Sea Breeze Charters owner Steve Sohlstrom added a new deep-water charter fishing trip this season.

ILWACO, Wash. — A growing appetite for bigger fish has one local charter heading for deeper water.

The ocean recreational bottomfishing season officially opened Saturday, with local charter offices reporting brisk bookings ahead of the busy spring and summer fishing seasons. This includes one Ilwaco-based charter offering a new trip, featuring a deep-water fishing experience this spring targeting big lingcod and black cod, or sablefish.

“It’s something new we’re doing,” said Sea Breeze Charters owner Steve Sohlstrom. “Over the years we’ve had a lot of customers say they would like to go out and target deep-water bottomfish.”

Bottomfishing nearshore with light tackle has been a standard approach for many Ilwaco-based charters over the years, often taking the trip south of the Columbia River to Oregon waters to fish the rocky ledges off Tillamook Head.

For the new, deep-water trips, however, the charter will instead travel around 23 miles offshore and fish in waters exceeding 400 feet, near the edge of the deep Astoria Canyon, an area popular for halibut.

“The fish out there, in 400 or 500 feet, are bigger and sometimes the schools are massive,” Sohlstrom said.

“In past years, when we’ve been on the halibut grounds, we’ve found black cod out there. They’re pretty good-sized fish, in the range of 15 to 20 pounds. It’s a really delicious fish too, customers look at is a delicacy. And lingcod — everyone loves lingcod,” he said.

The current Washington state record black cod, or sablefish, was a 30-pound specimen caught by Jeff Rudolph off of Westort in June 1994.

Deep-water fishing isn’t for the fainthearted, requiring stamina to continually haul in the heavy gear that is more than double the weight of the standard nearshore bottomfishing rig — a toil some consider well worth the chance for a rare catch.

“You fish with stiffer rods and heavier lead, at least 24 ounces, to drop down that deep. It’s a lot more physical to bring up your gear from 500 feet compared to 50 to 100 feet. For those that want to go deep-water, for a chance to land some really big lingcod, yellowtail or black cod, this is their opportunity to get out and give it a go. We’ve opened up two of our boats, the F/V Sea Breeze and F/V Legacy. I’m excited about it, I think we’ll fill up all the scheduled dates before too long,” Sohlstrom said.

The deep-water fishing trips will cost a little more, too, at $245, roughly $50 more than the salmon and standard bottomfishing trips, but that hasn’t slowed the booking enthusiasm.

“We’ve got quite a few people on the books already and we literally just introduced it two weeks ago,” Sohlstrom said.

Regulations

Recreational bottomfishing limits differ slightly in Washington state and Oregon, with fishermen benefiting by staying north of the Columbia River.

Coastal recreational bottomfishing seasons on the south coast from Ilwaco, Westport-Ocean Shores and La Push (Marine Areas 1, 2, and 3) opened Saturday and will continue through Oct. 21. The daily aggregate limit is nine bottomfish and includes a sublimit of seven rockfish. The daily limit is two lingcod and one cabezon per angler and no minimum size restriction.

“In Washington, for bottomfishing, it’s seven assorted rockfish plus two lingcod. If you’re fishing off Oregon, it’s five rockfish plus two lingcod,” Solhstrom said.

The black cod can be retained as part of the seven bottomfish anglers that are allowed this season.

New rockfish regulations in Washington this year are specific to copper rockfish, quillback rockfish and vermilion rockfish. Possession of the three rockfish species will be prohibited in May, June and July, when peak effort for bottomfish occurs, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Pacific Salmon Charters kicked off their season with their first bottomfishing trip on Sunday, with the charter reaching their limits despite some nasty weather on the way back to port. Coho Charters will officially begin later in the spring, with the start of halibut season in early May. Sea Breeze Charters will start with their season around mid-April.

“Our charter office waits until April 15 to get going, that’s our first official day. We have deckhands who are in college and it’s kind of hard for us to be totally efficient this early,” Solhstrom said.

“As of today we’re more than 25% booked for the entire season. Last year, on May 4, when we kicked off halibut, we were 50% booked, so between now and May, the phones will ring and ring and ring and we’ll do our best to book as many advance registrations as we can. I take the calls until 7 p.m. every night.”

While the new bottomfishing trips have been popular, much of the enthusiasm heading into the season has been on albacore tuna, which traditionally starts around June or July when migrating schools begin to appear on radars offshore.

“Because last year was so good, there are a lot of people coming back to do it again,” Sohlstrom said.

Bookings for halibut have also been filling fast for a chance to catch the colossal flatfish, which will begin in May.

The ocean recreational salmon quota and dates are expected to be announced in April, which will bring another flood of bookings.

“Once we announce our allotment/quota and official start dates, then those calls will start coming in,” Sohlstrom said.

Fleet changes

During the offseason, some of the Sea Breeze charter fleet experienced changes with vessel ownership, including the F/V Dolphin.

“It was owned by Toni Wisner last year but she sold it to Jay Rogers. He’s had a boat in the harbor for years, but wanted a bigger, more comfortable sea boat — and the idea of being in the charter business was very attractive to him,” Sohlstrom said.

Wally Coon will be skippering the F/V Dolphin this season.

Toni Wisner will skipper the F/V Legacy this year, Sohlstrom said, adding that the 43-foot Delta vessel was recently outfitted with new Cummins engines. The F/V Sea Breeze also underwent an extensive four-month restoration, including new mechanics and electronics.

“I think (it) might be the prettiest boat in the harbor now,” Sohlstrom said.

Chris Schenk, skipper of the F/V Bluefin, developed a devout following after debuting the 36-foot Westport vessel last year.

“The work he did last year was so impressive. Right now he has 212 people already booked on his boat. That’s 35 full loads (with six passengers) already, it just unbelievable,” Sohlstrom said.

Overall, the Sea Breeze fleet now includes five vessels, including the F/V Sea Breeze, F/V Salty Dog, F/V Legacy, F/V Bluefin and F/V Dolphin. The F/V Four Sea’sons, a mainstay in the Ilwaco marina for years, will be departing for Westport, nearer to the vessel operator.

“The F/V Four Sea’sons is going to be pulling out of our fleet. This year the owner’s son wants to run for his dad, but (the son) lives up in Westport, so that boat will be leaving,” Sohlstrom said. “It’s been a very important part of our office because it’s been here forever.”