Pacific Cod - ECVI

[trendsetter]

I've been noticing in the ECVI and Vancouver threads there have been a lot of mention on Pacific Cod lately. Is this common in these waters and at this time of years? I remember being a kid back in the 1990s and working on a commercial crab boat using them as bait. But never seen them on the end of a fishing line.

I had never caught one, nor seen one caught, until Saturday at Thrasher. We caught 3 and even saw one flopping around on the surface seemingly unable to go back down to the depths.

Is this something new this year or am I just lucky to have never encountered them before?

 

[Kildonan]

I fish at the mouth of Big Q every summer. The last two years I have caught TONS of them, I never noticed them before as best as I can remember. Two years ago they were pretty small, last year they were all about 14 or 16 inches... And they are plentiful.

 

[trendsetter]

I fish at the mouth of Big Q every summer. The last two years I have caught TONS of them, I never noticed them before as best as I can remember. Two years ago they were pretty small, last year they were all about 14 or 16 inches... And they are plentiful.

Crazy, I've never seen them before. What do you do with yours..toss em back? Eat them? Crab bait?

I told my buddy they were what Mcdonalds makes the filet o fish out of and he kept them and made his own fish sandwiches! He said they were good.

 

[bigredsnapper]

Ya lots this year ......I just let em go but I know some guys eat them. The problem is they hit so light if you miss it you just drag them around until you check it..........BRS

 

[Dogbreath]

They've always been around I guess the population fluctuates a lot.

They are great eating that's what Pajo's uses.

Closely related to the Atlantic Cod that was once so plentiful.

 

[Enniberg]

Closely related to the Atlantic Cod that was once so plentiful.

Sounds plausible - they actually look a lot like Atlantic Cod, although the Atlantics are generally much bigger, often 20+ lbs and some grow huge, 50+ lbs.

 

[trendsetter]

We used to call them gray cod when used for crab bait and they were usually around 3-4 lbs or so. I know what you mean about not noticing them on the line. The three we caught were just "there" when we pulled up lines to check for weeds. Had no idea there was a fish on.

 

[chris73]

They are actually almost identical to the Atlantic Cod and the Pacific Cod grows 20# plus as well. I had one more than 15# at Swiftsure - Renfrew while hali fishing and I have seen several ones caught there around that size. 3 years ago we had an invasion of them in the JDF as well; most were too small. But once you get them worthwhile cutting up they are a great tablefare. Just don't overcook - they are done very quickly!

One of the older "How to catch bottomfish" from the 70's had a section on them. They were saying that jigging for them in Puget Sound was a common thing with fish up to 20#. Like many other species they started to disappear... It is still a very important commercial fish in BC offshore.

BTW, they seem to be a common occurance around Campbell River. Seen lots of photos of them up there.

 

[lorneparker1]

I love P cod!

 

[dmurph]

Found one floating on the surface while trolling south bowen last month, it was around 10 lbs - 12lbs.

 

[Kildonan]

Crazy, I've never seen them before. What do you do with yours..toss em back? Eat them? Crab bait?

I told my buddy they were what Mcdonalds makes the filet o fish out of and he kept them and made his own fish sandwiches! He said they were good.

I throw them back as they were all pretty small. If I see them this summer maybe I will eat one and see what they're like. If the growing trend I've seen continues, they should be a good eating size this year.

My wife and kids prefer white fish to salmon anyway.

 

[baddogg]

We caught two off Nanaimo yesterday, twins about 2 lbs each. If I knew I was going to catch more than one I would keep them. I'm sure they are good to eat like most cod are.

 

[Seafever]

They've always been around.....just not in such big numbers. Why the sudden flourish in the last couple of years?

Who knows......water temp, availibilty of their food,etc etc. Seals will eat them. Chinook will eat the smaller ones.

If you have your eyes glued to the rod tip the entire trip, you can often detect a very slight "ping" when the small ones hit. But if you didn't see it you'll miss it.

They are not bad eating........but I would gut/clean them right away......many I've caught had woyms in 'em.

Jigged the mouth of the Little Q last year.....they were there by the hundreds.

You don't get as much meat off them as you think you will......mainly because it seems their heads/gills take up half of their body.

I've never tried using one dead or alive as Ling Cod bait....but there could be potential.

 

[adanac]

They've always been around.....just not in such big numbers. Why the sudden flourish in the last couple of years?

Who knows......water temp, availibilty of their food,etc etc. Seals will eat them. Chinook will eat the smaller ones.

If you have your eyes glued to the rod tip the entire trip, you can often detect a very slight "ping" when the small ones hit. But if you didn't see it you'll miss it.

They are not bad eating........but I would gut/clean them right away......many I've caught had woyms in 'em.

Jigged the mouth of the Little Q last year.....they were there by the hundreds.

You don't get as much meat off them as you think you will......mainly because it seems their heads/gills take up half of their body.

I've never tried using one dead or alive as Ling Cod bait....but there could be potential.

Dead on on the ling bait. Whenever we are planning on stopping for ling at the end of the day every p cod under 15 inches we catch goes in the live well for ling bait. Seem to work a bit better than any of the other big baits, less spiny i guess.

 

[Seafever]

The old timers used to say that if you are catching P-Cod while fishing for Chinook then come up shallower because the P-Cod are supposedly always underneath the Chinook.

But I'm not sure I put any faith in that.....

 

[Sitkaspruce]

Tons up here in McNeill. Some places they are thick, your rod tip vibrates to the hits while the nibble on your bait. Picked up one yesterday, snagged through the belly (as most do when you are jigging). They are all around 12-15". I heard they go to mush when you cook them.

If they are around in good numbers, will the hali eat them?? Or even be in the same area??

Cheers

SS

 

[Seafever]

Well.....a Hali is a bad-butt one-track-mind ambush predator....so I can't see why not......

Funny you should ask that.....last year there were a couple of 50lb Hali caught right at the mouth of the Little Q. Were they after the numerous P-Cod there amongst other things?

Some of the huge Hali that lurk around the river mouths up in Alaska have in the past been caught, cut open , and found to have all sorts of weird things in their stomachs.

 

[Seafever]

Facts about P-Cod....from "Pacific Fishes of the Northwest"....a bang-on reference book for every fish that swims in these waters.


"Cod move into deep water in autumn and return to shallower water in spring"
"Eggs hatch in 8 or 9 days at 11C and 17days at 5C, but will take about 4 weeks at 2C in northern waters"
"Egg survival is high at 5C"
"length to 3ft 3inches"
"In the Strait Of Georgia growth is rapid and continuous throughout the year"
'Tagging in the Strait Of Georgia shows congregations for spawning and dispersal for feeding"
"Feeding includes a wide variety of invertebrates and fishes including:- worms,crabs,molluscs, and shrimps, herring, sandlance,walleye pollack and flatfishes"

"Mostly benthic but occasionally taken in quite shallow water"

"Distribution :- from Santa Monica, Cal., through Alaska, Bering sea, to Japan , Korea."

"informed current opinion is that the codfish of the Pacific Northwest basin belong to a single species of several more or less separate stocks"

"The Pacific Cod is now the most important of the trawl-caught species of british Columbia"

"The catch is used for filleting and subsequent production of fish-sticks and fillet-blocks for export"

 

[Charter Tofino]

I am going to load up on these next time I'm out for hali bait. The size and fact that they are quite oily would make them ideal.

 

[trendsetter]

I am going to load up on these next time I'm out for hali bait. The size and fact that they are quite oily would make them ideal.

Nice. The limit for these buggers is 8/16 so would be worthwhile if you are catching lots. I think I will start retaining them too. My buddy that kept his said they tasted good battered and fried.