Bottom fish

[Coasthunterjay]

well i am trying to get some ideas on what to use for what and how to fish for them from the shore and from a small boat.....

anyone got any ideas? hints, or tricks?

[Coasthunterjay]

nobody huh? no rock fisherman, no jetty fisherman......i am a novice at fishing on jettys, but a few people have talked about it and it kind of percked my intrest..

anyone know anything?

[billythekidrock]

Dig your limit of sandshrip. Use the sand shrimp to catch kelp greenling. Use the kelp greenling to catch lingcod.

[Coasthunterjay]

i dont have a boat, and where do i get sandshrimp......and dont say in the sand, how do i find them?

[billythekidrock]

I get mine at lowtide with a shrimp pump, but a clam tube will work. They live in mud and sand and leave little holes like tiny volcanoes. The limit is like 10 dozen. Or you can just buy them at the bait store.

Then you use the sandshrimp to catch small fish (up to 12 inches or so) for bait. Look at coon dogs post with the ling and the greenling in it's mouth.

[HuntingFanatic]

Ive always found that small fish work best.......although ive caught a 40+ pound lingcod on a 10 pound lingcod. So that being said.....a small child might work well too!

[Jerome]

Shinner perch all day long.  Use a herring jig tipped with sandworm to catch them and be prepared to go through alot of perch. 

[Coasthunterjay]

where do i get sand worms? and just cast out in to the currents and pull back in? how much wait.....

[Jerome]

Anytime you come over to on my side of the mountains i will take you out. 
I flip over rocks near pilings or just flip over big rocks on sandy beaches and find worms.  Depending on how deep you are fishing and how hard the tide is ripping depends on how much weight.  Where i fish i only need 2-3 ounces.  People that fish deeper and stronger tides will use alot heavier 6-8 ounces.  Cast out there with a slider weight on your mainline then tie your swivel with a 3 foot leader or so.  If you are fishing off a jetty or of a rocky shore make sure you have heavy leader line.  They love to get back in their holes fast once you hook em.

[Jerome]

Heres some different bottom fish that have came out of possesion.  Except for the seabass, they came out of lapush.  The last pic is a ling that came off of shore.  (pier)

[billythekidrock]

Have you ever eaten the kelp greenlings? Other then they are a pain to fillet they are very tasty.

[Coasthunterjay]

Anytime you come over to on my side of the mountains i will take you out

Im on my way over.....lol.....

what do the little worms look like? i think im ass backwards, im gonna need some proffesional advice i think, LOL......

sorry guys, not from the coastal shores so i never bottom fished any, Im a newbie at this crap, kind of imbaressed to say it, but i dont know anything about fishing bottom.....and i dont have a boat to get me out anywhere, justmy small 12 foot john.

[Jerome]

The worms are big you wont beable to miss them.  The shinner perch will bite the herring jigs without the worms but not as fast as if you had them. 
BTKR i like greenlings.  I keep the size that i shown up above.  Some bottomfish are a pain to fillet but they are all worth it. 
July 16th is my favorite time.  I can go out and get crab, cabezon, rockfish, and hatchery kings.

[Alchase]

We use to use pile worms (also called tube worms) fishing from the rocks and jetties. At low tide go to any floating dock and grab the pile worms off the pilings or from under the docks, everything eats pile worms. Sand Shrimp and even nightcrawlers work well. You can even use the first Cabizon or bullhead you catch and cut into strips. muscles and clams also work but do not stay on the hooks well. You can also cut hearing is thin strips so the scales flash in the current.

[robodad]

Jay, You can catch bottom fish all day long with your 12' Jon boat, just take it out to your job and launch it and anchor off the OLD COAL DOCK in about 20'-50' depth and start fishing, just use the dungeness stinger type jigs (single sywash hook) or a mister twister type jig in the 1-3 oz size and you will catch fish all day long and even better, all night long !! Or just row out to one of the log rafts and tie up to it and start fishing, try to get around 90' though and you'll get all kinds of fish !! 

[Fishhunt223]

How safe are bass boats in the strait?  I have fished from a 10' livingston off of camano island but I am leary of taking my bass boat out there.  Ill be moving to the Bellingham area this week and I dont know whether I should chance it or not.  Any thoughts on this?  I would probably be fishing near lummi island and Bellingham Bay, and maybe Birch bay.

[robodad]

I was talking about Jay using his Jon boat inside the bay at Port Angeles which is very protected and should have no problem with weather this time of year, I would be a bit leary in the winter time though !! 

[WAcoueshunter]

Inside the bay at PA isn't the straits...I've seen it crazy in there when the winds kick up in the afternoons, but that shouldn't be an issue in the a.m.  Around birch bay isn't the straits either...you've got all of the San Juans blocking the wind and waves coming in from the straits.  You should be fine fishing anything protected from the westerly winds, at least earlier in the day.

In terms of the straits, I've fished quite a bit out of a 15' aluminum at Sekiu and Neah Bay clear out to Tatoosh Island, which is right off the corner of the straits/ocean.  The key is to fish the mornings, as the winds generally kick up in the afternoon.  But you should be able to hug the shore back in a smaller boat with a skinny draft if/when the winds kick up.  The winds are just as bad at PA or further east...don't get caught away from shore in the afternoon in a bass boat.  It kicks up pretty much every day.