4/5 Bottom Grabber
 

With the opening of Lingcod season on April 1, I had to give it a shot
today.

Wrestled this one out of the kelp and it went 31 inches, with an oversized
head. Legal size now is 24 inches with a daily limit of two.







http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...J040509002.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...J040509010.jpg

Awesome Linga Larry!

Cool! I always wonder what those things have in their belly's. I'd imagine a whole collection of stuff.

Nice ling.

What's the difference between the brown lings, and blue ones?

Nice one Larry!!!

Nice :luxhello:

Stomach contents -> this ling had a good-sized fish about 6 inches long,
possibly a Blacksmith perch, in its belly and a huge amount of small eggs
of some kind (yes INSIDE the stomach with the perch!), and a bunch of
fish bones and other stuff too. I know that they love to eat octopus,
and just about anything else that they can catch near the bottom.

When they bite, I don't give them any "room to run", and my drag is locked
down on 40# to pull like hell or they'll get into a cave.

As for color, sometimes they just get that turquoise color, but its still the
same exact kind of fish - there is no difference.

Larry

Nice Fatty!

Take it easy!

Aaron

Looks yummy..

wow that's a nice one

One time on a Crew trip my buddies girlfriend caught a ling in the Pt Loma kelp that went just over 20lbs. HUGE! When I cut it I found a bass (appeared to be calico but was partially digested). The bass this thing ate was at least 2.5lbs.

I love catching lings, Glad they are open again, gives me a reason to fish LJ.

That's a nice fish....I need to catch me a legal one of those

Thanks for the post. I have never caught a Ling but I have eaten some and they taste great. Can you please share with the rest of us some suggestions on how to target this critter?

Bob

Denziens of the DEEP
 

Bob,

In the past I have caught them on live mackerel, live smelt, big B-52 4
ounce bucktails, and on smaller rockfish plastics. This one was caught on
a whole squid on the bottom, about 85' I think. The key is fishing on or
near the bottom, and near kelp or rocky structure with deep BAIT MARKS
on the fishfinder.

I use a 40# fluoro leader, 30 to 50 lb spectra mainline and fish my lever
drag on full force, with almost no give. For live bait I use 6/0 to 8/0 circle
hooks, at least 5 oz of weight with a big mackerel, or, 2/0 hook for smelt.

The roof of their mouths is like concrete, sometimes after a long battle the
hook will simply fall out on a headshake!

Early April is by far the best time to get them, so Good Luck out there!


Larry



There are a few other lingcod pix if you scroll down in my photos here
http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y117/blackcloud9/Fishing/?albumview=grid











Attached are a few La Jolla Ling classics --->




http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...k102707007.jpg






http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...od04010749.jpg






http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...od04010735.jpg






AND THE ULTIMATE IN SKILLED HOOKSETS WITH AN 8/0 CIRCLE HOOK ...........






http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...ingA063006.jpg



:cheers1:

Thanks Larry,

I enjoyed your seminar at Fastlane last weekend. I think you are right about one thing. Some of us spend a to much time focusing on the trophy fish and forget about some of the great eating meat fish that are readily available. I usually C & R but I suspect that if I landed a nice ling or sheepshead, I might have to take it home for dinner.

The problem with fishing for ling or other rock fish is that you basically are sit fishing... waiting for something tasty to find you. Surface fishing is more like hunting where you are stalking your prey. The latter is more intersting but the former will probably produce more catches.

Next trip, just for fun, I will see what I can find on the bottom. I will bring a few beers just in case.

Bob

Glad that you enjoyed the seminar, and glad I got one thing right. :luxhello:

It's true, too many people see all these trophy pictures and expect to
paddle out and catch a trophy seabass or yellowtail because they are in
La Jolla. While pictures don't lie, they can easily lead people astray,
because there are a whole lot of excited optimists out there. I know the
truth, and just try to help people understand that realistically
it could take months (or years) of trying - and that's why they are called
trophies!

It's very rare for me to sit in one spot, *especially* when lingcod /
rockfishing the way I usually do. That is definitely not a hope-they
-find-me kind of fishing, as I am always moving, actively hunting them
with my fishfinder. Eliminate the time spent fishing "dead" areas. I don't
stop pedaling except to drift with the current occasionally around my
spots. In this case the edge of the kelp was loaded solid with baitfish, so I
tied up and fished. Released a few other fish, smaller lings too. Didn't get
what I'd mildly hoped for though .... se la vie.

That being said, note that the master of sit/wait/observe fishing has
caught almost a dozen big WSBs this year and many more yellows. I'll
freely admit that I personally do not have the patience (or maybe its
confidence) for that when fishing on my own, nor do most people.

But I do catch a lot of "other stuff" :) Everyone has their own style. Keep
those lines in the water, have fun, and you will get bit!




(P.S. Ignore my avatar, it's misleading! Maybe I'll change it.)

Beautiful colors on that fish...
 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...J040509010.jpg

I would love a pair of Lingcod boots :D.

My favorite technique for targeting Lingcod is dropping large swimbaits to the base of bull-kelp stringers. Loads of fun when fishing in the right spots on proper gear, tasty too :eating:.

Nice ling!