Neah Bay 5/27

Fished both days. On our way back we ran into some seagulls diving and some type of fish boiling on the surface. We cast into it and found out it was a massive school of Sables!

 

You beat the odds and came back with a boat load. Thanks for sharing.

 

What did ya throw at them ?

Thx

 

How many people were on board you’re vessel. I’m assuming 4. Seems like an excess of fish. Just sayin.

 

Nice job on the Sable.

 

That is cool. I have never caught sable fish on top of the water. What is the limit on them? I looked through the regs can't figure it out unless they are considered a food fish. I already paid for an education on the water once this year hoping not to do it again.

 

Look awfull small for Sablefish/Black Cod and I have never heard of them being a surface feeder.

Hake or Pollock maybe?

Limit on BC/Sablefish is 2 per person, dumb but it is the limit.

Nice job on the Butts and Lings by the way.

WD

 

Repost, Opps!

 

My understanding is Sables would count for towards your 9 bottom fish limit. So minus two Ling you would be allowed 7 Sables each. That being said I am not convinced those are Sablefish. Maybe juvenilles look a bit different and come up in water column?

 

Pipe Jigs and Norwegians for the Hali and Ling. Darts for the sables.

 

Yeah they are considered bottom fish according to the fish checker and she did confirm they are Sables. I have never seen the feed on the surface either but we saw a bunch of Trawlers out. Maybe they are targeting these?

 

Never seen Sable's surface before. Hake will as they commonly travel the water column from the surface to bottom. I bet they are Hake.

Regardless nice job on the bottom fish.

 

They are definitely not hake. I would believe juvinile Sables.

 

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Never 100% trust a fish checker for corect fish ID, some are pretty bad at it from what I have seen in person, especially the newer ones.

As far as the limit goes, since it is not a listed species with a listed limit or restriction, Sablefish/Black Cod is considered "Other Food Fish" and has a limit of two per species from the way I just read it on page 104 of the current WDFW regulations for MA4.

Sablefish should have a listing of it's own IMO and it should be quite liberal, (10 or so, no way just 2), since they are hard to target while sport fishing and sport fisherman as a whole barely catch ANY of the annual catch compared to commercial fishing.

I still don't think they are BC/Sablefish, just don't look right and surface feeding is something I have never heard of them doing.

WD

 

Sablefish is considered a bottom fish so it counts towards the 9 fish limit.

 

That's awesome, you guys roped em'! I thought bass boiling on the surface was a sight, now that would be cool to see!

 

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I agree it does count towards the 9 Bottomfish Limit but because it is not specifically listed on page 104 for MA4 it is subject to a 2 fish per non listed species limit as a "Other Food Fish", see page 11 for the list you posted above.

I may be wrong but I am pretty sure I am not.

WD

 

Not sure I follow your logic Ken. It says 9 bottom fish total and then refers you to page 10 for the definition of bottomfish where it includes Sablefish. What am I missing? Other Foodfish is for species that occur irregularly in our waters and Sables don’t fit in that description in my mind.

 

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Steve, I just called WDFW for clarification and you are 100% correct, my interpretation of it was incorrect and you can keep up to 9 BC/Sablefish per person per day in MA4.

Sorry for any confusion I may have caused anyone.

WD.

 

No worries, the regs are confusing for most including myself. Glad you got to the bottom of it.