What I want to catch on the AI - The Abyss

Oh sure, salmon, halibut and white sea bass. Yep.

There's another fish out there that runs pretty deep. I've only caught them twice before (out of Neah Bay, Wa.).

They are really deep. So deep that few will fish for them. Or even know of them.

Sablefish /black cod/.

The best water is a good half a mile deep. The shallowest to have an outside chance is maybe 300 feet. The best shot with conventional gear is maybe 500-700 feet. At those depths you start weeding out the rockfish, lings etc. and have a better chance at the sablefish. It's the one fish you simply can't fish too deep for.

Winch fishing is not for everyone. Lot of work. Think old days Cordell Bank fishing plus a couple hundred feet! At least the sablefish aren't too keen on rocks.

I think the AI might work as a platform for deep operations. The tramps/outriggers. The stability. And the ability to change positions while bringing up the fish. You also get a chance to fully rest and recover between drops. The mirage drive will definitely help keeping the line more vertical so you can get by with as little weight as possible.

What do you think? 

I think that's badass dude. Go for it! Be sure to take plenty of pictures along the way and report back to us when you complete the mission!

Sounds Gnarly! Do we have any down here in Cal?

Yes, sablefish are here.

I have been pouring over older research papers etc. for weeks (well, hours anyway) and the fishery is under the radar. Actually, commercial sablefish operations did well back in the 30's and 40's. Santa Cruz, Monterey, Fort. Bragg, Eureka etc. True, it is better up north (AK, BC, WA etc.) but they are here - year round.

No getting around the depth. They like the continental slope. Generally the smoother bottom areas.



 

Cool. I guess that deep trench at Moss might be a good & close spot to try deep.
 Put that 300 yards of braid to the test! 

You're reading my mind Jim!

Yep.

A bad day for WSB might be salvaged by an exploratory trip to the deep. Might get by with (30-40# string too). Anything to ease the cranking part.

The ones I caught in WA. were 3-6 pounds. The bigger ones are almost exclusively way deeper.

 

I've never fished that deep before. Guess I better start the training regimen!   
A few more 12oz curls and I'll be ready.    Seriously though Karl that's a good idea. Fish Pajaro for wsb and then give that a whack.

You're gonna have to go deeper than 700 feet, most of the commercial guys are +1200 around here and I'd opt for a 5' telephone pole with 5lbs of lead on over a wsb rig.  Dropping around the tip of the monterrey canyon you'll have a better shot at catching hake, which I hear are trash but the main ingredient in fishsticks 

I've deep dropped in moss out of boredom while mooching, after getting a couple quick raps on the tip I'd reel up sawed off leader.  It'd be fun to see whats down there.     

Yes, I was afraid of that. There is, however, a definite seasonality to the depth, at least from what I have been reading. The winter season depth for commercial operations back in the 30s and 40s was @150 Fm or 900 feet. The peak summer window was more in the 400-500 foot range. Now those rough numbers were for Santa Cruz commercial landings and they were back when the sablefish likely had an extended depth range (more of them back then).

I was also hoping that less currents in the Monterey or Carmel Canyon (vs say North Coast outer waters) would allow the use of less weight. Thinner braid vs mono and the mirage drive "hover ability" to keep lines vertical might yield the ability to do this with no more than a 3 pound ball (hopefully much less under perfect conditions). I used to fish 16 oz. bars at Cordell with 30# to 40# mono. Get it down to 400-450 feet unless the wind/current was real bad.

I will give it a shot. Might be a one time deal because I really don't know if sitting in the AI (or any kayak type seating) is going to work for deep winching or not. It might just be too much strain on the back or arms.
 
 

Are you even allowed to fish those depths?

How are you going to convince a game warden that you are not fishing for RF?

Plus, any incidental RF you do hook will be goners, so are you going to cross your fingers that you don't accidentally hook a yelloweye or canary?

Are you even allowed to fish those depths?

How are you going to convince a game warden that you are not fishing for RF?

Plus, any incidental RF you do hook will be goners, so are you going to cross your fingers that you don't accidentally hook a yelloweye or canary?

I thought black cod was listed  under ground fish?

Just looked it up and it appears sablefish can only be taken in waters shallower than 40 fathoms if I read it right.

Rock Hopper/Sharky/Salty

All good points that I haven't fully considered. Thanks. So many rules. The time I would have tried sablefish on the canyon slopes would have been in the summer when they are  "shallower". Jim, if that 40 fathom rule is correct then that ends much possibility of ever catching black cod in California. Guess the commercial fleet can keep catching them all and sending them off almost exclusively to Japan. Too bad, they are quite delicious.

So let me see if I have this right. I think we can fish rockfish out to 180 feet? Yet we might be able to fish sablefish out to 240 feet? So it seems we have uncovered a loophole of sorts....hmmm. That's 60 feet of gray area that a game warden could use and say you were fishing for rockfish instead of sablefish. Remember...it's the law! At the same time, the fisherman could also say the reverse and be perfectly correct. Of course, he wasn't fishing over a rock reef and that is key. The law is about intent. I think if a game warden saw me out there with a 3 pound sinker in 700 feet of water fishing a sandy drop off in a AI kayak sailboat he might question my sanity but not that I wasn't fishing for rockfish. I'm pretty sure he would buy my sablefish story after I told him. He would then probably write me a ticket for fishing too deep  per Jim's new finding

As far as sablefish regulations, what they really should say is you can't fish for sablefish at less than 400 or 500 feet. And only in approved (non-rock reef) zones. The study I looked at showed very little non-sablefish bycatch in bait traps set below roughly those depths. That would eliminate nearly all incidental rockfish/lings from the picture and still allow the few willing to break their backs to fish the deep. Some charters may even begin to offer limited mid-summer sablefish trips under these rules.

The sablefish are out there. It looks like we're not allowed to fish for them.

My version of this is albacore

MW, sounds like you've got OCD just like most of us  (and that includes myself). Anyway, whatever expedition you're up to, count me in. 

LL