Cedros Sportfishing, September 29 to October 4th, 2026

[jurelometer]

Catching bait to feed pen raised BFT is what led to Cedros being closed to boats greater than 35' long.

Say what?

Cedros was closed when the  Islas del Pacífico de la Península de Baja California Biosphere Reserve was created in 2016. The main point was to preserve some key habitats on and around the islands, which also meant locking out the tuna pen bait netters that were already trying to figure out how to use Cedros as a base. One of the biologists involved in creating the marine reserve ended up starting the first ecotourism lodge on the island, which ended up being the first fishing lodge.  He has no love for the netters.

Now, how good a job the Mexican Navy does in keeping the netters out may be another story.

The biosphere rules do allow for small scale local artisan fishing and sport fishing, but the stampede of foreign long range sports boats are now a thing of the past. The current situation of fishing from lodges on the island is much better for the local economy, and IMHO is also a better sportfishing experience than what you are going to get from the deck of a long range boat.

-J

[Keta]

Sport fishing has far less impact on the resources than comfish and in every place I have fished sports fishermen were regulated as well or better than comfish.
In Alaska confiscation bi-catch of halibut and immature salmon is far greater than what sports and subsistence fishermen retain.

Catch and release is also a joke, the mortality rate for some released fish is high, not as high as retained fish (100%) but still high and is a waste of food.  Keeping a limit can kill less fish than C&R.  In the Eastern Pacific yelloweye rockfish can not be kept but even with the mandatory use of barotrama devices the survival rate is not that good and gets worse the deeper the fish were when hooked.

A few years ago ODFW cane up with a way to harvest suspended rockfish without hooking yellowtail.  We were allowed 7 fish a day and often you limited out in 3 drops.  One pass by a dagger  through a school of canary rockfish caught more fish that the entire sports fish fleet caught in a year.  ODFWs solution, reduce our limit to 2 a day.  It is not worth burning high $ fuel and running 25-30 miles offshore for two 3-7 pound fish.

Comfish is a far bigger problem in most areas than sports fishermen.

FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS EAT FARM RAISED FISH.