Waterlands

UPDATEDAUTO-REFRESH 5 MIN

SablefishShoulder season

Bay · Washington

Birch Bay

48.92°N · 122.78°W · Bay · Northern Inland Waters Including The San Juan Islands

LOADING MAP

Best score today · 7 AM · Sablefish

71/100Great
Now
293 AM PDT
Best window
11 AM-9 PMFlood tide
Tide now
High6.6 ft

Data from: NOAA CO-OPS + ECMWF + Open-Meteo Marine · Waterlands engine

Notify me when Birch Bay scores 75+

Checked every morning against the 14-day forecast. Free by push and email.

Sign in to set an alert

14-day forecast

Best days to fish

Best: today · 71

24-hour conditions · rolling from now

Conditions · 3 AM · now

Time3ANOW
Score29Fair
Tide6.6 ftHigh
CurrentSlack0.0 kn
Wind3 kn SEgusts 6 · steady
Sea stateCalm0.4 ft · 2 s
Air temp57°Mild
WeatherOvercast100% cloud
Water61°FModel

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

Marine Area 7 (San Juan Islands)

IN EFFECT NOW

No rule for Sablefish is on file here yet, so its status is unknown, not closed. Confirm limits with WDFW before you keep a fish.

Species rules here

  • Chinook salmon Catch & release (No retention)
  • Chum salmon Catch & release (No retention)
  • Coho salmon Retention open (2 salmon combined per day)
  • Lingcod Check regulations
  • Pacific halibut Retention open (1 per day)
  • Pink salmon Retention open (2 salmon combined per day)
  • Rockfish Closed (No retention)
  • Sockeye salmon Catch & release (No retention)
Always check with WDFW ↗Fishing license ↗

Source: WDFW · synced yesterday

Seasonality · 52-week view · this week ringed

When Sablefish is best here

Shoulder season for Sablefish · 1 more week at shoulder

Sablefish season by week of the year. Shoulder season for Sablefish · 1 more week at shoulder.
  • Peak
  • Shoulder
  • Off
  • Not here
  • This week

Sablefish in Washington →

Spot profile

Birch Bay

Depth
20-25 ftFlat bottom
Structure
Bay · Inner · Semi-exposedBay · flat bottom
Season
Shoulder seasonSablefish

NOAA NCEI DEM, sampled Sep 14 on a 3.4 m grid. Depths are feet below NAVD 88, not chart datum (MLLW), so they can differ from a chart by a few feet. Not for navigation.

About this spot

Fishing Birch Bay

Birch Bay is a bay in Northern Inland Waters Including The San Juan Islands, Washington. Depth is 20-25 ft, with a flat bottom. Its profile reads bay, inner water and semi-exposed.

Waterlands scores 11 species here; the best right now are Chinook salmon, cabezon and kelp greenling. It is peak season now for Chinook salmon and coho salmon, and shoulder season for cabezon, kelp greenling, Pacific halibut and surfperch. Chinook salmon peak from July through September. Cabezon peak from May through August. Kelp greenling peak from October through November.

Tackle & technique

Sablefish
Sablefish live on soft bottoms along the continental slope, and sport anglers find adults in 700 to 2,000 feet. Fish a multi-hook deep-drop rig with glow squid skirts and squid or herring on circle hooks, using several pounds of weight and an electric reel. It takes a long run offshore and a calm day to keep the line near vertical, so most trips happen in summer.
Chinook salmon
Chinook hold near bait off points, kelp edges and tide rips, usually suspended 20 to 120 feet down and deeper as the sun gets higher. Troll slowly, under 2 mph, with a flasher and herring, hoochie or spoon on a downrigger, or mooch a plug-cut herring at the depth where the sounder shows bait. Winter blackmouth and feeder kings sit within 10 feet of the bottom in 60 to 200 feet.
Cabezon
Cabezon sit in rock crevices, kelp beds and jetty boulders from the intertidal zone to about 100 feet and feed mostly on crabs and small fish. Fish a fish-finder rig with sand shrimp, squid or crab right on the bottom in the rocks, or drag a lead-head grub slowly through the kelp. Expect snags, and do not eat the roe, which is toxic.

Nearby spots

Other spots within an easy run

View all on map →
  • Birch Point

    Cape · 2.5 mi

    67
    Top: Chinook salmonPeak season
    • Chinook salmon 67
    • Cabezon 60
    • Kelp greenling 60

    3 kt SEL 9:42 AM · 0.9 ftH 4:59 PM · 8.7 ft

  • Semiahmoo Spit

    Bar · 4.5 mi

    66
    Top: Chinook salmonPeak season
    • Chinook salmon 66
    • Cabezon 58
    • Kelp greenling 58

    3 kt SEL 9:42 AM · 0.9 ftH 4:59 PM · 8.7 ft

  • Point Whitehorn

    Cape · 1.9 mi

    63
    Top: Chinook salmonPeak season
    • Chinook salmon 63
    • Cabezon 57
    • Kelp greenling 57

    3 kt SEL 9:40 AM · 0.9 ftH 5:02 PM · 8.5 ft

  • Drayton Harbor

    Bay · 3.9 mi

    63
    Top: Chinook salmonPeak season
    • Chinook salmon 63
    • Kelp greenling 60
    • Cabezon 59

    3 kt SEL 9:42 AM · 0.9 ftH 4:59 PM · 8.7 ft

Open in the tide map

Scores and forecasts are for planning only and can be wrong. Conditions on the water change fast; check the marine forecast before you go. Regulations change during the season, so confirm limits and closures with WDFW before you keep a fish.