Area 10 Pacific Cod

Went out to mooch salmon today at West Point.  Not a ton of bait out there.  What I could see was at the bottom around 170 feet.  I dropped my line and hooked a fish.  First Pacific Cod I've ever caught out of the Puget Sound.

Nice! Never seen one before too. How was salmon fishing?

Salmon fishing was slow. I did get a 28" king mooching the day before. http://aoty.northwestkayakanglers.com/catches/show/1772

I miss those things.  Used to be all over the sound.  Those and pollack, black cod, and hake.  I don't miss the hake!  All are more or less gone now.   

-Allen

That's awesome to see. Last squid season, my friend and I pulled up probably 6-8 smolts during one night while jigging for squid. We were surprised by their presence.

I think I caught that same cod about a week ago off West Beach. Although I was in about 15 feet  right off the point of west beach and north beach.  It hit on a marabou jig. 

I think they are all still there, just deep... I'm always curious about dropping my line into 200 feet of water in the sound to see what's lurking down there.  I still have yet to catch a ratfish.  Perhaps a "wildcard" fish we add to AOTY next year.

I think I caught that same cod about a week ago off West Beach. Although I was in about 15 feet  right off the point of west beach and north beach.  It hit on a marabou jig. 

I've been picking up several bullhead on the bottom in shallower water that look like cod but have spines around their gills.   They are in pretty thick with the bait.

I think they are all still there, just deep... I'm always curious about dropping my line into 200 feet of water in the sound to see what's lurking down there.  I still have yet to catch a ratfish.  Perhaps a "wildcard" fish we add to AOTY next year.

I'm sure there are still some, but certainly not in the numbers there used to be.  Gone are the days of the huge masses of p-cod coming in shallow to spawn in Agate Pass ... remember that?  Or the hordes of hake and black cod that use to pester us while salmon fishing.   

-Allen

I think they are all still there, just deep... I'm always curious about dropping my line into 200 feet of water in the sound to see what's lurking down there.  I still have yet to catch a ratfish.  Perhaps a "wildcard" fish we add to AOTY next year.

I'm sure there are still some, but certainly not in the numbers there used to be.  Gone are the days of the huge masses of p-cod coming in shallow to spawn in Agate Pass ... remember that?  Or the hordes of hake and black cod that use to pester us while salmon fishing.   

-Allen

I've only been here since '93.  Probably before my time.

I think they are all still there, just deep... I'm always curious about dropping my line into 200 feet of water in the sound to see what's lurking down there.  I still have yet to catch a ratfish.  Perhaps a "wildcard" fish we add to AOTY next year.

I'm sure there are still some, but certainly not in the numbers there used to be.  Gone are the days of the huge masses of p-cod coming in shallow to spawn in Agate Pass ... remember that?  Or the hordes of hake and black cod that use to pester us while salmon fishing.   

-Allen

I've only been here since '93.  Probably before my time.

Yeah, I'm talking about the 70's and 80's ...

Hit the deep muddy areas with bait (herring chunks or squid) for ratfish.     You'll pick up more flounder and dogfish than ratfish, but they are there.

-Allen

That's wicked cool. Could be a sign they are in the rebound.

I think the MA10 supply of true cod is fairly steady. I get them every year about now, they follow the herring in then clear out when the salmon runs get going in the fall. They never get much bigger than about 1.5 pounds in here.

I miss the days when you could get them up to 10 pounds out at NB and they were stacked up on the bottom. Haven't seen that for years. They are some of the best tasting fish for soups with that light texture white meat.

I harvested one out at NB while halibut fishing. Quite tasty.

Sent from my Motorola Flip phone.

They are still out there deep the hacke trawlers bring them in by the boat load as by catch.