up in the category.
When Do I Keep A Fish to Eat?
I’m a big believer in taking only what you need when it comes to the sport of fishing. For me, that means taking what I know I or my family will eat in the next few days. When I catch a fish to keep, I’ve usually planned for it ahead of time, at least to some degree. Basically, if I know I have the time in the coming days to cook a meal that I can sit down and enjoy with family and/or friends, I might consider the option to keep my catch.
The next step would be catching something that meets my standards of a “keeper fish”. That’s where the surfperch falls short about 99% of the time. If I can’t catch something worth keeping, so be it. That’s fishing.
What is a Keeper Fish?
I can’t stress it enough that this entire article is strictly my opinion and that my opinions likely differ from the vast majority of anglers at least in some ways. Diversity of opinion is a fantastic thing and I fully support the notion.
A keeper fish, in short, is one that will feed everyone I’ll be feeding for the day in which I plan to eat the fish (with a few exceptions). Obviously, if I plan to host a larger gathering, more than one fish may be required. My goal is to keep as few fish as possible to feed my dinner party while keeping my catch as fresh as possible. Below are the rough standards I use to classify a “keeper fish”.
Standards Per Species
- Corbina: 18-inches, thick.
- Spotfin croaker: 18-inches, thick.
- Barred Surfperch: 15-inches, no other options.
- Yellowfin croaker: 16-inches, no other options.
- Halibut: 22-inches, relatively thick.
- Shovelnose guitarfish: Between 36 and 48-inches, relatively thick.
I know there are other species out there, but I don’t regularly consider keeping any other species.
Why I Don’t Keep Surfperch for Eating
Arguably the most popular species commonly caught in the surf of the west coast, surfperch might be the most commonly kept fish for eating. I don’t keep surfperch for eating purposes for two main reasons. 1.) They typically don’t provide much meat. 2.) When they are big enough to provide some meat, they’re usually pregnant.
Surfperch Provide Little Meat
When compared to almost any other commonly caught surf species, surfperch provide very little meat. In my opinion, I’d rather keep one 20-inch spotfin croaker than six or seven surfperch. Better yet, how’s a 4-foot guitarfish rather than 15 or 20 surfperch? That’s the way I look at keeping fish. I think as an angler, it’s my responsibility to not only abide by the law, but to be conscious of the effects my behaviors and decisions might have on an ecosystem.
I’m not pushing for a halt or a complete stop to keeping surfperch. I’m just illustrating the reasoning behind why I don’t keep surfperch. If you hop on social media, it won’t take long before you find one post and then another, and another of anglers keeping limits on surfperch. From my point of view, I would rather keep one or two fish that provide the same amount of meat if not more. A smaller species like the surfperch is more prone to overfishing for that very reason.
Again, I don’t want everyone to stop keeping surfperch altogether and start only keeping one species of fish. Keeping some surfperch here and there isn’t an issue. It’s constantly taking home limits that’s the issue. I still think back to a post made by an administrator on a Facebook Group by the name of “West Coast Surf Fishing” that I’ve referenced before:
“There are over 14,000 members on this page. If each of us kept a limit once a week, there would be 140,000 fewer fish in the ocean, per week. You can do the math and calculate how many fish would be gone from the ocean each year with just our group keeping a limit a week…” (West Coast Surf Fishing).
Pregnant Surfperch
Reason number two: if surfperch seem big enough to provide meat, they’re likely pregnant. Surfperch have a gestational period of about 6-months and this typically begins in November. That said, from November through the beginning of May, most female barred surfperch are pregnant. Not only are they pregnant, surfperch are viviparous. This means they give birth to live young. On top of that, it’s a mothers instinct to expel her fry (babies) when she is distressed or deems her life to be in danger.
Why does this matter? Well, aside from the gruesome image above and at the top of this page, when outside of the pregnant fish’s body, these live young count toward your daily bag limit.
What’s the concern? If you keep a slab surfperch and stash it away in your cooler, it may give birth to some 50+ babies. Meanwhile, if a warden were to stroll by and check out your catch, that’s game over. Imagine a fine for being some 30-fish over your daily bag limit. Yikes!
All legalities aside though, nobody wants to harm the surfperch population. If you think your fish is pregnant, just let it go. After all, when you release a fish, your odds of catching more fish are always better than if you were to keep it. I’ll argue that point with anyone.
