Lingcod Questions / Help

Baxter

Baxter

Well-Known Member
I am going to get into fishing for Lings this year - first time trying this. I will only be fishing in Area 14. May venture to other inside waters, but nothing off-shore. I won't ask for your Area 14 secret spot, I know nobody likes that, BUT if you feel like sharing, PM me ;) (Kidding - or am I?)

1.) I have been told that I should use 80lb braid with a metal leader. Agree or disagree with this?

2.) I am happy to simply buy a leader (similar to this: https://www.harbourchandler.ca/shop...cellaneous-jigs/mustad-leader-with-snap-lock/) But curious how to go about making one. There seems to be few resources about this online. Should I just buy them off the shelf, or should I make them myself? Any advice here would be appreciated :) $7+ for a leader sounds a bit pricey, but considering 80lb braid and a meta leader, probably won't lose a lot of them. Thoughts?

3.) Also, I'll most likely start out with swim baits over jigging - what weight swim bait do you guys use?

4.) Net or Gaff. Most videos I see people just gaffing them. This of course is great if you are certain it is a legal fish, BUT, if unsure, is there any issue with netting them? I am not sure I have seen a single video with them netted. Wondering if their teeth, etc, wreak havoc on a net - or what the reason for gaffing is.

I'll have more questions I am sure :) Thanks everyone in this awesome forum for any advice you give!
 
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Welcome to lingcod fishing! My favourite species to eat and possibly even go as far as saying to fish for, they are a lot of fun! (gets expensive though on the nasty reefs) Ive never fished area 14 so I can't help you much on spots but just look for rock and good steep contours. The more jigs you lose often is a sign you're in a good spot. 30'-100 feet has usually been good to me on ECVI.

As for line and leader, you can pretty much use anything just watch for the teeth marks. We usually just pick the rod based on depth, Less 100' and not much current usually salmon rods, so 30lb-50lb braid no leader we tie straight to the jig if thats what were using. I guess what I'm saying is I wouldn't go buying line for it I would just pick which rod you want to use on any given day and go with whatever line is on it, unless you want t buy new line anyway. I have seen guys running trout rods and light test mono.

Leader like said above we tie straight to the jig with our braid, Ive used leader and made my own before but in my opinion didn't result in anymore fish and didn't result in breaking my lure free easier, it honestly didn't do anything other then give me something else to spend my money on and another chuck of leader to unravel and tangle around all the jigs in the box.

I like 8oz-16oz jigs it really depends how deep and what current though. We jig off thrasher rock the odd time and I use as small as 4 oz jigs because we are usually in less then 50' of water. The west coast we use 16oz some days. Id get a decent variety of sizes and each day will vary which weight you use based on depth, wind, current.

I have never netted a lingcod always gaffed. Personally if it was me I would grab the jig and measure it in the water then make your decision to gaff or not gaff if it was that close to the limit, sure you might lose it trying to measure it in the water but you'll get another chance at one that hopefully is obviously over the minimum size. But each to there own I know everyones opinion on how to measure a fish without harming it is drastically different, thats just the way we do it.
 
Good ling advice there. Everyone has different approaches. I prefer to use a leader only because it makes it less likely I will lose a bunch of mainline if we tangle with the bottom. Jig size is matched to depth and current. Deeper and faster the water is, the more weight. I like the paddle tail jigs, but real bait does work better...just more messing around. A good level wind reel and medium to fast action shorter rod (6 or 7 feet) works well. Keep moving around trying different structure and drifts. A little back trolling at times is very effective.

I also had good success using really small jigs in shallow water, and of course ran into some black bombers which is like catching bass if you use lighter gear...what a blast.

SFAB is working with DFO to request amending the daily and possession limits for outside lingcod (not inside SoG) from 2 to 3 daily. Fingers crossed.
 
michael_reiber said:
Welcome to lingcod fishing! My favourite species to eat and possibly even go as far as saying to fish for, they are a lot of fun! (gets expensive though on the nasty reefs) Ive never fished area 14 so I can't help you much on spots but just look for rock and good steep contours. The more jigs you lose often is a sign you're in a good spot. 30'-100 feet has usually been good to me on ECVI.

As for line and leader, you can pretty much use anything just watch for the teeth marks. We usually just pick the rod based on depth, Less 100' and not much current usually salmon rods, so 30lb-50lb braid no leader we tie straight to the jig if thats what were using. I guess what I'm saying is I wouldn't go buying line for it I would just pick which rod you want to use on any given day and go with whatever line is on it, unless you want t buy new line anyway. I have seen guys running trout rods and light test mono.

Leader like said above we tie straight to the jig with our braid, Ive used leader and made my own before but in my opinion didn't result in anymore fish and didn't result in breaking my lure free easier, it honestly didn't do anything other then give me something else to spend my money on and another chuck of leader to unravel and tangle around all the jigs in the box.

I like 8oz-16oz jigs it really depends how deep and what current though. We jig off thrasher rock the odd time and I use as small as 4 oz jigs because we are usually in less then 50' of water. The west coast we use 16oz some days. Id get a decent variety of sizes and each day will vary which weight you use based on depth, wind, current.

I have never netted a lingcod always gaffed. Personally if it was me I would grab the jig and measure it in the water then make your decision to gaff or not gaff if it was that close to the limit, sure you might lose it trying to measure it in the water but you'll get another chance at one that hopefully is obviously over the minimum size. But each to there own I know everyones opinion on how to measure a fish without harming it is drastically different, thats just the way we do it.
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Great info, thanks.

