[miyawaki]

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

 

[Jim F.]

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

 

[Dipnet]

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!

 

[Jonathan Tachell]

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

 

[Dizane]

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.

 

[Stonefish]

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

 

[Jonathan Tachell]

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.

 

[gjq]

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

 

[Jim F.]

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

 

[Dizane]

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

 

[mtskibum16]

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).

 

[Cole L]

You think a clouser would work for them?

 

[Nick Clayton]

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.

 

[Tacoma Red]

You must be a good scratcher Nick!

 

[Nick Clayton]

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.

 

[Stonefish]

Nick,
That is very odd.
Mola Mola can jump and searun cutthroat don't.
It is a very strange world out there.
SF

 

[mtskibum16]

You think a clouser would work for them?

A clouser works for everything.

 

[mtskibum16]

Nick,
That is very odd.
Mola Mola can jump and searun cutthroat don't.
It is a very strange world out there.
SF

They jump to shake off their loose scales. Mortality rate is around 39% so I recommend not targeting them.

 

[SaltyTippet]

Not going to lie I would have shit my pants at first when that thing finned toward me.... looks sharky

 

[EbbTide]

Easy now, let's be careful about hotspotting the Mola Mola beaches.