Waterlands

UPDATEDAUTO-REFRESH 5 MIN

SablefishShoulder season

Cape · Washington

Rocky Point

47.60°N · 122.67°W · Cape · Puget Sound and Hood Canal

LOADING MAP

Best score today · 6 PM · Sablefish

78/100Great
Now
439 AM PDT
Best window
4-10 PMEbb tide
Tide now
Ebbing1.6 ft ▼

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

Notify me when Rocky Point scores 75+

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

Sign in to set an alert

24-hour conditions · rolling from now

Conditions · 9 AM · now

Time9ANOW
Score43Fair
Tide1.6 ft ▼Ebbing
CurrentEbb1.8 kn · toward E
Wind6 kn SSWgusts 14 · steady
Air temp54°Cool
WeatherOvercast100% cloud
Water57°FObserved

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

Marine Area 10 (Seattle-Bremerton Area)

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 Special rules
  • 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 Retention open (2 salmon combined per day)

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

Rocky Point

Depth
3-60 ftDrop-off
Structure
Point · Inner · ProtectedPoint · 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 Rocky Point

Rocky Point is a cape in Puget Sound and Hood Canal, Washington. Depth is 3-60 ft, with a drop-off. Its profile reads point, 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, cabezon 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

  • Dyes Inlet

    Bay · 1.1 mi

    75
    Top: Coho salmonPeak season
    • Coho salmon 75
    • Chinook salmon 72
    • Lingcod 56

    6 kt SSWL 10:11 AM · 1.0 ftH 4:56 PM · 11.4 ft

  • Windy Point

    Cape · 1.5 mi

    74
    Top: Coho salmonPeak season
    • Coho salmon 74
    • Chinook salmon 73
    • Lingcod 55

    6 kt SSWL 10:11 AM · 1.0 ftH 4:56 PM · 11.4 ft

  • Mud Bay

    Bay · 0.8 mi

    71
    Top: Coho salmonPeak season
    • Coho salmon 71
    • Chinook salmon 69
    • Surfperch 52

    6 kt SSWL 10:11 AM · 1.0 ftH 4:56 PM · 11.4 ft

  • Phinney Bay

    Bay · 1.3 mi

    71
    Top: Coho salmonPeak season
    • Coho salmon 71
    • Chinook salmon 69
    • Lingcod 56

    6 kt SSWL 10:11 AM · 1.0 ftH 4:56 PM · 11.4 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.