Rockfish season to end this weekend

The fall rockfish season will end this weekend because the Department of Natural Resources projects that recreational and

charter boat anglers will have caught their quota.

"Based on the information we had through Oct. 25, making a projection through the 31st, and trying to look through November, it looked like the quota would be reached by the first weekend of November," said William P. Jensen, chief of fisheries for the DNR Tidewater Administration.

The rockfish season was supposed to include the first three, three-day weekends this month. Fishing for rockfish this weekend instead will be limited to Saturday and Sunday.

The recreational quota is 695,300 pounds and the charter boat limit is 245,400.

Jensen said DNR issued some 125,000 permits this season, more than 20,000 people took trips on charter boats and the success rate "was pretty good."

The average fish caught weighed about 6 pounds.