Keeper Lingcod in Oak Bay?

Carter K

New Member
I've been doing a lot of bottom fishing in the oak bay area near ten mile point, and haven't come across any decent sized lingcods. I've caught dozens that are 15-20 inches, but nothing bigger. Am I doing something wrong? is there anywhere in oak bay thats good for larger lingcod?

Thanks
 
I have found baby lingcods in the stomach of some bigger lings I’ve caught.
My guess is if your catching lots of small there is no more bigger ones in the area or they would have took over the territory.
 
All of the legal lings I've got off oak bay have been in just a little deeper water outside of where all those small lings and China rockfish are. Oddly, their mouths were all stuffed with sandlance yet their stomachs empty. I have caught springs in the same spots, just at the edge of the main current.
 
When I was digging through the archives I came across an older post (cannot find it now) where a diver reported the large lings were deeper than 75' at the breakwater. Perhaps the same applies to Oak bay.
 
I have actually fished some pretty deep reefs and still pulled up a lot of little ones. You have to weed through them. The bigger ones I've been getting the last few weeks have been in 60 - 90 feet of water. Consider the little ones and all the other reef dwellers bait fish. No food no predators.
 
I have actually fished some pretty deep reefs and still pulled up a lot of little ones. You have to weed through them. The bigger ones I've been getting the last few weeks have been in 60 - 90 feet of water. Consider the little ones and all the other reef dwellers bait fish. No food no predators.

60-90 feet isnt that deep for ling. try 90-300 feet. you can determine the sex of lingcod by looking at their vent(butt hole). if it looks like a white zit(conical papilla, see attached photo) its a male. if it looks like an inward belly button its female.

in the fall winter, female lingcod come out of deep water and lay eggs. the males fertilize the eggs and guard the nest. if you are in an area where you continuously catch lots of smallish males, change spots as this is likely a nesting area and no larger fish are present. larger lingcod can often be found scattered in flat bottom areas well away from reefs, though typically they are caught as incidentals while targeting other species.

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