Black Cod

Black Cod (or Butterfish,or Sablefish are other names) is one of my favorite fish to eat but I have never caught one. I have watched videos of people fishing for them and they go deep and use traps, 700 feet seems to be a good depth.

Has anyone caught Black Cod from a kayak? I doubt it...but I have heard of fisherman targeting them in the San Francisco bay. Not sure if that was on line or using traps.

Just bored because of COVID so I started looking into it.

Thanks...

I've done a lot of research on this as well, as I also love black cod. The juveniles sometimes show up shallow, and people can even catch them from piers at times. However, I've heard the juveniles are not as fatty/marbled as the adults.

As for the adults, I've heard the same as you: gotta fish really, really deep for them. Guys up here on the central Oregon Coast catch them regularly when targeting Pacific halibut, but they're fishing 600-800 FOW.

Not a native Hawaiian but Butterfish is not Sable?   

Are these aka Hake?  I used to catch hake while PB trolling for salmon

Are these aka Hake?  I used to catch hake while PB trolling for salmon

Black cod (aka, sablefish) and hake are different species. The former is delicious. The latter, not so much.

Maybe what I heard on the North Coast was true. I heard about a guy that caught them in about 50 FOW, I didn't believe it, nor could I verify it so I didn't mention it.

I guess I'll have to keep buying it once in a while. It is gooood stuff! 

This is kind of a long video about commercial guys fishing for Black Cod. You can skip through it to see dropping and pulling traps etc. 

I'm sure it's possible. There's nothing stopping them from swimming into shallower water. But if it was a regular thing, we'd probably see more incidental black cod catches from guys fishing for other species.

I have a buddy who was a commercial fishing boat observer who'd gift me black cod fillets all the time. I guess the black cod needed to be of a certain size to sell to the market, so he'd give me all these delicious 12-15 inch long fillets that they couldn't sell. But then he moved away  . The boats he worked on were typically fishing black cod in 1,000 FOW, either via longline or traps.

There have been a few discussions about black cod on Coastside over the last few years. I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention at the time, but it seemed like a DEEP water technique that was best handled with electric reels.


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Just remembered the take-away message from the Coastside discussions. Since they are listed as Federal Groundfish in the CA regs, they are subject to the same depth restrictions as rockfish. That pretty much takes any recreational fishing for adult black cod off the table.


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Just remembered the take-away message from the Coastside discussions. Since they are listed as Federal Groundfish in the CA regs, they are subject to the same depth restrictions as rockfish. That pretty much takes any recreational fishing for adult black cod off the table.


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We have an all depth season in the northern management area. It’s a long way out to where they are though.

Clayman, you had a nice supply for some good fish. I'd trade Lingcod for Black Cod any day...ooops that sounds illegal somehow.

Thanks AlexB, I didn't know the regs on them. The only way I'll catch one is I get very lucky while halibut fishing. Fat chance! I figured an electric reel would be the way to go. I get tired of pulling up sand dabs from 120 FOW. 700 feet + does not sound like fun.

Oh well, looking forward to lingcod and crabs some day...

We have an all depth season in the northern management area. It’s a long way out to where they are though.

Matt and I have talked about potential Humboldt black cod spots to access via kayak during that season. Delgada Canyon west of Shelter Cove looked possible. The canyon (Mattole?) just SW of the Cape is even more accessible. But would the black cod be there? I don't know. It'd only meet the depth criteria for their habitat. I read that they like blue clay substrate.

Clayman, you had a nice supply for some good fish. I'd trade Lingcod for Black Cod any day...ooops that sounds illegal somehow.

Same here, and I love lingcod!

Just remembered the take-away message from the Coastside discussions. Since they are listed as Federal Groundfish in the CA regs, they are subject to the same depth restrictions as rockfish. That pretty much takes any recreational fishing for adult black cod off the table.


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We have an all depth season in the northern management area. ItÂ’s a long way out to where they are though.

Ah yes. Forgot about that.


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We have an all depth season in the northern management area. It’s a long way out to where they are though.

Matt and I have talked about potential Humboldt black cod spots to access via kayak during that season. Delgada Canyon west of Shelter Cove looked possible. The canyon (Mattole?) just SW of the Cape is even more accessible. But would the black cod be there? I don't know. It'd only meet the depth criteria for their habitat. I read that they like blue clay substrate.

Clayman, you had a nice supply for some good fish. I'd trade Lingcod for Black Cod any day...ooops that sounds illegal somehow.

Same here, and I love lingcod!

I paddled up to Delgado from SC a few four years ago targeting pacific. It drops fast, I turned around when I hit 450. I think the necessary depth is totally doable on a for sure all day flat day with no wind, so once a year. 

I’m pretty positive I watched a commercial fishing doc on the pbs where the boat out of fort brag steamed up that way when the season was on, I’m sure they’re in either canyon.

I paddled up to Delgado from SC a few four years ago targeting pacific. It drops fast, I turned around when I hit 450. I think the necessary depth is totally doable on a for sure all day flat day with no wind, so once a year. 

I’m pretty positive I watched a commercial fishing doc on the pbs where the boat out of fort brag steamed up that way when the season was on, I’m sure they’re in either canyon.

Sweet. Did you catch anything up there?

I've always been fascinated with "deep drop" type fishing, mostly to see what you might get that isn't found in the shallow waters. Watching those guys in Florida fishing daytime swordfish, getting baits 1,000-2,000 feet down to the bottom...super cool style of fishing.