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How about for bait?
I’ll keep them for bait here and there. Everything in moderation.
Great article as usual, Nick. I would add one more reason one would decide to keep a fish: the trash gets picked up the next day.
Fair enough…
Kudos, Nick. As a strictly CPR surf fisherman I appreciate your article. I am curious about one aspect of your article. I have never heard of anyone keeping a SNGF. How would you describe the meat?
It’s the cleanest white meat of any fish you’ll keep from the surf. For how clean it is, the flavor isn’t any better or worse than say a Corbina or croaker, and hali is still better. But the meat is literally the cleanest meat I’ve seen from the surf. Fantastic either beer battered or with a teriyaki drizzle.
At the bottom of this linked article, you’ll find the recipe I like. Here’s a video of how to fillet it though: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rTx8u027vWQ
Thanks for the info! Who knew!!
No problem!
Why are you out fishing if you don’t plan to eat fish? Just to sore-mouth as many as possible?
I’m out there to enjoy the ocean and continue catching fish for years to come.
Really? That’s what you came away from the article with? Are you allowed out in public without a gaurdian?
I’m assuming that’s why they’re “anonymous” lol they don’t want their guardian knowing they’re on the internet unsupervised! I liked the article and hope to fish in the ocean one day soon. I just started fishing this summer and am trying to learn as much as possible!
Appreciate the support, Echo. Good luck as you start your ocean fishing journey!
Your minimums are my maximums. For Corbina and Spotfin Croaker, I have a minimum of 16″, maximum 18″. For YFC, my minimum is 14″, maximum 16″. Any fish larger deserves to live and continue breeding. I don’t keep BSP for the same reasons, but if I lived up in Pismo or Oceano, I’d probably keep a few, since the slabs are more abundant up there.
Fair enough. Interesting concepts.
I do not believe in catch and release if you’re going to fish fish to eat not torture a fish which most selfish don’t feel that but how do you really know let’s put a hook in your mouth to drag you around the city for a little bit and tell me if it don’t hurt
Like I said, everyone will have their own opinions. I’ve never run the numbers, but I’d be willing to bet a good chunk of cash that if every angler who currently fishes were to keep every fish they caught, it wouldn’t be very long before nobody could catch any fish anymore. Conservation is a necessity.
Science has stated that fish can feel pain, HOWEVER- they do not feel pain the way a human would feel pain. In studies fish don’t even respond to what one would consider pain. Their nerves/censors aren’t the same as ours. So they feel something, but not what WE would consider pain. Now the quality of life after being caught and injured may be lessened, I’m unsure of that. But this is something I considered before fishing because I couldn’t catch a fish and he happy about it when I thought I was for sure hurting them.
😂🤣
Your point is that this is painful for the the fish.
So what?
In oregon and washington i can drive hundred miles and see no one fishing for them and there’s not much else in the surf…Can this much coastline and so few fishers actually affect the population ?…fyi ive tried twice and never caught one the surf is 15 foot 9 months a year
You might be surprised how many people are actually fishing on a regular basis. I’m confident we could do some damage if were were reckless.
Good on ya Nick. Catch and release is a must for anyone who wants to keep enjoying fishing
I appreciate your point of view and also really appreciate how people on this feed are willing and able to express their opinions respectfully. It’s very refreshing.
Thanks, Andrew!
14,000 FB members will not catch 140,000 fish a week.
These are exaggerated numbers . I bet most of those FB members rarely fish. And it is not easy to go out there and catch limits. Most of the time, you’re lucky to catch 5 fish.
And if you go to fishing tournament, most of those guys/gals are good to great anglers. Most don’t catch limits.
