PiggyLing

TLDR: I went out on Saturday and shot a nice 35 inch Ling that was stoopid meaty and weighed 19.22 pounds with an empty belly. Was the biggest Ling speared at the Out to Sea Monterey BringTheLing comp, and got me 2nd place in the Spearo category. Winner had 2 lings for 19.64 pounds. I ate the Ling. It was yummy. 

Long version:

I kicked out before first light and started looking for Lings in some holes where I have found nice fish in the past. Conditions were great with calm, clear water and lots of rockfish etc but every hole I looked in was empty. 

Kept covering ground and exploring but 6+ hours later I had just shot one ~19 inch Black, I was getting tired, calves were cramping, sinuses were killing me (had a head cold all week) and still hadn't found a Ling.

I was considering starting heading in while floating over a fishy spot that holds a lot of blues and blacks, and has one obvious big boulder with a deep diagonal crack on one side at 25/30 feet....while watching the rockfish I see a big bulldog of a golden Ling come out from under the boulder chasing a little greenling, then disappear back in the crack...

I had checked this crack multiple times already and hadn't seen anything in there....looked again and nothing...started making drops looking all around the boulder for side entrances but no luck...

The main entrance crack was at an odd/awkward angle so I decided to try looking in it upside down to see if I could get a better view underneath....dropped in and shimmied my shoulders as far as they could go, and finally there was the big old Ling head looking back at me. 

I came back up to breath and to think about how I would enter the crack with my gun to get the shot, dropped down again and put the shaft right between her eyes....

I could tell it was gonna take some work to get her out because she was underneath a constriction in the rock so let the reel line out and came back up to rest again and just kept tension on the line so she couldn't get further under the boulder...

Dropped down again and through the bloody haze I could see her head was super wedged under the constriction and even though the shot looked totally solid I couldn't budge her, and couldn't reach her with my hand...

Came back up again and swam over to the banks board and grabbed my back up gun...went back down and placed the shaft right in her eyeball.

Now with two shafts in her face I was able to use both to eventually (after 3/4 more tries) slide her head into a slightly wider spot, get my hand under her jaw and pull her out. 

Absolutely beautiful fish with bright golden colors and a giant head and super thick body.

Bled her, then strung her up on the dive board and got my gear stashed and swam back to the exit spot.

When I got out of the water I saw someone had stolen the backpack straps to my dive board, but had at least left my sneakers. 

Strapped all my gear to the board, put the fish on my belt stringer and slung belt with hanging fish around my shoulders Chewbacca style, and carried board in one hand while using the other to climb/scramble back up.

Took me forever but finally made it back to the truck and the cold beer. 

Fish measured out to 35 inches and I could tell the belly wasn't full and she wasn't preggo so was thinking maybe 16-17 pounds, so was pleasantly surprised when it weighed 19.22 back at Out To Sea Monterey.

The BringTheLing comp I was competing in was a two day and two fish comp, so knew my chances of winning would be a lot higher if I dove Sunday, but I was WRECKED and my sinuses were killing me, so decided to chill with the family Sunday instead of diving again.

My fish ended up being the biggest Ling speared and got me 2nd in the Spearo category behind 2 fish totaling 19.64 pounds:

https://www.outtoseamonterey.com/events

I scored some cash and some gift certs and schwag and had a blast at the awards ceremony seeing old friends and making new ones.

Here's a bunch of pics of the fish and the fun. 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

 

Yeah buddy. Looks super tasty right now too!

Great story recovering that fat fish.

Congrats on the 2nd place.  Thanks for the awesome report and pictures Jim.

Hell Yeah...
WTG Big Jim. Congrats on your 2nd place finish.

Those are massive pecs!

Awesome report, brother, and that is one beautiful lingcod!   

Every beer on wrecked-Sunday was accompanied by a Big Ling Smile, I'm sure.     Love it.   

Hard work pays off! Good stuff jim

Thanks for the kind words guys.

 

I've gotten plenty of bigger Lings over the years, but this piggy (and the effort I put into the whole process) will stand out in my memory for sure.

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

awesome report Jim, way to conquer the cold!