HELP! I am new to Seattle (Kenmore). Can anyone give me some advice on good places to go bottom fishing in the Sound? Tips/Techniques...etc? I have a 20' boat...

Cany you help a fellar out?

Sore subject. Most of the bottom fishing has been wiped out by the trawlers. It used to be easy to catch some rock fish, but no more.

I have not had much luck south of Seattle (unless you count flounder or sculpin). Nore have I heard of anyone bragging about any zipper-lip spots.

I would recommend looking north, up towards whidby or possibly hat isl. It may be difficult to get any reliable info as any area still holding a few fish will be a well kept seceret.

Best way to locate new areas can be to troll slowly with down riggers on the bottom.

Good Luck!

Thanks for the reply...

There are a ton of companies advertising "bottom fishing"... where are they taking clients.... any idea?

Probably out in the Strait or on the coast.

I agree that the rockfish are all but gone from Puget Sound and that the trawlers have raped everything they could. But we need to know that sportsmen have also vastly overharvested rockfish. Even in areas where trawlers have never worked, the rockfish populations have dwindled. This is, in part, due to the extreamly slow growth of most rockfish. A 20 pound yelloweye rockfish will be approximatly 80 years old.

I am 59 years old and was raised on Puget Sound. It used to be almost impossible not to catch a rockfsih anywhere you dropped a hook. But we often took 10 each, which may well have equated to 200 years or more of fish growth.

As Pogo said " We have met the enemy and we is it." Or something like that.

I read somewhere that they have to get to a certain size to spawn. since they take a long time to grow, when people catch a nice rockfish they keep it so there aint really alot of spawners to go around, so they started up the mpa's to bring so called bottomfish nursery's for spawning size rockfish to get healthy and good enough numbers to bring more baby rockfish into the world, makes sense.

Unfortunately over- harvesting by sport and commercial fishermen in Puget Sound has basically destroyed any viable fishery for rockfish in Puet Sound. With a limit of one rockfish, any rock fishing done in Puget Sound should be done in water less than 60 feet deep. Rockfish taken from deeper than 60 feet generally suffer air bladder damage from decompressing and will not survive releasing.

Shallow water bottom fishing in 17-30 feet of water casting leadhead jigs offers the most sport and the ability to release fish that will likely survive.

Ling cod have made a pretty dramatic recovery in the past several years in Puget Sound. They can be found in shallow water in the spring. The season is fairly short, but it is an opportunity worth investing time.

Be aware of the slot limit and practice catch and release, these fish are fun on lighter tackle. Since ling cod do not have swim bladders, they can be released without damage in most cases.

Hey, check out this book if you can get a hold of it, The Rockfishes of the Northeast Pacific. Three authors, one is Milton Love, Cal rockfish biologist. This book is chock full of info useful to both scientists and sportsmen.

It is true that rockfish populations have been decimated in Puget Sound and that is why I'm disappointed that people think they can still limit out and not have an effect on the resource. Rockfish take a heck of a lot longer to reach sexual maturity than salmon do. Not to mention the lingcod likes to chomp on rockfish as much as us humans do.

I advocate the practice of catch and relase in waters from area 9-13. Same goes for area 7. Two of our most common rockfish, the black and the quillback are the ones most frequently caught by shore bound fishermen.

I can remember back when I used to fish S.F. bay people would even catch jubenile rockfish the size of your thumb!!! I really hope it doesn't come down to that here in Puget Sound.

Also, using lighter lines will help with the swim bladder inflation issue. Just use 12lb or less for mainline and use as heavy a leader as you like.