Ling Cod status?

[Little Hawk]

Howdy!

Newby here... Great forum Guys!

As I mentioned in my first post, I'm new to South Island salt-chuckin' and will be back on the water soon.

What's up with the Ling-cod these days? I know they've been under closures over the last few years.

One of my favorite table fish and would love to chase'm when the salmon/halibut are slow.

Cheers,
Terry

 

[drhook]

http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/recfish/default_e.htm

 

[Little Hawk]

Howdy!

Thanks DR.Hook!

After I posted I realized it was as simple as picking up a copy of the regs...

 

[Poacher2]

http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/recfish/Tidal/area19_e.htm

 

[SIR]

It's the 15th, I've got my Swedish jig, a bag of frozen octopus tenticals and I'm off to find the first Ling of the season.

Ojective for the day is to send Dad home from his Father's Day outing with his limits of salmon, ling, snapper, flounder, prawns and crab. Track record for the last three years is 100% so the pressure is on

 

[Butt Ugly]

Have been looking forward to today. Battered lingcod sounds great for dinner tonight!

 

[SIR]

Well, we got everything except the Lings.... spent too long salmon fishing and with the tide ripping the way it was couldn't get down deep enough to pick up the big Lings.... but still a great day on everything else.

PS - octopus arms were amazing for the snapper, got our two in under 60 seconds [8D]

 

[Last Chance]

SIR, I got Octopus from Canadian Wholesale Club last night Unlike the big short hunks we get from the bait guys, the pack I got appeared to be nice tentacles 1.5" across by 16" long. One of them dancing of a rig this weekened I'm sure is going to ruin a butt's breakfeast, you may want to try 'em. It is $9.99 per 800G (1.5 Pounds), but quality stuff. You may want to give it a try.

 

[Butt Ugly]

Could you guys explain how to rig up for octopus arms? Is it just as easy as slapping a few tentacles on a hook, or is there more to the setup?

 

[Last Chance]

I tie a couple 11/0 hooks in tandem (Actually, I buy 'em pre tied for simplicities sake), and thread the hooks through the arm a few times so that the head hook is near the fat end, the thin hook dangles near the thin end. That way, it looks like a nice juicy arm waving in the current.

 

[Butt Ugly]

Thanks! I'll try that.

 

[Last Chance]

Those little baby octopus you can get from the Prawn guys are deadly for ling cod as well, plus, they last for a couple of fish.

 

[Butt Ugly]

That's exactly what I was thinking of. I've caught little ******* in the prawn traps, and now they have a purpose. Guess I should check the regs and limits for octopus first though.

 

[Last Chance]

Shov 'em in a styrofoam bait tray as you catch 'em.

 

[SIR]

We catch lot's of octopus in our prawn traps so my bait price on this is below wholesale

For snapper I just add a short 3-4" thin piece of leg off the treble hook of my favorite jig.

For Ling I use the 3-6oz lead jig heads. I thread the thick end of the leg onto the jig hook, as per a texas worm rig, I then run a treble stinger down from the eye of the jig to a treble that I embedd one barb of down towards the thin end of an 8-10" peice of octo leg. If I'm feeling fancy I use a peice of wire to run the line for the stinger down the inside of the octo leg but I have to say Lings aren't usually picky eaters...

You can usually catch 3-6 fish on one piece of bait making it "the guides favorite bait"

The "fun" part of catching octopus is finding where in your boat they have run off to while you were resetting your gear, man can those puppies get out of a bucket and take off fast!!!!