Mola Mola Off Squaxin

1625 Views 26 Replies 17 Participants Last post by mtskibum16, Nov 3, 2016

miyawaki

Discussion Starter · Nov 2, 2016

An ocean sunfish, Mola mola, here in south Puget Sound off Squaxin. Ocean warming?

Leland

https://www.facebook.com/SearunCoastalCutthroatTrout/?hc_ref=PAGES_TIMELINE&fref=nf

Save

Reactions: 2

1 - 20 of 27 Posts

Jim F.

· #2 · Nov 2, 2016

Or a lost Mola Mola. That one did thread its way through a maze of water, however.

Save

Dipnet

· #3 · Nov 2, 2016

I remember one being caught off the Pt. Defiance Boathouse dock sometime back in the '70s or '80s.

Actually "caught" may be a misnomer. IIRC, the kid saw it swimming by and snagged it!

Save

Jonathan Tachell

· #4 · Nov 2, 2016

Another Mola Mola was caught off of the Point Defiance dock about 8 years ago as well.

Save

I've seen several of them off the WA coast while tuna fishing. Apparently they are native to both temperate and tropical oceans worldwide. My friend saw one in the north Sound two summers ago. I would guess this one got lost while off the WA coast and somehow made its way to south Puget Sound. That's quite the journey but personally I wouldn't point to it as evidence of ocean warming.

Save

Reactions: 1

Stonefish

· #6 · Nov 2, 2016

Mola Mola returns to Puget Sound are down this year.
Time to declare a crisis!!!!!
SF

Save

Reactions: 5

Jonathan Tachell

· #7 · Nov 2, 2016

Careful Stonefish the state might identify a rare subspecies of Mola Mola that only inhabits Puget Sound. Which of course would force them to close all recreational fishing to prevent incidental Mola Mola hook mortality.

Save

Reactions: 2

gjq

· #8 · Nov 2, 2016

Over on the right coast, some have never seen a sunfish sunning themselves(not for sensitive viewers):

Save

Reactions: 1

Jim F.

· #9 · Nov 2, 2016

For a guy with such a limited vocabulary, he sure was excited.

Save

Dizane

· #10 · Nov 2, 2016

Jonathan Tachell said:
Careful Stonefish the state might identify a rare subspecies of Mola Mola that only inhabits Puget Sound. Which of course would force them to close all recreational fishing to prevent incidental Mola Mola hook mortality.

Sounds more like something the Feds would do lol

Save

Reactions: 1

mtskibum16

· #11 · Nov 2, 2016

I'm pretty sure there was a big one caught like in Elliott or something 1-2 years ago. I also think that @Nick Clayton has mentioned seeing many juvenile sunfish while out tuna fishing. Correct me if I'm wrong Nick. Doesn't seem to be that rare of an occurrence (respectively).

Save

Cole L

· #12 · Nov 2, 2016

You think a clouser would work for them?

Save

Reactions: 1

Nick Clayton

· #13 · Nov 2, 2016

Ya we saw tons of adult and juvenile sun fish this summer. They don't seem to show any interest in bait or any artificial stuff..... Apprently they are big jellyfish eaters. An eight weight and some jelly fish flies could be fun for the juveniles!

Very cool fish. Very odd little buggers. They seemed very curious. Would often swim right up to the boat and check us out. I scratched several of their backs with the gaff handle. They seemed to like that.

See less See more

Save

Reactions: 5

Tacoma Red

· #14 · Nov 2, 2016

You must be a good scratcher Nick!

Save

Reactions: 1

Nick Clayton

· #15 · Nov 3, 2016

What surprised me was that the damn things can jump. When the little ones first started showing up we made the mistake several times of sliding in and throwing bait at what we thought was jumping albacore. After a little it became easy to recognize them.