Cod

[JT26]

I was reading the post about the les davis pier, and someone mentioned cod.
My dad always tells me about how when he was younger, he could go out to piers in puget sound at night time and easily catch cod. He says he hasnt caught a cod there in over 20 years.
What happened to them?

[Toni]

I started out at Pt. Def. dock in 1974 and I watched them take more than the limit then. 1989 at Les Davis they took more than their limits (buckets). After my children got a little older and times were more difficult we didn't fish as much. I don't know what happened in the last 15 years but I saw what was a start before the 90's.
Your dad is right it was like that. Night would come and the tide was incoming or the change you could limit. It was 15 then for the different types of cod like fish. Even skates.

[Shad_Eating_Grin]

commercial fisheries wiped them out in the late 1970s-1980s, just when I started fishing for them as a kid. Now, retention of cod, pollack, hake etc. is not allowed in Puget Sound. It's been closed since I remember, and it does not look like the stock are coming back at all. Environmental factors might also be a reason for the non-comeback.

[zen leecher aka Bill W]

it was trawlers dragging nets on the bottom. I used to catch cod fishing off the piers at Haines Wharf and the old one north of the Edmonds ferry docks. I don't think either pier exists anymore. Haines Wharf does but I don't think anyone fishes off of it anymore and it goes by a different name.

We also used to catch lots of hake once it got dark and they came up from the depths

[Easy Limits]

Cod are pretty much wiped out in Puget Sound. You gotta go out in to the Straight to get them now days.

[Mike Carey]

and what a shame that is. I arrived in Seattle in 87' and gt to catch a few over at Jeff Head (the inlet south of the Head). One or two years of a few fish and then they were gone.

[Dave]

Around 1982 I started driving, and began going to the Edmonds public fishing pier to fish for cod or what ever would bite. Back then lots bit. We would catch true cod, ling cod, perch, rock cod, and flounder with ease. We never over limited though I saw many fill buckets with fish, definitely over limiting. We fished early morning and late nights on weekends while other high schoolers were out at keg parties. Now in most if not all of Puget Sound it is unlawful to retain any true cod aka pacific cod. We also fished the Mukilteo ferry dock often and by about 1983 I had my first 12 foot aluminum which we took out to the oil docks in Edmonds. We would tie up to the pilings under the docks and slay the huge perch that were abundant back then using sand worms. Delicious fish! Today these fish populations seem scarce. I am sure the reasons are human related as mentioned by others. It’s too bad these fish never recovered once the state began limiting the catch. I have heard that there are large flounder in the Warm Beach area at the mouth of the Stilly but I have not been there. Other than that, I know these delicious white meat species are now harder to find these days and the harvest is very limited. Kind of depressing. JT, don't give up on this. The fishing piers do offer some fair fishing at times so if you want to wet a line, there are fish to be caught. There just might not be as many now as the days when we were younger and fish were more abundant.

[JT26]

Cod are pretty much wiped out in Puget Sound. You gotta go out in to the Straight to get them now days.

two years ago we took two trips to neah bay, and caught a whole bunch of black cod(not seabass/rockfish, actual cods) but we only kept a few cause my dad said they were very oily. anyways, are you talking about true cods in the strait? i have never caught one and would love to, and if my dad knew there were actually true cods there, he would take to boat in a second. do you know a specific area in the strait..or anywhere in the state??

[Easy Limits]

Catching true cod can be hit and miss. Of the few times I have fished out of Neah Bay I have seen some caught.

[Anonymous]

Catching true cod can be hit and miss. Of the few times I have fished out of Neah Bay I have seen some caught.

It can be hit and miss. I fished the chicken ranch out on Swiftsure Bank one year and got into a huge Cod hole. What was happening was the halibut were eating the cod. We ended up with tons of true cod of 10-15 pounds and halibut in the high 40's and low 60's. This is a great fishery when you can find the cod. The good thing about searching for the cod is your chances of hooking a nice ling go up, and if you find the cod, you most likely have found the halibut...just my experience (over 15 years worth). The cod are thicker on the northeast side of Swiftsure by Carmanah and this extends up toward Cape Beale. Wow...bringing back ancient memories of when I was five years old and my dad took us up there in his Grady White Sailfish. The areas off Cape Beale and the Long Hole on La Perouse Bank are all excellent areas for true cod. I do well in 150 - 250' of water...

[Shad_Eating_Grin]

Cod are pretty much wiped out in Puget Sound. You gotta go out in to the Straight to get them now days.

two years ago we took two trips to neah bay, and caught a whole bunch of black cod(not seabass/rockfish, actual cods) but we only kept a few cause my dad said they were very oily. anyways, are you talking about true cods in the strait? i have never caught one and would love to, and if my dad knew there were actually true cods there, he would take to boat in a second. do you know a specific area in the strait..or anywhere in the state??

the "black cod" are actually "sablefish." Very popular to eat with some folks (like me) and too oily for others. I see them on sale every week at Costco. You'll also find them with regularity at Japanese sushi/teriyaki restaurants.