I thought 80lb braid was excessive... I have to put line on my bait-casters anyways, so will likely go with 50lb braid then. Will likely skip the steel leaders if the consensus is they are unnecessary. They aren't cheap and don't want to spend $ if it is not important.

My wife is not a fan of trolling. Says the motor is too loud (although, it is not that bad). Figure if we go for Ling and drive, it will be quiet and peaceful and she will likely enjoy herself more. When I want to go with the guys or alone I will just tell her we are trolling only. LOL
 
searun said:
SFAB is working with DFO to request amending the daily and possession limits for outside lingcod (not inside SoG) from 2 to 3 daily. Fingers crossed.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info!

Hopefully limits for inside are increased. I believe last year it was only 1 (didn't target them so didn't pay attention). Honestly, Id be happy with 1, but if I can get 2 that would be better. ;)
 
Baxter said:
Great info, thanks.

I thought 80lb braid was excessive... I have to put line on my bait-casters anyways, so will likely go with 50lb braid then. Will likely skip the steel leaders if the consensus is they are unnecessary. They aren't cheap and don't want to spend $ if it is not important.

My wife is not a fan of trolling. Says the motor is too loud (although, it is not that bad). Figure if we go for Ling and drive, it will be quiet and peaceful and she will likely enjoy herself more. When I want to go with the guys or alone I will just tell her we are trolling only. LOL
Click to expand...
I am sure she will enjoy it! Thats my favourite part, no trolling dead quite and everyone in a blue moon when you get that perfect sunny dead flat day and no current just sitting out there in the sun jigging for some of the best eating fish its simply amazing.
 
One thing I'd say is move A LOT. if you're on a good drift then that's good. Pick spots to stop that you'll be carried over several pinnacles. Most if not all lings I ever got were as soon as we dropped. They're aggressive so if they see it they'll bite it. But they also hold up in holes so if they don't see it then you've missed them. I started trolling with swim baits last year and I absolutely love it. Slow down, speed up, more line, less line. Lots to do and you cover lots of ground.
 
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Baxter said:
Thanks for the info!

Hopefully limits for inside are increased. I believe last year it was only 1 (didn't target them so didn't pay attention). Honestly, Id be happy with 1, but if I can get 2 that would be better. ;)
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There will not be an increase on daily limit for inside waters. There isn't the biomass to support that.
 
A buddy of mine attached one of those underwater cameras and went jigging. You would be very surprised just how many lings are down there that come for a look but never bite. Shocking actually.

The thing that often triggers a bite is a darting movement. My wife is absolutely the best at jigging. I suck mainly because I get bored quickly and don't concentrate on a really effective natural action jig motion. She usually out-fishes me 2 or 3 to 1...so ya, I suck at it. But the best part is the aggressive bites especially using lighter gear. It can be a lot of fun, and if you get a decent fish on they can really rip line off lighter tackle.
 
Has become my favorite fish to target, bottom fish ,great with 4 oz jigs , which cost me almost nothing because I make em lol. 80lb braid to a flutter jig ... I prefer to use lighter jigs , feel more and I'm old lol
 
Baxter said:
but considering 80lb braid and a meta leader, probably won't lose a lot of them. Thoughts?
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Once you get snagged on rock, good luck getting it loose; heavier just makes it harder to break-off.
For bait you want heavy leader as anti-tooth protection but something lighter than you mainline between the anti-tooth leader & the mainline so that you can break-off a snag w/o loosing mainline. Steel wire is best for this:

You can make your own
Bait with large whole herring.

IMO metal jigs are best but change the treble to a single to minimize snags; something long like a Point Wilson Dart candlefish jig keeps the teeth away from the line. Jig weight mainly depends on current/wind & depth.

A copper pipe jig with lead inside creates electrical current that attracts them.
 
50lb braid, 30lb flourocarbon leader

swim baits tied with a loop knot (i dont know the name of it) so the action is very free when falling. jig or swim them 20% of the depth off the bottom.. less bycatch. so 20' up from 100' bottom.

or, spreader bar, one lb weight, 4' of 50lb leader with whole herring holder. slow troll or even backtroll around the reefs.
caught a bunch of salmon with this set up too.
 
Those big swimbaits really work but Lings are so easy to catch anyway and I only need a few for the freezer-plus I'm too cheap to actually pay for a store bought jig when I can make something effective out of scraps.
 
Dogbreath said:
Those big swimbaits really work but Lings are so easy to catch anyway and I only need a few for the freezer-plus I'm too cheap to actually pay for a store bought jig when I can make something effective out of scraps.
Click to expand...

Good to know, thx. I have some big old jigs that were handed down to me. Will give those a good try before I dive into Swimbaits. If the jigs work, good enough. Will save my money for beer. ;)
 
Baxter said:
Good to know, thx. I have some big old jigs that were handed down to me. Will give those a good try before I dive into Swimbaits. If the jigs work, good enough. Will save my money for beer. ;)
Click to expand...
You can get smaller 6 oz. Ones for like $12-$14 for a two pack when they're on sale. No need for the replacement tails and all that BS. Plus they have tandem hooks on top so way less snagging.

Obviously deeper water the bigger works better though.
 
Rain City said:
You can get smaller 6 oz. Ones for like $12-$14 for a two pack when they're on sale. No need for the replacement tails and all that BS. Plus they have tandem hooks on top so way less snagging.

Obviously deeper water the bigger works better though.
Click to expand...
Post spawn...the smaller jigs can be $$$$, pulls them outta their hidey holes when the larger baits wont work...
The swimbaits are for sure the bomb, they out fish almost every time we try keeping stats...no one wants to use a regular jig anymore
 
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