The Big Lings

[HoochieMama]

All the lingcods I've hooked to date have been pretty much by accident while going for salmon or halibut.

Looking for a brief primer/set of tips from those you to target lings specifically.



Thanks

 

[Barnacle Bill]

Caught more big lings on live bait then on jigs or dead bait....................BB

 

[spring fever]

You can't beat live bait for lings!!!

 

[HoochieMama]

You can't beat live bait for lings!!!

That's what my reading on the topic seems to strongly indicate. They love stuff that really moves.

 

[trendsetter]

Yep live bait is best. We used to fish with handlines off the govt. docks between the pilings for shiner perch and keep them alive in a bucket for ling bait. Worked great.

Also had good luck using fresh squid when available. Lings are most often found on rocky or reef type bottoms waiting for prey to come up over the rock or pass over and down one side of the reef. I usually start on one side of the reef/rock and drift over keeping bait about 3-4 feet off bottom. If you keep the bait a few feet above the rocks you tend to get more lings and less rockfish. Kelp beds can also be good for lings but you will usually catch a bunch of rockfish and greenlings as bycatch.

While live bait is usually the best you can still catch lings on dead bait. I find that whole herring will work much better than a cut piece of bait.

Cheers

 

[Peterman]

Live bait is King... we used to get ours from the Secret Cove Marina on the Sunshine Coast... it was 5-1 vs frozen herring...

Is there any live bait around Ucluelet ?? Ive never looked into it..

 

[Rum Buddies]

ya nothing beats a little live greenling IMO

 

[Striper Sniper]

ya nothing beats a little live greenling IMO

Which can be used more than once if you retrieve them real gently.... Lings just do not like to let go even when not even hooked!

SS

 

[HoochieMama]

How do you rig your live bait for that use?

 

[Steelhead S2]

Shiners work. Greenlings really work. Big frozen squid work. If you're using big rubber jigs, load them up with chunks of herring. Don't be shy about fishing deep. But reefs and kelp edges are productive. Use stout gear, and be prepared for when they take you into their caves. It can be impossible to get them back out.

 

[Downchild]

White curly tail grub.
No need for bait for those retards.
Should release all over 25# IMHO. The quality of meat goes WAY down on larger Lings.
Besides that they are breeders.

 

[Little Hawk]

Good point DC!

 

[Barnacle Bill]

HM,,Rig live bait with barbed hooks, legal for ground fish. Hook the bait either in the back, or in the lips. Jigging pilchards on the WCVI works really well for lings and halis....................BB

 

[hambone]

Live shiners are dynamite! I used to do this often growing up. Most of the biggies were probably no deeper than 50 feet.

 

[the fog ducker]

Live shiners are dynamite! I used to do this often growing up. Most of the biggies were probably no deeper than 50 feet.

hit the nail on the head there

live bait outfishes dead , 0 comparison ,simple , there territorial , they do not want anything in there space , they will kill it even if there NOT hungry..
i offer the bored kids at the dock .25 cents a piece for shiners , before i know it i got a bucket full lol,,,,
and some extremely impatient entrepreneur collectors chomping at the heels lol...

*** Nothing cooler than sending a live bait down , puting it ur rod holder , watching it get NAILED , and HARD..

6- 8oz ball , 3 - 4 ft leader , tandem hooks , 2-3 inches appart , top hook through the nose , trailer dangles ,
if ya dont get a fish in 10 min , move..

love bottom fishin !!! been fishing them this way since i was a knee high

Agree , 25 lbs and up , send em on there way if ya can..the quality definately drops...let em breed...

FD

 

[happy hooker]

ya nothing beats a little live greenling IMO

X2. No dorsal spines = dinner

 

[chevyshaulass]

Release em all over 20 unless you like the taste of chalk. If you hook a rockfish dont reel it up let it dangle around near the bottom and wait.

 

[Rum Buddies]

Which can be used more than once if you retrieve them real gently.... Lings just do not like to let go even when not even hooked!

SS

Good point, you never want to horse them up to fast - so many times they aren't even hooked and if you're slow and steady they'll come right up. Even if they let go at the surface you can drop your bait down a few feet and they'll latch on again. This is making me wanna go ling fishing!

 

[Charter Tofino]

When they latch on and aren't hooked it can make for some good fun at the boat! Lots of swing/miss on the gaff, awkward net jobs, let go's ect.

One word of advice is that if your going to put multiple trebles in your bait make sure you use heavy gear and don't break it off. If you do then a big ling is going to eat it and get the trebles snagged in its guts. The ling with the big belly here would not have lived much longer as he had a big rockfish with multiple trebles rigged snagged in his gut.

On this ling the red on his lip is actually a rockfish tail sticking out.

x3 On releasing the big breeders. Here's a video of a hammer we released. Sorry for the commentary, quality and crap music playing haha. Not much for size reference but it was much larger than the 15-20lbers we bonked.

 

[trophywife]

is this not skirting on ill eagle?,, using a caught fish to continue fishing for another? just askin, this has happened to myself many (ling grabbing smaller fish) times but i have never rigged a caught bottomfish to continue fishing for lings...???