BIG LINGS AND OTHER THINGS

Last week was incredible. I absolutely love being able to take advantage of different kinds of fishing when the opportunity presents itself.

  The hook in my business is halibut or sturgeon fishing.  We like it and it’s attractive to my new customers. Once you get them going on a regular basis you want to see them enjoy more of what our fishery has to offer. The only thing is they have to be willing to try something different. 

  Our change of pace this weekend was Ling cod fishing.  Most folks have heard about ling cod. They think they are hard to catch, they come from deep water, they are ugly, etc. Ling cod fishing is tenacious. You have to actually fish. Constantly bouncing your sinker and bait in a manner that makes your offering tantalizing to aggressive  lings and being agile enough to pull your gear up off the rocks before it gets snagged.

·         We set up our rods with 30-50 pound braid. So you can feel the bottom and all of the strikes.

·         We use 6-8 oz sinkers in the shallower water, less the 60 foot, to minimize scope on the line and still allow a solid thump on the line when you hit bottom.

·         We use a 3 way with a 20 inch dropper with a loop and a 30 inch leader to a 1/0 hook.

·         Anchovy is our preferred bait. Easy to hook and the fish just love them so much they suck’em down.

The biggest attraction to this type of fishing is the different kinds of fish that inhabit the waters we fish. Cods of all sorts, kelp greenling and the occasional halibut even striped bass and salmon.

   On Thursday we had 4 guys from the valley. They were happy when we got outside the gate and found the ocean flat. We ran 12 miles up the coast in 2-4 foot seas and low fog.  Our first drift produced a fat 10 pound ling. We kept at it, throwing 9 lings (1 for the crew), 32 assorted rockfish, 3 halibut from 12-20 pounds and a 20 pound striped bass.

  On Friday, we had another great crew. Little 10 years old Shane was on fire. He could barely see over the railing but manage to out-fish all the other guys. Some people just have a knack for this kind of fishing and Shane is one of those people, just a simple drop and lift of the rod. He didn’t snag up much either. This day we had 10 ling cod to 15 pounds, 45 assorted cod and one 15 pound halibut.

Just another happy week on the BARBARIAN!

 Its enjoyable to see people fish hard and be rewarded with full sacks and feeling of accomplishment.  If nothing else a great story while hanging around the water cooler at work.

Thanks all for the great weekend!

Weather permitting salmon next week and more Lings and things. If not we will be back in the bay searching for a bunch of bass and butts.