area 13 ?

[Jamieb]

I've always fished out of Westport or up in the straits but this year my 5 year old grandson want to start fishing with me so I'm looking into area 13. Protected waters close to home. I've heard that back in the 70's the commercial draggers went through  here, cleaned out most of the local fish and destroyed most of the structure, so the bottom fish populations never recovered. I don't mind putting in the time and effort to find fishing spots for Lings. and Cabezon if their there. I'd appreciate any advise. Is are 13 worth the effort?

Thanks
Jamie

[gasman]

Best I can say is look at your charts and look for rock structures to fish for bottom fish. There is Tolvie Shoal also over by Fox Island that holds lingcod.

Lots of flounder or sand dabs along the Nisqually River basin.

[DoubleJ]

The whole area is full of dogfish if you're just interested in grabbing some fish from a boat.  Just drift with the tide with a chunk of herring a couple of feet off bottom and you should hook a few every hour

[Crunchy]

I fish MA13 quiet bit but only for salmon.  Put a herring on a hook and you will catch some kind of bottom fish. Last year I had about a 10 pound ling follow up my downrigger ball to the surface so I know there are some in there.  If only targeting bottom fish I would jig much like you would in Westport just a tad lighter gear.  Sorry no bottom fish spots for ya, but if you see a group of boats out there might be a good place to start.

[Jamieb]

The whole area is full of dogfish if you're just interested in grabbing some fish from a boat.  Just drift with the tide with a chunk of herring a couple of feet off bottom and you should hook a few every hour

I'm going to try and target lingcod or Cabezon in the Sound. If I just want to catch any fish in numbers, then I'll hit one of the stocked lakes for trout and I will a few times this spring.

[WSU]

Area 11 is close and has decent ling fishing.

[PolarBear]

We did well for kings under the Narrows Bridge.  You will lose a ton of gear and will need to fish the slack but there are some good one in there if you can keep their heads up and out of the guy wires and rebar.