Steilacoom bottom fishing 1/14/19

Sorry, kind of a late posting. Ive been working straight 12s since then, first chance ive gotten to make a post. As the title states, I hit Steilacoom for some much needed fishing action.  The weather report stated the fog and low clouds should burn off early, and get up to 52 degrees and sunny. Not so much, it stayed fogged in all a day, and only got to 38 when i left at 4pm. I was frozen! Anyways, I launched at 830 am, and with a couple bathroom and lunch breaks, i fished for about 6.5 hours. I started in shallow, and caught few. First fish of the new year was a white-spotted greenling in about 25 fow. I then caught 4-5 rock soles. It was pretty slow in shallow, but at least the fish were good sized, all 13-16 inches.  I moved out deep and the fishing picked up. I started right at the 120' line, and let the wind push me in from there. Right at the 120 line, it was sculpin city. Pretty annoying. However, once I got inside of 105', pretty consistant action. Not as good as summer time, but decent for winter fishing. I ended up finding a drift from 60' to 35' that was my best action of the day. I think the wind and current was congregating bait right up to the beach. I did manage to catch a new species for me. I believe its a pacific cod, caught in 110 fow. Its pretty small, so may be hard to tell...but the coloration is correct, and there is a tiny little chin barbel. Anyways, it wasnt my best day for numbers, but the size average was outstanding.  Im always amazed at the lack of bottom fishers out there, as i find the flatfish some of my favorite fishing.


Totals:
Rock Sole -- 32
Staghorn Sculpin -- 14
English Sole -- 3
Pacific Sanddab -- 3
White-spotted Greenling -- 1
Shiner perch -- 1
Pacific Cod? -- 1

I'm envious of that flat water!  Rock sole are a favorite table fish of mine.

That cod looks like a Pacific tomcod, Microgadus proximus.  Basically a smaller cousin of Pacific cod.  The key difference between the two is in the chin barbel: a tomcod's barbel length is 1/2 the diameter of their eye, whereas a cod's barbel length is about equal to the eye diameter.  I've only caught one tomcod myself, but it looked exactly like the one in your photo.  Congrats on the new species!

I'm envious of that flat water!  Rock sole are a favorite table fish of mine.

That cod looks like a Pacific tomcod, Microgadus proximus.  Basically a smaller cousin of Pacific cod.  The key difference between the two is in the chin barbel: a tomcod's barbel length is 1/2 the diameter of their eye, whereas a cod's barbel length is about equal to the eye diameter.  I've only caught one tomcod myself, but it looked exactly like the one in your photo.  Congrats on the new species!

Hey thanks for the help with the fish ID ! 

I'm envious of that flat water!  Rock sole are a favorite table fish of mine.

That cod looks like a Pacific tomcod, Microgadus proximus.  Basically a smaller cousin of Pacific cod.  The key difference between the two is in the chin barbel: a tomcod's barbel length is 1/2 the diameter of their eye, whereas a cod's barbel length is about equal to the eye diameter.  I've only caught one tomcod myself, but it looked exactly like the one in your photo.  Congrats on the new species!

If you're interested in ever joining me on a trip up there, I can PM you when I'm thinking of going. Kind of a long haul for you .....but, in the summertime, on a nice cloudy 70-degree day, you can have 150 fish days up there. You're allowed 15 flatfish, and you could have my limit as well, so I could send you home with 30 fish .  I personally prefer the sanddabs. I will keep them if I get into the larger ones. occasionally, I can catch them around 12-13" in length.

I'm envious of that flat water!  Rock sole are a favorite table fish of mine.

That cod looks like a Pacific tomcod, Microgadus proximus.  Basically a smaller cousin of Pacific cod.  The key difference between the two is in the chin barbel: a tomcod's barbel length is 1/2 the diameter of their eye, whereas a cod's barbel length is about equal to the eye diameter.  I've only caught one tomcod myself, but it looked exactly like the one in your photo.  Congrats on the new species!

If you're interested in ever joining me on a trip up there, I can PM you when I'm thinking of going. Kind of a long haul for you .....but, in the summertime, on a nice cloudy 70-degree day, you can have 150 fish days up there. You're allowed 15 flatfish, and you could have my limit as well, so I could send you home with 30 fish .  I personally prefer the sanddabs. I will keep them if I get into the larger ones. occasionally, I can catch them around 12-13" in length.

Yeah come fish up here, I got an extra room. Never got to fish with you while we were down in CA. Also that fish was definitely a tomcod, fairley common in the south Sound.

Thank you for the nice report! I also like bottom fishing. In 2015 I caught something similar in Shilshore area, guys said it is Pacific Hake.