Life history of Lingcod.

2814 Views 33 Replies 21 Participants Last post by h20fowler, 9 d ago

Radke

Discussion Starter · 14 d ago

I caught a pretty large Lingcod last Friday (nearshore) and was asked how old I thought the fish might be. Not having a clue, I googled the life history of Lingcod this morning, and came up with the following article from Alaska Fish and Wildlife.

I found it really interesting for a few reasons.

1. I've heard of lingcod that were well over 100 pounds. Next time I hear this I'll call bs.
2. The role male LC play as far as protecting an egg nest.
3. What happens to the nest if the male gets eliminated (caught).

At this point I don't know if it is much worse to keep the big females verses a 24-30 inch male.

www.adfg.alaska.gov

Lingcod Species Profile, Alaska Department of Fish and Game

lingcod printer friendly page.

www.adfg.alaska.gov

.

Reactions: 5

1 - 20 of 34 Posts

BigEars

· #2 · 14 d ago

Great read. Thanks for sharing!

Erich Blancaflor
BigEars

Threemuch

· #3 · 14 d ago

Radke said:
I caught a pretty large Lingcod last Friday (nearshore) and was asked how old I thought the fish might be. Not having a clue, I googled the life history of Lingcod this morning, and came up with the following article from Alaska Fish and Wildlife.

I found it really interesting for a few reasons.

1. I've heard of lingcod that were well over 100 pounds. Next time I hear this I'll call bs.
2. The role male LC play as far as protecting an egg nest.
3. What happens to the nest if the male gets eliminated (caught).

At this point I don't know if it is much worse to keep the big females verses a 24-30 inch male.

Lingcod Species Profile, Alaska Department of Fish and Game

lingcod printer friendly page.

www.adfg.alaska.gov

.

Before I read it,

1. I would say 60 is where they max out, I have personally seen 1 that big.
2. They sit on the nest and protect the egg cluster after the female lays them
3. The eggs get destroyed instantly when the male is removed. Even if you release him, I doubt he gets back before it's done. I have seen this firsthand spearfishing. Kill the male, bottomfish appear out of the woodwork and immediately begin feeding on the nest.

Now that I read it, I know a little more. One of my favorite fish. Big, aggressive, easy to catch, and tasty. Thanks!

Reactions: 1

Gun Rod Bow

· #4 · 14 d ago

When I started dory fishing then learned how to catch big lingcod I called Lynn Mattes at the odfw newport office.

I asked her how old a 36” ling cod in Oregon would be. She said a fish that length will definitely be female and probably about 15 years old. Most males in Oregon stay under 32”.

It’s easy to tell males from females. My boat has a 3’ rule. They gotta be under to keep. I release about 12 a year

Reactions: 5

blueduck

· #5 · 14 d ago

Perhaps that begs the question as to why Lingcod fishing is even open during the spawning season from mid-March to mid-May?

Reactions: 2

Threemuch

· #6 · 14 d ago

blueduck said:
Perhaps that begs the question as to why Lingcod fishing is even open during the spawning season from mid-March to mid-May?

Because they are plentiful and grow fast. They are also predators of many species of greater concern.

Reactions: 5

Radke

Discussion Starter · #7 · 14 d ago

Gun Rod Bow said:
When I started dory fishing then learned how to catch big lingcod I called Lynn Mattes at the odfw newport office.

I asked her how old a 36” ling cod in Oregon would be. She said a fish that length will definitely be female and probably about 15 years old. Most males in Oregon stay under 32”.

It’s easy to tell males from females. My boat has a 3’ rule. They gotta be under to keep. I release about 12 a year

After reading your post, I feel worse than I did before. I kept my fish, and regretted it soon afterwards, now after reading your post I regret it even more. My guy was 43 inches long and the meat quality was suspect. Never again.

Liquiddeath

· #8 · 14 d ago

blueduck said:
Perhaps that begs the question as to why Lingcod fishing is even open during the spawning season from mid-March to mid-May?

Because killing big females at the rates we do doesn’t affect the population. And there’s plenty of lingcod to allow it.

