Rockfish (mixed)

About Rockfish (mixed) in Mexico

What “rockfish” means in the counts

Ensenada boats log their mixed bottom catch as one line, rocote or rockfish, rather than species by species. Behind that number are dozens of Sebastes species, most often vermilion rockfish, bocaccio, copper rockfish, starry rockfish, chilipepper and yellowtail rockfish, along with many smaller reds and browns. This page collects those mixed counts; each named species has its own page.

Where and when in Mexico

Rockfish are the backbone of winter fishing out of Ensenada. Boats work the deep reefs and banks off Punta Banda, the Todos Santos Islands and south toward Santo Tomás and San Quintín, usually in roughly 150 to 600 feet of water. They bite all year and carry the fleet when surface fish like yellowtail and bonito are gone. Mexico Fish Reports' Ensenada counts have logged mixed rockfish every year since 2004, making it the single largest line in our Mexico data.

How they're fished

Rockfish trips drop dropper-loop rigs with two or three shrimp flies or circle hooks baited with squid strips or mackerel on heavy sinkers, often with lingcod and whitefish mixed in. Metal jigs and swimbaits fished just above the reef pick off the larger fish.

Good to know

Deep rockfish usually suffer barotrauma when reeled up, so released fish need a descending device to survive. The white fillets are a favorite for fish tacos back at the dock.

Fishing rules in Mexico

• General limit: 10 fish per angler per day, max 5 of one species

Source: NOM-017-PESC-1994 §4.9.1 (2013 mod.). Rules change; confirm current limits, seasons and permits with CONAPESCA before you fish.

Where Rockfish (mixed) are caught in Mexico

• Ensenada 34,987 counted · last Oct 2026

Fish counts by year

From fish counts posted by the Mexican landings on Mexico Fish Reports. Years with no posted counts are not shown.

Boats catching Rockfish (mixed) (2025–2026)

• El Cazador Ensenada 3,022 counted on 63 trips
• Don Jesus I Ensenada 781 counted on 21 trips
• Sammy Ensenada 751 counted on 25 trips
• No Limitz Ensenada 605 counted on 25 trips
• Coco Loco Ensenada 430 counted on 7 trips
• Last Cast Ensenada 358 counted on 13 trips
• Yaz - Itzi Ensenada 317 counted on 10 trips
• Ultimate (MX) Ensenada 160 counted on 5 trips

Rockfish (mixed) photos from Mexico

More Rockfish & Bottomfish

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