Cod fish

[Always Learnin]

Hey guys -

I'm fishing out of Sooke Basin - new to the area. Can any of you tell me some good ling cod grounds in that area?

 

[chris73]

Always Learnin: sorry to tell you but I think you came 20 years too late. While salmon fishing is becoming highly regulated and maybe not be very productive for years to come, and halibut fishing is just getting cut back for anglers, the cod fishery hasn't hardly been worth the effort for many years already around Sooke. By pure chance or with persistence some people do lock occasionally into a larger ling. But I would say due to the low abundance and due to the heavy regulation it is not worth persuing... Sorry man. That's the sad reality and the sad state of condition of the southern BC saltwater fishery. Maybe somebody should talk to the tourism advertising industry and tell them that there is no more fish here and they need to change their brochures...

 

[Last Chance]

Find the rocks, drop some bait and give'er. Sook area, all of the shallow reefs have been picked clean, you are going to be 100+ feet on a slackish tide. Watch out for RCA's in whatever area you plan to fish, and used some very large bait or lures, so the poor little quillbacks won't get caught, pulled up, and bloated to death from the pressure change (Unless you are targetting quillies, but they are few in number so you should leave them alone.)

Or better yet, wait until spring, run up Jordan/Sombrio way, and target the black rockfish in the kelp beds. Taste like rockfish, have LESS bones (No lateral bones when you fillet them), are caught so shallow the liklehood of incidental quillback rockfish is nill, and last, but not least, they are a pain in the arse to people trolling for Salmon along that coast, so you would be doing some of your fellow anlgers a favor..

It can be a riot when you get a few lures over the side, and get a school of them up under your boat in plain sight.

THen, on your way to and from, you'll be passing over some great halibut grounds as well.

 

[Always Learnin]

Sook area, all of the shallow reefs have been picked clean

CA - here is the reason I was asking - I've pulled out the charts - fished lots of water and found very few fish - while there is a "thrill" to finding new spots, there is also a joy in not getting "razzed" by my wife! Sorry to annoy you with the question...

Thanks guys for the time... much appreciated..

 

[Sea Ranger]

quote:Originally posted by Concerned Angler

(except for secret prawn spots)

Are you saying that you know of a secret spot to catch prawns somewhere near sooke??? I have always been told that there are no prawns in sooke.

 

[Sea Ranger]

Hi "Always Learnin" You were asking about Ling Cod fishing near sooke. I have found that the Ling Cod are in the deeper water about 200 feet deep. You can jig for them using heavy jigs and in order to get your gear down to the bottom its best if you fish at slack tide. You can also use bait to catch ling cod, in the past I have jigged for small Kelp Greenlings in about 75 to 100 feet of water then used them for bait. Rig them up with a hook in the back and a hook in the mouth, then go to 200 feet of water and using a one or 2 pound ball send it down to the bottom and wait.... if there is a Ling Cod near by it will go for your Kelp Greenling and with a bit of luck you'll catch a Ling Cod. hope this helps.

 

[fishspoon]

about ten years ago, I have seen a lot of rockfish, lingcods all over place in Sooke. Tonnes of bluebacks/cohoes on surface. Right now, I trolled a lot, didn't find any lingcods or rockfishes. I also haven't seen many cohoes jumping for a long time. Lingcods are still out there but smaller sizes. (my opinion)

 

[Deewar25]

Lingcod still seem decent to me...usually find them in the 10-15lb range in the beecher bay area..fishinfool's method the winner with greenling I find. Just keep in mind that you are essentially trying to fool the ling into thinking he's getting a free meal - usually they are busy chewin on the cod and not hooked, so reel in slowly so they don't think something fishy (sorry pun) is going on. If they let go, drop the greenling down another 10-20 feet and cross your fingers. Love the head shakes from these guys....