UPDATEDAUTO-REFRESH 5 MIN
SablefishShoulder seasonSpecies here · tap to switch
Best score today · 7 PM · Sablefish
- Now
- 488 PM PDT
- Best window
- 8-9 PMEbb tide
- Tide now
- Ebbing7.8 ft ▼
Data from: NOAA CO-OPS + NDBC + ECMWF · Waterlands engine
Notify me when Balch Passage scores 75+
Checked every morning against the 14-day forecast. Free by push and email.
14-day forecast
Best days to fish
24-hour conditions · rolling from now
Conditions · 8 PM · now
Tide & current
NOAA CO-OPS
68Tide: EbbingCurrent: 1.8 kn ebbWind & pressure
ECMWF
100Wind: 7 kt SWPressure: SteadyWater temp & sky
NDBC
33Water temp: 57°F, hotLight: DuskSolunar: Between periodsSeason & habitat · Sablefish
Species seasonality
47Season: ShoulderHabitat: Usable structureDepth: Out of rangeRegulations: no rule on file
Current regulations
What you can keep here today
Marine Area 13 (South Puget Sound)
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 Retention open (2 salmon combined per day)
- Chum salmon Catch & release (No retention)
- Coho salmon Retention open (2 salmon combined per day)
- Lingcod Check regulations
- Pacific halibut Closed (No retention)
- Pink salmon Retention open (2 salmon combined per day)
- Rockfish Closed (No retention)
- Sockeye salmon Retention open (2 salmon combined per day)
Source: WDFW · synced today
Seasonality · 52-week view · this week ringed
When Sablefish is best here
Shoulder season for Sablefish · 1 more week at shoulder
- Peak
- Shoulder
- Off
- Not here
- This week
Spot profile
Balch Passage
- Depth
- 45-100 ftDrop-off
- Structure
- Bay · Inner · ProtectedBay · drop-off
- 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 Balch Passage
Balch Passage is a bay in Puget Sound and Hood Canal, Washington. Depth is 45-100 ft, with a drop-off. Its profile reads bay, inner water and protected.
Waterlands scores 11 species here; the best right now are coho salmon, Chinook salmon and lingcod. It is peak season now for coho salmon and Chinook salmon, and shoulder season for lingcod, kelp greenling, sablefish and surfperch. Coho salmon peak from July through September. Chinook salmon peak from July through September. Lingcod peak from April through June.
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.
- Coho salmon
- Coho feed in the top 30 to 50 feet along tide rips, kelp edges and bait schools, and often hit within a few feet of the surface. Troll faster than for Chinook, 2 to 4 mph, with a small flasher and hoochie, bucktail fly or herring, or cast spinners and flies from beaches near stream mouths as fish stage in late summer. The hour around a tide change is often the best window.
- 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.
Nearby spots
Other spots within an easy run
- Hogan Point78
Cape · 2.3 mi
Top: Coho salmonPeak season- Coho salmon 78
- Chinook salmon 77
- Lingcod 67
7 kt SWL 10:56 PM · 5.7 ftH 3:31 AM · 10.5 ft
- Hyde Point74
Cape · 2.2 mi
Top: Coho salmonPeak season- Coho salmon 74
- Chinook salmon 72
- Lingcod 66
7 kt SWL 10:17 PM · 5.8 ftH 3:28 AM · 10.8 ft
- Still Harbor74
Bay · 2.2 mi
Top: Coho salmonPeak season- Coho salmon 74
- Chinook salmon 72
- Lingcod 60
7 kt SWL 10:17 PM · 5.8 ftH 3:28 AM · 10.8 ft
- Drayton Passage72
Bay · 2.4 mi
Top: Coho salmonPeak season- Coho salmon 72
- Chinook salmon 70
- Lingcod 67
7 kt SWL 10:59 PM · 6.2 ftH 3:33 AM · 11.0 ft
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.