Using Rockfish to catch Lingcod?

best bait ever : when that Ling you gaffed/netted pukes up a nice juicy Octopus in your lap or on your deck ,slap that regurgitated bad boy on a hook and send it back down   

Well I will make a rig that has a hook for the upper lip of the blue and a treble at the tail. This is a no guess if you have the right bait or not it just works no matter what the conditions they will strike a struggling little blue. Color is out of the equation.

Forget rockfish for bait. Use a sabiki to jig up some mackerel, sardines or jack smelt in that order. Send them down with a 6/0 hook through their nose and a stinger treble in the tail and hang on tight.

Lingcod go crazy for the above but especially the mackerel. You will catch a lot of quality fish and get way more bites than you do with rockfish. Don't get me wrong I love fishing swimbaits as much as the next guy but live bait is hard to beat.

-Eliot

I also used mackerel last year as bait that i accidentally ran into.  Not quite as many mackerel available on the north coast as down in the monterey area though. Also, once you retain a rockfish, you're not allowed to fish more than 2 hooks on a sabiki so its not just as effective.  I don't run a bait tank on the kayak, but i think a live mackerel bait day would be fun for lings.

The current all-time AOTY lingcod on here was caught on a live jacksmelt  .  Lures work great for numbers, but if I'm looking for lings in the high-30 inch and larger range, I'll put the lures away and bust out the bait.

The current all-time AOTY lingcod on here was caught on a live jacksmelt  .  Lures work great for numbers, but if I'm looking for lings in the high-30 inch and larger range, I'll put the lures away and bust out the bait.

Yeah..this kid might know a thing or two   

best bait ever : when that Ling you gaffed/netted pukes up a nice juicy Octopus in your lap or on your deck ,slap that regurgitated bad boy on a hook and send it back down   

Totally, everytime I do this its taken on first drop. I prefer bait before swim baits...and definitely live bait over anything else!  Cant wait for the 1st to get here!!!

My 3 biggest lings were all on Seniorita Big Hammers. 37.5, 38.25, and 39.

I have caught some big ones on plastic from shore, boat and kayak, but the biggest from each of those categories has been live bait.

The current all-time AOTY lingcod on here was caught on a live jacksmelt  .  Lures work great for numbers, but if I'm looking for lings in the high-30 inch and larger range, I'll put the lures away and bust out the bait.

Now "that", is a BIG dragon!

I Zod Out

My 3 biggest lings were all on Seniorita Big Hammers. 37.5, 38.25, and 39.

Ahhhhh yes, you got to Love Dem Senoritas!😅

All my 25lb + lings come of 7 to 10 inch blues or gophers, as soon as i pull up a small fish i leave it on. 

Legal but unnecessary. I'll out fish you w 12" plastic worm or scampi any day for lings and cabbies.

I accept.  How much would you like to wager?  I get to pick the time and place.  Total number of inches of up to 2 lings and 3 cabbies for a total of 5 fish wins.

My money's on the Oyster!!!


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The guy ask a simple question and the answer is "yes, its legal"...

now the rest of this testosterone enriched thread, here's my sh-peel:

Lingcods are very aggressive predators, you dangle a box wrench with a hook in its face, its gonna grab it.. its all about finding there habitat/territory (aka: Honeyhole) and jiggling something with a  hook in that area....  you can go back to that spot week after week (giving it time for a new ling to take residence) and pull out lings out of that area over and over....

The main advantage of using "live bait" vs artificial, is you dont have to work the rod...

you want to do a proxy test: drift 2 rods over an area, one with live bait, one with a swimbait and let the poles sit in the rod holder.... see which one catches more Lings....

That's my take.... but who knows, I really dont fish anymore so this might be like a fart in the wind....

The guy ask a simple question and the answer is "yes, its legal"...

now the rest of this testosterone enriched thread, here's my sh-peel:

Lingcods are very aggressive predators, you dangle a box wrench with a hook in its face, its gonna grab it.. its all about finding there habitat/territory (aka: Honeyhole) and jiggling something with a  hook in that area....  you can go back to that spot week after week (giving it time for a new ling to take residence) and pull out lings out of that area over and over....

The main advantage of using "live bait" vs artificial, is you dont have to work the rod...

you want to do a proxy test: drift 2 rods over an area, one with live bait, one with a swimbait and let the poles sit in the rod holder.... see which one catches more Lings....

That's my take.... but who knows, I really dont fish anymore so this might be like a fart in the wind....

I have done the test many times when on my dads boat, my dad and the other guys fish bars and plastics while i use a little blue or jacksmelt, i catch less fish but always have the biggest lings by far.  They tend to catch 25 to 30 inch males, while i catch 35  to 45 inchers.  Ocasionaly they have hitchhikers on rockfish and small lings that get in the 35 inch range but the lings tend to be more interested in real fish. And i always fish in the back of the boat, so the bars and plastics pass right over the lings first before my bait gets into sight.

I have gaffed many a rider ling hanging on to a little blue just did not know it was ok to re-hook em.
I think the combination of the exact species of bait, size, color and a struggling fish shaking about in front of a ling there is no way it wont bit even when there belly is full.