Black Cod

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.

Dogfish sharks, I think that’s what they’re called. Lots of dabs and sole, and on half pounder salmon as I was reeling my Sabiki up.

I’d love to give another shot. It was pretty surreal being out there solo, just knowing what was underneath. Pretty cool.

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.

Dogfish sharks, I think that’s what they’re called. Lots of dabs and sole, and on half pounder salmon as I was reeling my Sabiki up.

I’d love to give another shot. It was pretty surreal being out there solo, just knowing what was underneath. Pretty cool.

Cool! I wish I had canyons closer to shore up here to do something like that. Dang continental shelf stretches for miles  .

Used to catch sablefish or black cod off Redondo Beach in the 70's-80's. I know it was in less than 100' of water because we were catching them off the old fishing barge they used to have out there. I remember that was a tasty fish!

I caught this fish back in 2015 while trolling bonito (which were around for several weeks that year). My amateur ID was sablefish. Is this correct?

You are correct, young sable fish. We get them in the rivers in Alaska when the salmon run.
I have caught a lot of big ones in my youth when we could fish the 400 foot plus mark and you get some real nice white meat fillets off of them

Last year my brother was fishing out of Sitka on his friends boat in 800-1000 feet of water. They got some nice 30 lb black cod, pacific halibut, and rockfish.  I can’t imagine even reeling up the sinker from that depth

You can definitely catch sablefish aka black cod in Moss Landing. Heck, even Andy fishmaster has caught some haha! You can get to 300ft with a mile & half of the jaws (or 2000fow another mile or so). With the 300ft depth limit here, you’re somewhat restricted. The commercial guys set big traps in 700-1200+ fow usually. Hake are another story though...haven’t seen many adult size hame caught in a long time. I totally remember seeing someone catch a big hake from shore at Navarro river beach in the late 80s though.

You can definitely catch sablefish aka black cod in Moss Landing. Heck, even Andy fishmaster has caught some haha! You can get to 300ft with a mile & half of the jaws (or 2000fow another mile or so). With the 300ft depth limit here, youÂ’re somewhat restricted. The commercial guys set big traps in 700-1200+ fow usually. Hake are another story though...havenÂ’t seen many adult size hame caught in a long time. I totally remember seeing someone catch a big hake from shore at Navarro river beach in the late 80s though.

I wonder if sablefish congregate along the steep canyon walls outside of Moss, or if they prefer a flatter bathymetry?


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I have seen reports that they prefer the edge of the continental shelf or the edge of canyons. I would like to find a good depth chart of the north coast that would show small and large canyons. I have heard that crabs prefer those locations also.

I have seen reports that they prefer the edge of the continental shelf or the edge of canyons. I would like to find a good depth chart of the north coast that would show small and large canyons. I have heard that crabs prefer those locations also.

https://maps.ngdc.noaa.gov/viewers/bathymetry/

Thanks Crash, I takes a while to figure out all the filters etc. I have been in there a long time ago. It looks like canyons are better for boats. I am going to take a look at Bodega...

Crash, thanks for the bathymetry link. I was looking for something like that, super useful!

Btw, very interesting discussion. Sablefish is one of my top food fish and fortunately not that expensive in case you end up buying some.

Last year I ran into the crew of a commercial fishing boat in Fort Bragg, just a 2-man outfit, that specialized in salmon and sablefish. The sablefish would be caught on longlines in very deep waters (forgot how deep since it sounded well beyond my kayaking range).

These are the best tasting fish in my book. They kinda look like a ling. Can't go wrong no matter how you cookem. They will never go dry on you. I've caught them in Alaska deep using electric reels. You can catchem off our coast but then again they are deep. Saw a documentary of a bay area market showing the process of how they catchem to bringing them in to fill their orders for shipping. If you never had butterfish/black cod, do yourself a favor and try it. I'm hungry for them now.

And boneless fillets to boot.