Having Trouble With Big Lings

i didnt see anything about you setting the hook,if your not setting the hook thell peel line but will eventually shake off.i have a nasty bone jarring set and when i get em up i can barely get the hook off without pliers

Also, I sharpen my jig hooks with a dremel before I pack the car. Some parts of their mouths are extremely tough. Remember, they eat rockfish, quills and all.

I wouldn't use a Palomar knot for that.  Use one of the clinch knots.  They are not as harshly angled on the line.  THe fisherman's knot or improved clinch knot are the way to go.

Try a different line (leader). I used to get breakoffs using this 25# leader material from a known line company. I found a stiffer, harder nylon mono line @ Hi's tackle and haven't had any problems since unless I intend to break it off.

While fishing check your entire length of leader about every 5 cast or so or everytime you have decent contact with the bottom. Rocks can weaken your leader to the   point all the fish needs  to do is put pressure on it and it will break.

Definitely try to upsize with flouro. When you get hit crank that sucker up.

Joe

Concentrate on how you intend to release big spawners.  They'll pick up on it and be more cooperative.  Also, having video rolling during the fight and landing will help.  Good luck.   

Concentrate on how you intend to release big spawners.  They'll pick up on it and be more cooperative.  Also, having video rolling during the fight and landing will help. Good luck.   

This works the best!

STOP THUMBING THE SPOOL, thats what your drag is for.  Ramping up to 10K lb spectra and 50lb leaders isn't the answer either. 

Play them out.  Get them off the bottom as quick as possible, be gentle and smooth.  Let them run back down then when they start to slow down lift the rod tip to turn them and start getting line back quickly and smoothly, keeps them gliding and not stopping to headshake.  Softer rods help.  Consistent pressure is key; horsing them in, putting the brakes on a run and herky jerky action on the rod is heartache in the making.   


If they do hole up and there's just no getting it out, go to freespool and see if they'll swim out.



edit:

This too VVVV

While fishing check your entire length of leader about every 5 cast or so or everytime you have decent contact with the bottom. Rocks can weaken your leader to the   point all the fish needs  to do is put pressure on it and it will break.

STOP THUMBING THE SPOOL, thats what your drag is for.  Ramping up to 10K lb spectra and 50lb leaders isn't the answer either. 

Play them out.  Get them off the bottom as quick as possible, be gentle and smooth.  Let them run back down then when they start to slow down lift the rod tip to turn them and start getting line back quickly and smoothly, keeps them gliding and not stopping to headshake.  Softer rods help.  Consistent pressure is key; horsing them in, putting the brakes on a run and herky jerky action on the rod is heartache in the making.   


If they do hole up and there's just no getting it out, go to freespool and see if they'll swim out.

Great advice Art.

I have caught quite a few bigguns with lightweight spinning tackle with much the same technique. The runs back to the bottom are the best!

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

When you are jigging and you feel them hit on the upswing, there is usually a few seconds that go by when neither you or the fish know what is going on... I have always felt this is the time when you can gain the advantage, or lose it to the fish.  I try to gain as much line as possible in the moments right after hookup.  If your drag is set right for the line weight you are using, then I wouldn't call it horsing... I would call it taking initiative.  If you can get, say, ten feet of line back that will provide the cushion you need to prevent getting rocked too often.  Its after these critical moments that ling-a-ding figures out something is amiss and heads for his bomb shelter. 

When in doubt, retie!  Bottom fishing on rocks really dings up the line, and mono loses it's integrity when dinged and nicked up.

When I fish for big lings (ok, any lings, cuz I never 'target' small ones ya know?!) I use 30# flouro leaders.  There is no reason to use light gear.  They aren't leader shy, so why use light gear and 'play the fish' ? 

The South Sound crew refers to our Ling rods as "meat cranes" for a reason.  Hook the fish and get it up quick, if it wants to run back down, no problem, but it isn't getting near the rocks. 

When I fish for big lings (ok, any lings, cuz I never 'target' small ones ya know?!) I use 30# flouro leaders.  There is no reason to use light gear.  They aren't leader shy, so why use light gear and 'play the fish' ? 

A. It's a fun challenge. I had my fill of fishing with telephone poles in the late eighties, meat fishing gets old and I prefer lighter gear.

B. Playing fish results in less break offs for me. I've landed plenty that had the hook pop out once they hit the deck, most would have shook the hook pretty easily if I muscled them in.

C. Breaking off 30 lb leaders is not fun, can be danegerous and will stretch the fk out of your mono mainline.  Or worse, just not break cause you're using spectra, then you're cutting off 10-60 yards of spectra and leaving it to litter the ocean and eventually entangle into a death trap in the rocks below.   

A.  I get that, but if you're losing fish to line breaks, you need to up your line to fix the current problem, and learn how to play them later.  Plus, if it's a big ling, there is still going to be play involved with 30# leader and a broomstick.  This is also tempered by the fact that for me, good ling fishing is 2.5 hours or 4.5 hours drive and our ocean windows up here are hard to come by, so I gotta make sure every hook up counts.

B.  I always bring them in with lip grippers, and yeah, they do lose the hook a lot of the time once I've got them lipped, but sometimes this backfires, as they have enough energy to rip their own jaws to escape the lip gripper.   

C.  My mainline is 65# braid, for precisely this reason.  I never lose mainline unless the swivel is snagged, but even then, it generally breaks at the swivel knot, so I'm not littering up the ocean.  I don't really find snagging with 65/30 dangerous.

But I am guilty of donating a game clip with 2 Cabs, 2 Lings, and some Greenlings on it, to the briney deep.   

When I fish for big lings (ok, any lings, cuz I never 'target' small ones ya know?!) I use 30# flouro leaders.  There is no reason to use light gear.  They aren't leader shy, so why use light gear and 'play the fish' ? 

The South Sound crew refers to our Ling rods as "meat cranes" for a reason.  Hook the fish and get it up quick, if it wants to run back down, no problem, but it isn't getting near the rocks. 

I've always been a heavy line guy... even for other types of fishing.  You will never catch me using 4lb test for trout and stuff like that.  I remember that old fishing line commercial: "broken line equals a broken heart".  I like using rods that are "lightish" but more than adequate.  You never know when you might hook a monster, and equipment failure just pisses me off to no end.