Ling Cod

[Loggoog]

Can you catch them off piers? What bait? Are the poisonous?

Thanks!

[sansou]

In my experience, you need to be out a little deep to catch them. I do not recall anyone ever pulling one off a pier or jetty, although, I have pulled them out of the bay on Redboating (Seaforth skiff rental) within a stones throw of jetties. I'm of the opinion they like the deep rocky bottoms.

[n1ckxlam]

From what i know, fishing off jetties, not piers, are your best bets for lingcod and with live bait. Piers are usually planted around sandy beaches, and lingcod like underwater reefs. Although they love sandabs, catching lingcod on sandy bottoms are IMO still incidental catches. Find a jetty that is within casting distance to rocky or reefy bottoms, and as deep as possible. Use live baits if you have them, or whole dead fin or brown bait. Truth is, Sansou is right; they are more of an incidental catch in the shallows (under 50ft). They like deeper water and will only come shallow in much cooler waters. Poisonous? I wouldnt freak out about that. The spines on a lingcod shouldnt scare you anymore than the spines on a bass, but they do have some nasty teeth so dont even think about thumbing this fish. Also, the gill bones can cut you too, so just dont reach between gills; just over or under the gills should be fine.

Baits:
sanddabs***
baby rockfish (though ive seen large lings hitchhike on other rockfish as large as 2-3 pounds)
sardines
anchovies
whole mackeral
squid (sometimes)

Artificials:
fisherman up north use chrome jigs and bouce them off the bottom
lings usually hit it on the drop.

To be honest, in Southern California, you are more likely to hook onto a bat ray or shark before you hook onto a ling...
Good luck though

Lastly, if you need someone to specifically ask, ask Postal. Hes put in a lot of time fishin inshore.

Nick Lam

[xahx]

i dont think you will find any ling cod off a pier.

They live in rocky reef areas where they can hide in their holes. no they are not poisonous but have sharp teeth. good bait is dines or squid

Good luck!

[victor101]

ask ghetto dad. he just caught a 22lb off seal beach pier the other day. if you PM him im sure hed more than happy to share his story. PM him

[ghetto dad]

ask ghetto dad. he just caught a 22lb off seal beach pier the other day. if you PM him im sure hed more than happy to share his story. PM him
i caught it on your prize fish...a live salmon grouper....

[Ambassadorhawg]

My friend was up at Cayucus for the weekend. He said he saw 2 tiny Lings caught off the pier. That same friend was on a charter trip in Alaska a few years back. He caught Lings close to 30 pounds off the dock up there! So..... yes, you can catch them from a pier, just not down here in So Cal. You have a better chance of winning the Mega Millions lottery than you do of catching any Lings off the piers around here!

[synenergy52]

My friend was up at Cayucus for the weekend. He said he saw 2 tiny Lings caught off the pier. That same friend was on a charter trip in Alaska a few years back. He caught Lings close to 30 pounds off the dock up there! So..... yes, you can catch them from a pier, just not down here in So Cal. You have a better chance of winning the Mega Millions lottery than you do of catching any Lings off the piers around here!


I seen one caught off of Goleta Pier a few weeks ago. It was caught using a hoopnet of all things.

[nismotech91]

I remember back in the day when they used to be caught up in point sal near
vandenberg air force base. The last time I seen one caught was 2 years ago off
of a mussel near point sal below pismo beach.