the past wek I've been fishing manchester pretty hard. jigging and mooching and I cant keep to believe in all the baby true cod I catch. tons of them in a certain spot. has anybody caught recently somewhere in better numbers then the last decade, I hope there comin back again with the water change

That is good to hear.I have alot of fond memorys as a kid catching those off the piers in our erea.It was like they just disapeared!

That is some great news! It would be absolutely wonderful to have true cod back in the area like they were in the late 70's. I'm pretty sure that the reason Fish and Wildlife has closed Agate Pass in recent years was to try to get the true cod to come back.....just wish they'd ban the commercial geoducking in there as they blow the bottom to bits with their high pressure water jets. You can always tell when they are mining the geoducks because you spend all day cleaning the eel grass off your gear.

that is a shame about the geoducks and eel gress. isnt those eel grass flats where forage fish spawn. I might be wrong but anyhow that is a shame that they can do that to the ecology of the salt water for clams. Ben

Last year one day we caught a ton of true cod out on Posession bar, they were small but lots of them. It was nice to see and I hope they are on the rebound as I also have good memories of catching them years ago. It is amazing how fast a fleet of trawlers can clean out the sound and how long it takes to recover. I hope it never happens again!

I was reading a book called Northwest coastal fishing guide by Doug Olander. exceelent book. anyhow it states that the true cod. this is there most southern range. that a natutal cycle in the fish with the currents and tempature of the oceans could be the most problem with washington true cod. not saying wasteful fishing management and f#$%@g trawlers had nothin to do with it. but these are fast growing fertile fish that have the ability to come back in a furry. I'm 23 and when I was little I remember going out with my dad and always catchin fish after fish. and I would love for a good catch and release true cod fishery to surface around here. Ben

OK, I give, what is a "True Cod"?

Around here they call it lutefisk. Check out this link: http://www.foodsafety.gov/~frf/gadmacro.html
I remember catching these in Agate Pass and having mom make fish and chips or my neighbor's mom making lutefisk. The cod would come into the bay and spawn in early spring by the old codfish plant. Used to catch them jigging herring or a huge jig close to bottom. Yea sur you bettcha!

Rockfish,
A friend and myself caught several small CCOd last week jigging Pt Wilson Darts off manchester in about 100 ft of water. All were around 10-12 inches long.