Puget Sound

I have a copy of "The Rockfishes of the Northeast Pacific in my library. Has been an excellent reference.

In MA 9 (assuming that the catch in question came from that area) the copper rock fish has been by far the most common catch in my experience over the last 40 years. Other rockfish species that have shown up in our catch by decreasing order have been browns, yellowtail, blacks and vermilions. Am sure that one can find other deep-water species if fishing in depths greater than 120 feet.
Curt
 
Several candidates for @speedbird 's non-lingcod-getting flatfish. Could sycophantic AI help us? AI overview image searching for "Is this an X" where X is each of candidates results in the following:
Screenshot_20260503-235953_Chrome.jpg
Screenshot_20260504-191148_Google.jpg
Screenshot_20260504-191208_Google.jpg
Screenshot_20260504-191230_Google.jpg
Screenshot_20260504-191326_Google.jpg
Screenshot_20260504-191612_Google.jpg
So no, Artificial Inteligence is of no help, I stick with Natural Stupidity and still call it an Atlantic Salmon then.

PS: I think @Smalma is the most likely, although it is hard to see the free dorsal front rays.
 
Believe the flat fish is a sand sole - see the long free rays in the front portion of the dorsal fin.

The rockfish is more difficult without a better picture but lacking additional information/picture I suspect it is a copper.

Curt
What's stumping me is the rounded dorsal and ventral fins. The butter sole is the only species that seems to have that feature but I imagine there is variation?

I ended up emailing the WDFW biologist for the area. I think I agree with @Smalma too, those long free rays are pretty distinctive when I look at them. Given that I caught a fish with the word "sand" in its name it is safe to say I spent a lot of time in less than ideal Lingcod habitat.

Honestly I need to appreciate flounder more. A Sand Sole is a brand new species for me and I don't think I gave it a second look after it went in the kill bag. It'll be a while before I catch one that isn't a Sanddab too. There was a time when I sucked at fishing where I would be mesmerized to have even seen that thing swimming.
 
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