Black Cod Fishing

[Pink Pounder]

Does anyone know anything about black cod (a.k.a sablefish) fishing. I have had them smoked before and they were really good. I was wondering if anyone knows how to catch them commercial uses special traps are sport allowed to use traps, what depth, what to look for on your sonar, bait, and were you find them on Vancouver island. thanks

 

[spring time]

they also longline them too west coast but deep

 

[Bod]

I've caught a few fishing offshore for Halibut in 350+ feet of water but don't know much about them as well. Would love to be able to do it consistently also.

 

[sammyslabber]

I've heard reports of catching them off Beachy Head - 350'+; sable fish aka black cod were commercially dyed, maybe they also added some liquid smoke...similar to that inedible buffet crap they try to pass off as smoked salmon. Sable fish are renowned for their texture/ buttery taste; excellent when poached or lightly smoked, fine table fare indeed. If I recall http://seachangecanadiangifts.ca/ smokes them for the restaurant trade.

 

[searun]

I'm with you on that Ken. Caught a few incidentals, but it would sure be nice to figure out how to get them consistently. They are tasty!

 

[Karma-Kazi]

I caught a half dozen once off pedder in 380 ft of water on a failed anchor drop

-KK

 

[Doug]

A friend worked on a research boat which used larger traps to catch them, then they would tag them and release. They usually fish way off the west coast and always in 800' +of water. Any fish that didn't survive he brought home and smoked the fillets. They were very tasty

Also when growing up my mother (Norwegian) would always purchase smoked black cod (died orange) then I think she soaked it in milk and then steamed it along with boiled potatoes. It actually turned out good.

 

[FishWhisperer]

I commercially fished Black Cod for 20 yrs with traps, 100 traps per string, 10 strings of gear. Usually, we would anchor our shallow end in about 250 - 300 fathoms. Lay the string out over the edge into anywhere from 500 to 600 fathoms or deeper, run along the edge then bring the 2nd end of the string back up into the shallows to anchor.
Depending on the time of year, the Black Cod would be concentrated in a certain "section" (depth) of the string. We would take note and lay most all the 10 strings in that depth, with the ends anchored in the shallows.
In the late spring-early summer you would find more Black Cod, and a larger average size up in the shallows 150 - 200 fathoms with a high percentage of mature females.
If you want to catch big Black Cod, you have to go deep. As stated, 150 - 200 fathoms is shallow for mature Black Cod.
That's why it is difficult to raise Black Cod in farms. It's very difficult to reproduce the pressures produced at the depths that Black Cod thrive in.
Catching the odd incidental runt happens now and then but, I'm afraid that it will be rare to get a big Black Cod on the hook unless you are very deep.

Edit: For bait we would use frozen squid in a mesh bait bag hanging in the trap then throw a 2lb or 3lb block of frozen hake in the trap to get a feeding frenzy going on.

 

[Aces]

Jigged them up on the edges of the canyons on the way in from tuna fishing.

600-650ft down on a spreader bar with a white hali grub. Got 18 one day, yum!

 

[Sharphooks]

I also fished blackcod (AKA sablefish) back in my days as a commie deck guy. As mentioned above, the operative phrase is DEEP ( 50 - 100 fathoms, although they've been known to be as deep as 1,000 fathoms). Steep drop-offs, usually around harder ground ---rock spikes (lost a lot of L/L gear because of those rock spikes)

They share water/ground/depth with Turbot and Pacific Grenadier (AKA rat tails)--- turbot (as opposed to arrowtooth flounder) are very similar to sablefish as far as eating --- white buttery meat, lots of oil --- if an Orca showed up at a restaurant, my guess is he'd be ordering either sablefish or turbot because they're so deep orcas only get to eat them by plucking them off someone's L/L's hooks.

There's also the skilfish in that same family (anaplopomatidea) They look like blackcod only they're HUGE. I saw a picture of a guy holding one in a bar in Sitka once---it was easily 100 lbs!

 

[Charter Tofino]

Jigged them up on the edges of the canyons on the way in from tuna fishing.

600-650ft down on a spreader bar with a white hali grub. Got 18 one day, yum!

We tried this and were getting destroyed by what I assume was sixgills. They sheared off everything we put down after one big pull. Would love to poke around again out there....

