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Rockfish and lingcod limits

Fishnbeer

The dude abides
Joined
Jun 8, 2020
Member Number
1907
Messages
485
Loc
CA
I have not fished saltwater since my buddy sold his boat 2 years ago. I had some vacation days to burn at work so I found an open spot on a party boat. Went on the Sea Wolf out of Emeryville, 22 heads on board motored us out to the Farallon islands @ 5am. Perfect day, slightly overcast, almost no wind, water was flat calm and fishing was HOT!

First thing we dropped sabiki rigs and caught sand dabs (Ling cod bait). Then started working some spots around the islands and starting catching immediately. Every drop pulled a rockfish fish so I switched to light tackle and flipped on a 3 oz jig. I was getting bit on the way down, on the bottom, off the bottom pretty much everything I did stuck a fish and hit my rockfish limit in short order. Mostly olives, blacks and blues and my first China rockfish. Tied on a big swimbait in hopes of sticking a Ling but caught a monster Bocaccio instead.

Started dragging sand dabs and within minutes stuck a 10.5 lb Ling, which turned out to be the Jackpot fish for the day and netted me a cool $180 - which paid for the trip!
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One of my favorites to take with rod and reel or spear. The meat in the cheeks is amazing, don’t waste it. Here’s a trick to landing big ones, it’s more effective with practice: when you hook a rockfish, don’t reel him up right away. Set the hook and let him thrash. If a big ling is around he’ll show up and hit hard. Then you pull and reel like crazy and haul them both in. If you let off the pressure you will probably just get the rockfish a little tenderized and one hell of an adrenaline rush. Occasionally a shark hits and you lose a rig.
I didn’t believe it until I tried it, and when it worked I was amazed. Here’s why it works: when you look down the throat of the lingcod, there’s rows of hooked teeth on the ribs that angle towards the gut. Once he latches onto a fish and bites in, he can’t release it if you can keep pressure against the teeth. Rockfish have solid mouths that can handle the load if they’re well hooked.
 
I can’t set foot on a boat in the ocean without getting seasick. I always try to not be the first one to throw up but I never have succeeded. Looks like an awesome trip, I’m jealous.
 
I can’t set foot on a boat in the ocean without getting seasick. I always try to not be the first one to throw up but I never have succeeded. Looks like an awesome trip, I’m jealous.

I try to hurl as soon as possible because once I chum the water, i am good for the rest of the day
 
One of my favorites to take with rod and reel or spear. The meat in the cheeks is amazing, don’t waste it. Here’s a trick to landing big ones, it’s more effective with practice: when you hook a rockfish, don’t reel him up right away. Set the hook and let him thrash. If a big ling is around he’ll show up and hit hard. Then you pull and reel like crazy and haul them both in. If you let off the pressure you will probably just get the rockfish a little tenderized and one hell of an adrenaline rush. Occasionally a shark hits and you lose a rig.
I didn’t believe it until I tried it, and when it worked I was amazed. Here’s why it works: when you look down the throat of the lingcod, there’s rows of hooked teeth on the ribs that angle towards the gut. Once he latches onto a fish and bites in, he can’t release it if you can keep pressure against the teeth. Rockfish have solid mouths that can handle the load if they’re well hooked.
One guy got a 'hitch hiker' while reeling up a rockfish, decent sized ling latched on and rode it all the way up. I usually just have them gut and gill my fish, but our freezer was already nearing max capacity so I had them fillet half of them.

I kept the heads from the lings, wasnt sure if I was going to make fish stock or what with them but now ill have to slice out the cheek meat. If its anything like halibut cheeks or hamachi kamas it should be good! I love that shit
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judging by the big fish being 15-20#. i guess the "little" ones are 3-5#?

What are the bright orange fish?
Probably. I don't think there's a ling under about 25"s there.

The Big orange ones are vermillion rockfish. And I can't remember what the littler orange ones are (edit: they are canary rockfish). There are some black bass in there and a couple deacons I believe they are called.
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Gotta love that blue meat!
 

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