Waterlands

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SablefishShoulder season

Cape · Washington

Piner Point

47.34°N · 122.45°W · Cape · Puget Sound and Hood Canal

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Best score today · 11 AM · Sablefish

74/100Great
Now
482 AM PDT
Best window
11 AM-9 PMFlood tide
Tide now
Flooding8.9 ft ▲

Data from: NOAA CO-OPS + NDBC + ECMWF · Waterlands engine

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24-hour conditions · rolling from now

Conditions · 2 AM · now

Time2ANOW
Score48Good
Tide8.9 ft ▲Flooding
CurrentFlood0.5 kn · toward SW
Wind5 kn SSWgusts 10 · steady
Air temp53°Cool
WeatherMostly cloudy80% cloud
Water57°FObserved

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

Marine Area 11 (Tacoma-Vashon Island)

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 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 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

Piner Point

Depth
40-450 ftDrop-off
Structure
Point · Inner · Semi-exposedPoint · 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 Piner Point

Piner Point is a cape in Puget Sound and Hood Canal, Washington. Depth is 40-450 ft, with a drop-off. Its profile reads point, inner water and semi-exposed.

Waterlands scores 11 species here; the best right now are Chinook salmon, coho salmon and kelp greenling. It is peak season now for Chinook salmon and coho salmon, and shoulder season for kelp greenling, cabezon, lingcod and sablefish. Chinook salmon peak from July through September. Coho salmon peak from July through September. 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.
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.

Nearby spots

Other spots within an easy run

  • Neill Point

    Cape · 2.0 mi

    68
    Top: Chinook salmonPeak season
    • Chinook salmon 68
    • Coho salmon 64
    • Kelp greenling 64

    5 kt SSWH 2:57 AM · 9.2 ftL 9:23 AM · 1.1 ft

  • 66
    Top: Kelp greenlingShoulder season
    • Kelp greenling 66
    • Cabezon 64
    • Chinook salmon 62

    5 kt SSWH 2:54 AM · 9.3 ftL 9:21 AM · 1.1 ft

  • Dalco Passage

    Bay · 3.3 mi

    64
    Top: Chinook salmonPeak season
    • Chinook salmon 64
    • Coho salmon 62
    • Kelp greenling 56

    5 kt SSWH 2:57 AM · 9.2 ftL 9:23 AM · 1.1 ft

  • Dumas Bay

    Bay · 3.5 mi

    64
    Top: Chinook salmonPeak season
    • Chinook salmon 64
    • Kelp greenling 63
    • Coho salmon 61

    5 kt SSWH 2:59 AM · 9.1 ftL 9:23 AM · 1.0 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.