Ling - Out of secret cove?

[macro]

Hey. It’s considered proper etiquette to move your fishing around a lot for Lings as they stay in one spot. If an area gets fished out it may take a very long time for the lings to repopulate. You didn’t do anything wrong, but maybe didn’t have all the info to make an educated decision on your ling hunt.
As retention of salmon has been **** down, a LOT more pressure is expected for ground fish. This could potentially cause irreparable harm as anglers try to bring home the meat.
Some anglers chose not to fish Longcod at all in the name of conservation. The stocks have been decimated in the past. This is the worry of the forum members that say not to post about Lingcod. They don’t want any additional pressure caused by people seeing glory” shots of Ling”
Cheers

I'll keep that in mind - Thanks. One of the things I like about this forum, is that people actually help each other. Not just troll/bash. I asked for help, and got suggestions - Things went well, so wanted to give back with what worked for me. I did not give up the specific area I fished - just the technique that worked for us.

One more question - I've been told big ling are likely to be wormy - so whats considered too big. I'd hate to kill something intending to eat it, to end up wasting it. Also, at what size do you likely have a breeding female - again I'd rather throw it back.

Cheers,

 

[MadJigga]

Keep the just legal size to 10-12 lbs’ers. They’re mostly the males. The meat can be tougher on the bigger lings. Over 20lbs and up are breading females.
Cheers

 

[silversands]

Yes big ones are fun to reel in, but agree best to leave the bigger female to boost the population. I also have found that bigger and older lings you'll find more worms in the flesh than the smaller ones. Mid size lings seem to be best for eating. Also when jigging lings you'll often get a by-catch of rock cod...so that could be a positive part of any ling fishing report...a review of any descending devices you tried out. There are some videos on this forum of guys using the weighted, upside down milk crate on 100 feet or so of rope to descend rockfish. That looks like a cheap and easy way for anyone fishing lings to keep the rock-cod mortality to a minimum.

 

[macro]

I was getting cod on smaller jigs and live bait. As soon as I went to big swim baits on troll, no more bycatch.