FISHING
Lingcod can be found throughout much of Puget Sound, but with its rocky substrate the San Juan Islands are one of the better places to jig, and for bigger fish too. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)
Key In On Structure For Lings Puget Sound’s ‘stable’ fishery for toothsome and tasty species opens for business May 1.
By Mark Yuasa
T
he lingcod is a rather frightfullooking creature with buggy eyes, a bucket-sized mouth filled with canine-like teeth, oddshaped fins, a pot belly and mottled brown/grayish skin. While not easy on the eyes, anglers are charmed by their steely fight when hooked and beloved tasty, white-fleshed meat. Even more appealing is a relatively wellestablished lingcod population along most of the West Coast and from
Washington to Alaska. “We just reviewed the catch-perunit-effort for the past decade and overall things are quite stable in Puget Sound,” says Bob Pacunski, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s research scientist and senior groundfish biologist. Lingcod populations in inner Puget Sound saw a decline in the 1970s, but with improved management, they slowly began to increase in the early 1980s and have since remained strong enough to allow a six-plusweek-long sport fishery in spring and
early summer. “Sport catches of lingcod continue to be good in the San Juan Islands (Marine Area 7), where most of the angler effort comes from,” Pacunski says. “The 2020 catch in Marine Area 7 was 69 percent above the 15-year average and just over twice of what it was in 2019.” Lingcod catches in Saratoga Pass and northern Puget Sound (Marine Areas 8-1 and 9) have remained fair to good in recent years, according to Pacunski. Some places have seen a decline in catch during the past five nwsportsmanmag.com | MAY 2022
Northwest Sportsman 65
