Ling Baits?

I went out on a squid trip a while back and saved some tenticles(?). I was planning on putting then on 6-10oz lead heads for lings. I also saved some squid pieces as well for ray/shark fishing.

Questions: Would the tenticles(?) work on the lead heads? Not enough action as a swinbait? How would the Humbolt squid pieces fair to regular whole squid on a trap rig or regular squid piecs on a shrimpfly rig?

Do you guys use teasers when jigging diamond jigs/bars or only with swimbaits?

I think a chunk of tentacle on a lead head would work great for lings....they aren't too picky.  I have used whole squid and strips of squid on my plastic baits and the only real difference I see is that I tend to get bit by more rockfish with squid than without.  Let us know how it works out.

Thanks for the response, I'll definately let you know how the tenticles work out.
They are pretty long, most are over ten inches long. I'll also try some on a trap rig.

I'll bring some to the HMB derby if anyone wants to try some...

Won't you get bit short if you use a 10" piece on a jig?

Tentacles are a great bait on a jighead!  I've not used the big humboldts, but have used single tentacles from the 2 foot squid you can get at Ranch 99.  I'd say they have more action that swimbaits.  Those suckers on the tentacles really create random water disturbances that just make the tentacles dance.   You'll see what I mean.

-Allen

i love ling cod fishing but i am no good at it. my wife however always hooks em. i dont know if this is really a good trick but some friends told me of using rattle baits or even christmas bells on the lures for sound while underwater. apparently the vibrations set off by rattles or bells really makes them hit. i'll have to give it a shot as it may be my last homw. my wife prefers using just a piece of squid and let it lounge on the bottom with the occasional jig thrown in.

every time i use a ling bar i get stuck so im lookin for a good way to save tackle and maybe get al ing on a hook.

Swapping those trebles out for a single hook will greatly reduce your snag ratio.

Swapping those trebles out for a single hook will greatly reduce your snag ratio.

oooh, that is what i need to do. how big of a hook do you recommend on the ends of those jigs?

thanks a ton!

john

Depends on the size of the bar.  Maybe 7/0 for most situations.

If you want to snag even less, try rigging it "mudraker" style, with hook on the top instead of the end.  Something like this ...



With or without the hootchie. (and take the red hook protectors off too ...  )

-Allen

Top rig is probably even better, I don't fish a lot of iron so I had not tried that setup yet. I am partial to plastics myself. 

Try replacing the hooks with a Gamakatsu Extra Wide Gap treble, they will bend out on a snag. Or replace with a single hook like others suggested would work as well.
I replaced most of my iron baits with single barbless octopus hooks, that way you can use them after you get some salmon.

I can't wait to try out the tentacles. If any one else is interested in trying some out, let me know. I saved the tentacles from about 4 squids. So I have quite a bit.

So my jig set up would consists of lead head jig with squid tentacles and a glow-in-da-dark 2" hootchie about 10" up. I also use the same hootchie above a 7" swimbait as well.

Has anyone tried putting on a 6" round worm or curly tail worm (like the ones on a hairraiser) on their irons? I've seen it used pretty effectively, I guess adding some action to the flash of chrome...

Bang the bottom and make the lings come out for a looksee....

You got a hook in the 2" glow hootchie?   

I've used curly tails and bucktail on the hooks of iron.  My favorite is a 2" B2 glow squid ... http://www.squidlures.com/  I rarely fish a large iron "naked" anymore.

-Allen

Iron + hoochy hook is what caught fanntifish's massive ling at last years HMB event.

I am so doing that. I caught some nice lings down south last month on a big diamond jig, but it looked to me like it needed a little something extra.

You got a hook in the 2" glow hootchie?   

I've used curly tails and bucktail on the hooks of iron.  My favorite is a 2" B2 glow squid ... http://www.squidlures.com/  I rarely fish a large iron "naked" anymore.

-Allen

I actually use a shrimp fly with white feathers under the glow hootchie. You actually get a lot of small blues and blacks on the way down on the hootchie, they're fun when you get them in the top water column and are easy to release. I think lings are attracted to the small black/blues that follow the hootchie and then see the iron or swimbait. I don't know, I'm just guessing...

I pretie my 40lb leader to my lead heads/swimbaits/irons with hootchie teaser above. So one leader per jig/swimbait/iron I plan on using that day. This way I can easily change lures with out much hassle. So in deeper waters I will use a darker swimbait, like purple with black back, then lighter swimbaits in shallow, like clear greenish with red flaked back.

So do you actually use the B2 Squid as the teaser or threaded on the hook of the iron?

Any one else has any jigging/swimbait tips?