Pacific Cod - ECVI

[Fish-Hunter]

These little guys are very tasty indeed. Yes if you are going to retain them for eating, I would recommend gutting them, they can be wormy sometimes (extra protein). They are good for; eating, ling bait, crab bait, hali bait. I have thought about grinding some up and freezing the grindings in a yogurt type cup, making a fish-sicle for prawn traps or creating a scent trail for Halibut fishing, the frozen plug would have a slow scent release as it thaws.

Very useful little fish for sure. And some of them do put up a fight, lots however are hardly noticable on the line.

 

[Peterman]

With regards to the worms, a friend of mine said, if they sit for about 6 hrs the worms tend to migrate back to the Cod's stomach... Not a nice picture but at least they are out of the meat for the most part...

 

[straightup]

I remember a commercial fishery off nanoose bay .they caught tons of cod and they were way bigger.They were throwing away the smaller ones ,they gave us a small boat load.We smoked alot they were great.But I thought they were called black alaskin cod.Forty years ago.

 

[Seafever]

The Black Alaskan Cod as it's known is actually a Sablefish not a P-Cod. They catch them all along the coast in deeper water.

Forty years ago the Black Cod fishery was in full swing...... but by now it's probably been overfished commercially.

They grow bigger than P-Cod.....especially in captivity (Vanc. Aquarium years back:- 125 lbs +).

 

[hambone]

How big is a 'keeper' Pacfific Cod?? I've seen a few smaller ones and wondered how big they might get??

 

[trendsetter]

How big is a 'keeper' Pacfific Cod?? I've a few smaller ones and wondered how big they might get??

There is no minimum size for pacific cod. The ones we caught were 1-2lbs and looked to have a bit of meat on them.

 

[Sharphooks]

hey Seafever, my guess is that 125 lb fish at the Vancouver Aquarium you saw was a Skilfish (the only other member of the fish family Anoplopomatidae (Sablefish or black cod is the other member)

The Skilfish are the big boys, growing up to about 200 lbs. Not trying to be a know-it-all here, but here's what made me post this: a hundred years ago, fresh out of University with a degree in fisheries, I was on my lips in a bar in Sitka, Alaska one night. I'd just signed on to a black cod commie boat fishing in the Gulf of Alaska and it was our first night "on the town".

So there on the wall of the bar was an old newspaper clipping of a guy holding a 125 lb + "sablefish". The deck boss of the boat I was on, knowing I had a degree in fisheries and wanting to see if he could make me squirm in front of all the other commie fishermen, bet me $ 100 that I didn't know what the fish was in the picture (he was baiting me, assuming I'd just read the newspaper clipping description and say "sablefish".

About the only thing I learned after 4 years of studying fisheries was the two members of the family Anoplopomatidea, and I knew the bigger ones weren't sablefish.... so I win the bet by saying, "hey, everyone knows that's a Skilfish, right?"

The guy was pissed but he paid up, and after buying every one a round, the greenhorn college kid was broke again....

thought I'd throw that in at the risk of hi-jacking the thread....

How big to P. cod get? I worked on a Japanese L/L boat out on the Aleutian Chain (Adak, Attu) where for some reason, P. Cod grow huge--- I've seen then pushing 40 lbs---but it's rare. Normal commie "market" P. cod are 5 to 15 pounds; in shore, where there are the P. cod nurseries, you'll see them at 2 to 4 lbs---those are the best eating ones, but as noted, they can get real wormy, especially if you catch them near sea lion rookeries

The one in the picture below is 30 lbs (caught in Japan on rod and reel)

 

[FishNmemories]

We caught several of these pacific cod last year outside Malcolm Island and we let the smaller ones go. Some of them were either milking (males) or squirting out roe...this was about April. So I take it the cod were coming into the shallows to spawn. We filleted the big ones and deep fried them, first time I tried them and we all thought they tasted great.

Good story there Sharphooks

 

[Charter Tofino]

Biggest we have caught on the ECVI was last June and it was around 7-8lbs. As mentioned they don't have a ton of meat and are a bit different to fillet. Nice white meat though. Those alaska cod get BIG. Deadliest catch shows a lot of their bait fish around 20-30lbers.

Heres a 4-5 lber we bonked to try out.

 

[Enniberg]

I don't think I ever caught a Pacific cod when fishing on the WCVI - am I just not catching them for some reason, or are the all on the east side of the island?

Atlantic cod is my absolute favorite fish to eat, and if I caught a p-cod of a decent size, I would like to cook it to see if the similarity is more than just looks.

 

[Seafever]

Sharphooks........they used to have both Skilfish and Sablefish at the Vanc.Aquarium at the same time in a large viewing tank.


The Skilfish they had were absolutely gigantic. They also do well in captivity. These were over 125lbs.,probably pushing 200lbs.

Swimming alongside of them were Sablefish. They also do extremely well in captivity but were somewhat smaller than the Skilfish. But not that small. These were pushing over 100lbs.

The Skilfish seems to have a fatter body than Sablefish.

When I first saw them I couldn't believe my eyes how big they were.

But the Sablefish were huge too.

Sablefish have been documented at 125lbs. +

 

[Sharphooks]

Hey Seafever--I didn't know black cod got that big---maybe in captivity where there aren't circle hooks dangling in their faces? At today's market price, that would be a $ 1,200 fish.