I agree the numbers were “extreme” as I stated in the article. But, they aren’t extreme for a county, and that was just 14000 members who are on a single FB group across the entire west coast. I thinks it’s easily believable that 15 fishermen fish every beach in SD every day (averaged across the year as it’s likely well above 30 per beach during the summertime). Excluding the tiny beaches simply named for their surf break and the MLPAs, that still leaves about 20 beaches. If I’m fishing alone, a ten fish day is not out of the ordinary, but let’s say a typical angler averages 4 fish an outing. Let’s say every angler decides to keep every fish they catch. That’s 15 x 20 x 4. Which will equal 1200 fish gone every day out of the beaches of San Diego alone. That’s 8400 fish gone every week. Just in San Diego. 140,000 gone a week from the entire west coast doesn’t seem like an exaggeration anymore…
Roy Wright Jr: I’m 100% catch and release, including the WSB and numerous halibut I’ve caught. I have problem with others keeping their catch, but I do have a problem with someone saying “let’s put a hook in your mouth and drag you around”. Let’s all be civil and try to respect other’s opinions. Have a great day 😉
Thanks for sharing Nick, enjoyed the article. As you know, I’m 100% catch and release. I always say “A harvested fish will make a meal, a released one will provide offspring for years”. Let em Go and Let em Grow
Agreed! Good to hear from you again and tight lines out there!
I will keep fishing and keeping. serf per h are excellent! Thanks for the tip on the law. I’ll be sure to squeeze out the baby’s before i throw them in the cooler.
Roy- We’re hunters and gatherers. As least some us are.
Catch and release satisfies this urge in me, and it allows me to release fish for others to catch the same fish to satisfy their hunting and gathering gene.
Lance Magnuson
Where are you fishing at ?
San Diego mostly but sometimes further north.
In Texas, where I am from, we have theTexas Parks and Wildlife Department. They set the rules every year on limits and sizes, and these rules change according to the viability and health of populations of various species.
I am always careful to strictly follow these rules and in doing so, even by taking maximum legal limits, I am actually participating in the management of that population of species.
I just prefer to allow the overall management and setting of those guidelines to be handled by very competent wildlfe biologists who have, in our state, a stellar record in handling fisheries.
Very nice article. Thought-provoking and well-written.
Very good point. Thanks for the input.
Learned something new, thanks Nick
No problem, Mike. Tight lines out there!
Good article Nick ,
I’ve go surf fishing as often as I can. That’s about every three years.
I wish there were more anglers like you .
Have yet to catch a perch that I just had to keep. Maybe I’ll find it someday.
Keep up the good life and thanks for the info! John
Nick, I completely agree that killing female surfperch, pregnant or otherwise, is a counter productive strategy. I believe keeping male fish is much less damaging to the population. Fortunately all surfperch (Embiotocidae) are EASY to identify as males and females. The visual difference between surfperch genders is easily observed. PK does a great job of demonstrating this in the video linked below.
https://youtu.be/n0-6JRzNi8c
Limit your catch, don’t catch your limit, and let the chiquitas swim away.
Iver Lien
For the most part, I agree with you. I get that whole- conservation idea which to many is almost becoming a fanatic religion. My daughter caught a female slab for the first time and she didn’t know it had 30 babies inside. She found out while cleaning. She really felt bad- and well it is a learning experience. Now she will be more aware of the swollen cavity of females and release the fish. I’ve taught her fishing since she was two years old. I also showed her how to tell what is female or male.
Here’s my qualm- and you’ll say, just because the law limits are there that says a limit of 10 per species and 10.5″ for the red-tailed perch doesn’t mean you’ll always go by it. No laws are broken if you take or accidentally take a female perch with babies. That has to be something you have to evaluate yourself-.
If I feel like taking all 10″ perch- I’ll take them all and eat them. I didn’t break the any laws. Oh and by the way, I watch people fillet fish- and say..there isn’t much meat in them. Take it from an islander like me, We gill and gut the fish- and eat the whole entire thing.
This is absurd. Nowadays people create sensitivities out of thin air and start preaching. To “think” that weekend warriors casting from the shore is the reason for fish extinction is comical. Instead of finding “feel good” excuses for ending the life of a fish, own what you are doing. I eat, fish dies. Simple.
Also, just because people can multiply couple of numbers, it does not mean they make sense. We are 8 billion on this planet. If each of us eat a serving of fish per week (let’s say salmon which is strongly recommended) then please calculate.
Make peace with the fact that we end life to eat and stay alive.
Look man, I’m more than happy to keep a fish every once in a while, but it’s simply not a good idea to keep a pregnant surfperch. If I want to keep fishing and I want my kids to experience what I’ve experienced, it’s not a bad idea to be smart about what you keep and when you keep it.