Large Lings and my opinions...

[WildHawg]

Friday was an interesting day from a Ling Cod fishing perspective.
While mooching for Hali's and 'nooks, we hooked a pile of lings, with the majority of them between 34"-40". This was in exactly the place where we had been succesful for more average size lings and dandy Chinook for the last month. Something turned those big hens on--and I'm not quite sure what. They were likely there the whole time--but were biting at an incredible rate.
Now for my opinion:
We baked a slab (and I DO mean slab) of one of them and found them to be quite tough when compared to the younger class of fish and smaller males we had been predominantly catching in weeks past. It was cooked properly, and tasted ok, but was too chewy to be very good.
This begs the question:
As larger lings, hali's, Salmon Groupers, and other species of bottomfish are invariably female spawners, take many years to attain this size, and I am convinced less than ideal tablefare, should we all be considering a voluntary catch and release policy on them?
I know that many of you will think I'm crazy, but I felt kinda guilty when I saw the eggs in the bellies of each of our 4 hens.
Salmon seem somehow different in that they can only spawn once, and arrive in numbers that ensure that in conditions like we have at sea now, they will spawn in great numbers despite the harvest of hens.
Ling's, big Hali's, Salmon Grouper (Bocaccio), Canaries, Yelloweye and other fish of the genus Sebastes mature quite slowly in comparison to salmon, live in much more restricted areas, and are available year round.
I know that sportfishing impact is low when compared to commercial grounfisheries, but we still have an impact.
What think you all???
Maybe I'm getting soft in my old age, but I will be keeping the "chickens" in the future, and not the 'hawgs, despite my well known skills at hooking them
Fire away!!
Sometimes, my opinions surprise even myself--but I am still a REGISTERED REPUBLICAN DANGIT!!

[WP]

Wildhawg,
I too am a registered Republican and despicable conservative. I long ago took a pair of very large Lingcod and tried to eat them. I vowed that I would not take any home again! I now release all Lings over about 18 lbs and, should I be so fortunate, would also release Halibut over 100 lbs or so. The meat gets grainier and, as you noticed, tougher. I keep "eaters" as much as I am allowed and am able to use but I too release the big breeders to spawn again. This does not make me a greenie, just makes sense to me.
WP :smile:

I don't like to kill any lingcod. All most every other fish is not on this list though.

[Born to be Wild]

Wild Hawg,

Like most critters and veggie's the smaller ones are better quality eating. I personally don't like to see the big ling's come in. You remember the joking remark I made to you the other day.

Let's take a look at the numbers that you provided for us.

A 34" male is approx. 14-15 years of age or 14-15 lbs. Males only reach about 36 inches and are approx. 20 years of age at that point or 17 lbs. Therfore the 40" ling's you caught are females.

A 34" female is approx. 8 years of age or 14 lbs. in comparison. A 40" female is approx. 12 years of age or 26 lbs.
A 41" female is approx. 13 years of age or 29 lbs
A 42" female is approx. 14 years of age or 31 lbs
A 43" female is approx. 15 years of age or 34 lbs
A 44" female is approx. 16 years of age or 36 lbs
A 45" female is approx. 17 years of age or 39 lbs
A 46" female is approx. 18-19 years of age or 41 lbs.
A 47" female is approx. 20 years of age or 44 lbs.

Obviously the big spawners don't grow over night and are quite old when mature. Compare the age of that ling you kept with the age of your kid's.

I have mixed feelings about the harvest of large ling's. I feel it is good for the fisherman that seldom travels to the coast and that might be the only fish or one of a few he/she catches that day. So in that scenario I feel it is a good or acceptable thing.

On the other hand as you pointed out these are important breeding stock and aren't the quality table fare that the smaller younger ones are.

A couple years ago we had a slot limit on ling's. If I remember right it was a 24" minimum and a 34" maximum. I would welcome that again. Most of the larger ling's I see kept aren't needed for table fare but for bragging rights. A camera would work as these are pretty hardy fish.

Actually I could stand corrected but I don't believe the sport harvest of ling is low compared to the commercial harvest especially this day and age.

A 24" minimum size legal lingcod is approx. a 4 year old female or 5 year old male. They do grow very fast in comparison to the sabastes family i.e., black's or seabass, blue's, china's, canaries, vermillion's, yelloweye's, quillback's, copper's, pacific snapper :grin: , etc. of which the yelloweye can achieve ages of 80 + years or so.

That was a good post and I appreciate your post.

Dano

[skein]

I agree, those are the very fish that are going to guarantee the fishery. We really like eating lings, but over the last few years have kept very few. We like to think we have helped the species rebound. They are a hearty fish, and unlike so many other bottom dwellers, can be yarded to the surface and still have an excellent chance of survival.

I treat lingcod much as I treat trout in high mountain lakes - I will release 99% of them, keeping the occasional one for the dinner plate. That makes it a special treat.

One more thing. When I first started fishing the big blue, a ling was a pretty exciting catch, and I kept almost every one that was legal. I understand that feeling and don't necessarily look down on anyone who keeps a legal fish. Just wanted to make that clear.

Skein

[The Bad Fish]

very good post wildhawg. i am glad that we kept the ones we got 27-30 inches. it will be a long time before i get back out to the rockpile. but i think i will be releasing the bigger ones from now on.

[WildHawg]

I just read the thread about the 200 # Halibut that got away, and found myself dissapointed at the outcome, until I realized once again the value of such a hen to the ecosystem.
It's like I've had an epiphany of a kinder gentler nature
Would somebody please slap me?
I've always dreamed of record setting pelagic species--and suddenly I'm feeling guilty because I caught a few pig Ling's?
Yikes :blush:
I would truly be challenged at he site of a monster Hali on the end of my rod.
Guess ya can't say what you'd do til faced with it--but I'd like to think I could take a pic and let it go
Brad, I could use a good 'but whoopin right now--send the Fish Mafia over please

[Uglygreen]

Im not overly concerned, but wouldnt mind a slot limit either. I dont feeel bad about keeping the fish we did on Friday, but with the understanding that those were the only big lings we kept all year. I dont think that the species is in danger, and I make the assumption that ODFW will manage it correctly. As long as they dont think the population as a whole is being overfished, Ill not worry about it too much I think. But I dont think I would make a trip just to target big spawner lings (or other species) either. Just my .02 dollars worth.

UG

[Critr Gitr]

Like my pappy always said ...

Put him back now, we gotta leave some for seed.

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helv">Good post - just goes to show ya - bigger isn't always better...............


From another fellow Republican .... maybe this is what was meant by the term "Compassionate Conservatism"

&lt;`))&gt;&lt;

[Mr. Fisherman]

Hmmm, I seem to remember a certain picture of a democrat holding a monster Halibut... Let me see if I can find it...
Oh, here it is....


[img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]