Advice for Shore Fishing setup

[RockandRollFish]

Hey all.
New to Vancouver Island. Looking to get into some shore fishing for Rockfish and Lingcod. I have only fished freshwater streams and lake so any advice would be appreciated.
Good rod set up for shore fishing, Type of bait lures,time best times of the years and location. I am in the Victoria area.
Thanks in advance.

 

[fish brain]

Try the breakwater on Dallas rd chuck a buzz bomb, or anything flashy during the season and you can catch a ling from there. @John Ingram has a thread on shore fishing for salmon, he may have some thoughts.

 

[ericl]

New to Vancouver Island. Looking to get into some shore fishing for Rockfish and Lingcod.

They like rocky habitat, and are a bit hesitant to leave that habitat. You need to get the bait/lure close enough to entice them to leave that habitat without getting snagged on the rocks. Least chance of this is when still fishing vertically or trolling with down riggers at a controlled depth just above the rocks from a boat. Sometimes they can be caught from piers but these get fished-out quickly; nighttime would be best for piers.
For bait, rig a "dropper leader"; small round sinker on the bottom, then a hook 18" above the sinker. Make the test of the leader much less than that of the main line so you can easily break-off when snagged. Chunks of Herring work well on a size 1-2/0 hook. You can cast & retrieve lures as mentioned above, just make sure to have a leader lighter than the main line. I would use a weighted spoon 1 oz or so such as a Crocodile spoon; jigs need to be "jerked" so they sink a bit with every 4 feet of retrieve & this sinking makes them prone to snagging.
IMO the "easy" rockfish/lings to be had from shore were fished-out 50 years ago (I am 70 y/o) unless you find a very isolated pristine location.

Trout gear will be fine; bring lot's of money for lures.
Doubt time of year matters much.
As for location, most likely somewhere 100's of miles from where you are.