 

[Pink Pounder]

do you put them on a sandy bottom or on a reef

I commercially fished Black Cod for 20 yrs with traps, 100 traps per string, 10 strings of gear. Usually, we would anchor our shallow end in about 250 - 300 fathoms. Lay the string out over the edge into anywhere from 500 to 600 fathoms or deeper, run along the edge then bring the 2nd end of the string back up into the shallows to anchor.
Depending on the time of year, the Black Cod would be concentrated in a certain "section" (depth) of the string. We would take note and lay most all the 10 strings in that depth, with the ends anchored in the shallows.
In the late spring-early summer you would find more Black Cod, and a larger average size up in the shallows 150 - 200 fathoms with a high percentage of mature females.
If you want to catch big Black Cod, you have to go deep. As stated, 150 - 200 fathoms is shallow for mature Black Cod.
That's why it is difficult to raise Black Cod in farms. It's very difficult to reproduce the pressures produced at the depths that Black Cod thrive in.
Catching the odd incidental runt happens now and then but, I'm afraid that it will be rare to get a big Black Cod on the hook unless you are very deep.

Edit: For bait we would use frozen squid in a mesh bait bag hanging in the trap then throw a 2lb or 3lb block of frozen hake in the trap to get a feeding frenzy going on.

 

[captmike]

I commercially fished Black Cod for 20 yrs with traps, 100 traps per string, 10 strings of gear. Usually, we would anchor our shallow end in about 250 - 300 fathoms. Lay the string out over the edge into anywhere from 500 to 600 fathoms or deeper, run along the edge then bring the 2nd end of the string back up into the shallows to anchor.
Depending on the time of year, the Black Cod would be concentrated in a certain "section" (depth) of the string. We would take note and lay most all the 10 strings in that depth, with the ends anchored in the shallows.
In the late spring-early summer you would find more Black Cod, and a larger average size up in the shallows 150 - 200 fathoms with a high percentage of mature females.
If you want to catch big Black Cod, you have to go deep. As stated, 150 - 200 fathoms is shallow for mature Black Cod.
That's why it is difficult to raise Black Cod in farms. It's very difficult to reproduce the pressures produced at the depths that Black Cod thrive in.
Catching the odd incidental runt happens now and then but, I'm afraid that it will be rare to get a big Black Cod on the hook unless you are very deep.

Edit: For bait we would use frozen squid in a mesh bait bag hanging in the trap then throw a 2lb or 3lb block of frozen hake in the trap to get a feeding frenzy going on.

we would catch them on our halibut gear at 250 fm off Langara on the edge of the red trees,along with idotfish.I hear they make good bait.

 

[ziggy]

When I was a kid we used to fish off the dock in Butedale and catch what the commercial fishermen told us were blackcod by the dozens. They schooled up under the wharf where the halibut heads and fish guts were dumped over. I remember they often puked up rotted fish when you caught them and we thought them disgusting and only fit for halibut bait.
Given the depths people say they frequent makes me wonder if they were indeed black cod. It was a lot of years ago so perhaps the term black cod was used for a different fish (although they look similar from what I remember)?

 

[Cuba Libre]

Grey Cod or hake???

 

[searun]

Sounds like Gray cod. May have to try the glow grub trick if there's time one day out in the canyons.

 

[wstcoaster]

most likely they were blackcod--small ones 2 to 3 pounders can be caught off cannery docks in port hardy most summers; not the last year tho

 

[FishWhisperer]

Hey Slayer, we fished Black Cod along the steep edge. "Hard bottom" we called it. Red Tree coral would come up on the traps sometimes. As sharphooks stated, you'll get incidental Turbot, Ratfish and also Rougheyes in the deep.
I have caught Skilfish before in the traps. One was about 25 lbs off Marble Island and we caught one of the Farallon Islands that weighed in at 50 lbs dressed out and headed. And ya they really do look like a Black Cod, they're thicker near the tail and have wider shoulders tho. All in all, very similar. The head looks the same, just wider.

 

[nooky]

Here's how you get em'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DIBPvV10zk

 

[FishWhisperer]

I think this is off the Bowie Seamount. Damn I'm young here, 18 yrs old. Handsome little bugger tho