Video: July 5 2025 PB Lingcod and 6 Vermilion - Mendocino

Nice!

Great Job Paul
Any day you get a PB is a GREAT DAY!!!
An excellent conciliation  for the first one that got away!

Scotty

What fun!  Sorry bout da ling.  the head on your PB is massive.  I can imagine the one that got away.  Thanks for the vid!

When I caught the 44" 36lb Pacific halibut I was worried that I wouldn't be able to hold on to the gaff if it went berserk. I decided on the embarrassingly large net i was carrying. The net worked great. For smaller fish I use the gaff.   

There have been tons of "gaff is best" comments on here over the years.  I maintain that if you don't carry a big net, you are risking losing a lifetime fish.  I'm NOT saying that you cannot gaff a 30 pound ling, 40 to 50 pound halibut, 40 pound salmon...etc.  I AM saying that sometimes the big net is the better option, in my (professional guide) opinion!

My 27 pound lingcod went in the net just fine, as did my 35 pound halibut and my 38 pound Chinook. 

For guiding, I've never gaffed a client's fish - all have gone in the big net - plenty of lingcod around 20 pounds, halibut to 20, salmon to 40.

There's nothing wrong with gaff confidence, but cruising with a net that barely fits a 20 pound lingcod is asking for trouble, and when that really big fish comes along, you may just want that big net instead of, like Mark said, worrying about gaffing a really big fish and then having it either go berzerk or even just having trouble getting it subdued and on a clip.  In the big net bag, with the rim under your leg and the opening pointed toward your lap, you have a place to work on the fish while it's still in the water.

All that said, I did get worked over by a 20+ pound Cali that came up white-side-up.  I netted it, and it flipped out and literally flipped the entire net over and flew away.  I will gaff a big halibut now, but the big net is a vital tool for lots of the fish we're going after.

Don't blow a PB because of having too small of a net = the main point.

Sorry for thread-jack, Paul!