WORK STRUCTURE FOR PUGET SOUND LINGS

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

The 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

A family trip last season yielded a limit of five lings for Chad Smith (center), wife Sara and their sons Logan (right) and Zac, plus brother-inlaw Kyle McCullough (left), including a 35-incher that snapped Chad’s rod

in two when it hit. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

years, including Port Susan and Port Gardner, and central and southern Puget Sound (Marine Areas 8-2, 10 and 11).

While not even closely related to a true ling – a native Atlantic Ocean fish – or cod for that matter, our lingcod are part of the greenling family and grow quickly to harvestable size in a span of around three years. Washington’s inside fisheries are structured after spawning season, thus allowing optimal reproduction.

The sport lingcod fishery is open May 1 through June 15 in the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Sekiu to Port Angeles (Marine Areas 5 and 6), San Juan Islands (Marine Area 7), and most of Puget Sound (Marine Areas 8-1, 8-2, 9, 10, 11 and 13).

The lingcod daily limit is one per angler. Minimum size limit is 26 inches and maximum size is 36 inches. This slot limit is one reason why lingcod populations have remained somewhat robust in Puget Sound and includes releasing the oversized females. how to catch a lingcod will certainly raise the bar of fishing success.

“Locating structure off the bottom is key and I look for rocky ledges or rock piles on my fish finder,” says Justin Wong, owner of Cut Plug Charters (seattlesalmonfishing.com) in Seattle. “Even a small 2-foot depression can be an ideal spot for lingcod. I also prefer to fish an hour before and after slack tide (high or low tide depends on location), since it’s the best period to keep your gear right in front of their face.”

Lingcod are a nonmigratory, rather solitary and predatory creature that inhabit rocky pinnacles, reefs, rock piles, steep dropoffs or ledges, breakwaters, jetties and almost any structure and hard rocky bottom.

Lots of locations in Puget Sound see heavy angler traffic, especially when the season first opens, and they’ll get quickly fished out of keeper-sized fish.

Picking the right time to fish can make or break success, Wong says, particularly when the current is running hard and/or the wind is blowing. During these periods you’re prone to snagging and losing tackle around rocky structures, or you’ll breeze over a fishing hole before you even get your line down. This is where positioning your boat becomes a key element to catching lingcod.

Lingcod often just hide in their lair (think of an unfriendly neighbor like Oscar the Grouch) only to swiftly lunge out at unsuspecting prey swimming just outside their shadow. Sometimes adult fish will even dine on their own juvenile nieces and nephews.

Many anglers like to target them off the breakwater at local marinas. For shore-bound anglers, local piers around Puget Sound offer a chance to catch lingcod, and the most practical way is casting metal-style jigs.

In Puget Sound, look for lingcod around the San Juan Islands, Point Evans near the Narrows Bridges, Possession Bar, Alki Point, Toliva Shoal off Steilacoom, Itsami Ledge off Henderson Inlet’s north end, Utsalady Bay, Burrows Island, Smith Island, Lopez Pass, and artificial reefs south of Richmond Beach, north of the Edmonds Marina and southeast of Alki Point.

After the Puget Sound season closes, anglers can continue to target lings off the coast at Neah Bay, La Push, Westport and Ilwaco (Marine Areas 1, 2, 3 and 4); these waters are open daily through the third Saturday in October, which this year falls on October 15.

The western Strait of Juan de Fuca from the Sekiu River mouth west to the Bonilla-Tatoosh line (the start of Area 4) is also open daily through October 15 for lingcod.

LINGCOD EAT JUST about anything, including flounder, rockfish, octopus, sculpin, kelp greenling, herring, crabs, squid, octopus and pollock. But a favorite meal is the abundant Puget Sound flounder population found along sandy-bottomed areas. That makes flounders the top choice as live bait amongst anglers.

To catch flounder, use a lighter

trout-style fishing rod and reel. Attach a 1- or 2-ounce lead to a short leader and hook. For bait, use a small chunk of a Berkley PowerBait Grub or a herring strip. Bounce it off the bottom until you feel a vibration or tug on the line. Make sure to have a livewell or aerator on the boat to keep your flounder spunky; a large bucket filled with seawater will even do the job.

Just remember that some marine areas have different aggregate bottomfish daily limits. This means you can have a certain number of bottomfish species in total onboard. Don’t go over the limit with the fish you keep plus the ones still in your livewell.

You can use basic salmon fishing gear for lingcod, but a stiff, fastaction 7- to 8-foot jigging-type rod is effective. Any salmon-type reel works and fill it with about 200 yards of 30-pound-test braid.

“I’ll never use anything heavier than 30-pound-test braided line, since the areas you tend to fish are very snaggy,” tips Wong. “It makes it a lot easier to break off lighter test fishing line when you’re stuck on bottom.”

From your mainline, tie a slip swivel to a 3- to 6-ounce lead ball attached to a short 30- to 50-pound monofilament or fluorocarbon leader and a pair of 6/0 or 7/0 barbless circle hooks to a live flounder or whole or cut-plug bluelabel-size frozen herring.

An alternative is a variety of soft plastic 4- to 6-inch squid jigs or grubs in root beer, glow or dark motor oil color. Metal-style jigs commonly used for salmon work, although snagging them on bottom could put a hefty dent in your wallet.

Slowly drop your bait or lure down to avoid tangles, then crank it up a foot or two off the bottom and try a short vertical twitching motion to trigger the lingcod’s attention. Some anglers simply like to keep the pole in a rod holder and let the live bait do the work. Keeping in touch with the bottom is key, as is checking your gear often since it’s literally being dragged across the rocky bottom.

Nothing is subtle once a lingcod takes your bait. It can be a very hard jolt and there’s no need to set the hook. Just be ready for the ride of your life. Then slowly but steadily reel in your catch, as what often happens is a lingcod will literally be latched onto your bait and not the hooks themselves.

Have the net or gaff ready once the lingcod nears the surface. Gently place the net underneath the fish before it tosses the bait or begins to thrash wildly on the water’s surface. NS

Editor’s note: This story was written by Mark Yuasa, who is a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Communications Consultant and is a longtime local fishing and outdoor writer.

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