Reactions: 2

sprigdog

· #9 · 13 d ago

Keep catching lingcod and we may see a yelloweye sub limit in the near future.
I know the charters in Garabaldi go to the same small reef, everyday, and bring in about 100 lingcod a day between them. It never slows down. If the ocean allows them to get out there, they will plug the boat. Mind boggling. I just think about all the nooks and crannies in the ocean that never see a fisherman that hold lingcod. Mud bottoms halibut fishing in 800' to 10' of water off the beach. I've never caught them in 1000', but I know people that have.
In my opinion, lingcod is our species of absolute least concern.

Reactions: 3

Califbill

· #10 · 13 d ago

Many years ago, former commercial fisherman I knew said he got a 105# ling off Crescent City. Was actually scary, the size of the mouth. Friend had to release a 60# ling in Alaska because was two days before ling season. I believe there are A few 100# plus fish swimming around. Most likely in remote rarely fished areas.

Gun Rod Bow

· #11 · 13 d ago

Radke said:
After reading your post, I feel worse than I did before. I kept my fish, and regretted it soon afterwards, now after reading your post I regret it even more. My guy was 43 inches long and the meat quality was suspect. Never again.

You cared enough to investigate and discuss. I had a similar experience to yours. Killed a couple big ones then called Lynn to better educate myself.

As 3 much said. Lings are pretty abundant and stable in Oregon. I don’t advocate for an upper limit for retention. But I exercise my opinions as do every Doryman that I know personally.

Reactions: 4

Headhunter

· #12 · 13 d ago

One my favorite fish. Thanks for the informative read.🍺

Revulshawn

· #13 · 13 d ago

I don’t keep fish over ~35” because of the meat quality. Grainy, mealy, whatever you want to call it. A picture will suffice. I love a good smooth, dense, 28” ling fillet! 🤤

Reactions: 5

Broadoak

· #14 · 13 d ago

Interesting for sure! I'm of the opinion the sub 36" fish eat better. 26-30 is about my preferred size.

grim

· #15 · 13 d ago

I'm about to go read the article, but anyone that's spent much time in our cold winter water knows how well a male ling guards it nest. It's a pretty amazing thing to watch.

Starr

· #16 · 13 d ago

blueduck said:
Perhaps that begs the question as to why Lingcod fishing is even open during the spawning season from mid-March to mid-May?

Ling spawn is actually January-May. We've even caught mature egg laden females in late December. Spawn coincides with the most turbulent ocean months of the year. My favorite fishery is ling from Jan-March and fish every day the ocean allows. This past season, we fished December 6 and March 18, the rest of the days were unfishable. There might have been a window in there somewhere. My point is, there is plenty of time for these big gals to spawn when they aren't being harassed by us, and MOST of the spawning areas are never fished.
The fishery you should be worried about are the live fish commercials that are allowed to fish the inshore reefs and retain 400#'s/day all year long. Your 2 fish limit per day is a drop in the bucket compared to what they take. I've watched 3 guys in a boat clean out a reef during spawn. It was disgusting. They don't follow the same restrictions on the bar either, so they fish many more days we can't.

Reactions: 3

Liquiddeath

· #17 · 13 d ago

Revulshawn said:
I don’t keep fish over ~35” because of the meat quality. Grainy, mealy, whatever you want to call it. A picture will suffice. I love a good smooth, dense, 28” ling fillet! 🤤

I ate some big 25# female last night from last spring soo good. Idk why but I don’t like the smaller ones as much, I think it’s because the bigger ones aren’t so soft. I would prefer a rockfish over a small ling. But it’s all good stuff

Reactions: 2

blueduck

· #18 · 13 d ago

Starr said:
Ling spawn is actually January-May. We've even caught mature egg laden females in late December. Spawn coincides with the most turbulent ocean months of the year. My favorite fishery is ling from Jan-March and fish every day the ocean allows. This past season, we fished December 6 and March 18, the rest of the days were unfishable. There might have been a window in there somewhere. My point is, there is plenty of time for these big gals to spawn when they aren't being harassed by us, and MOST of the spawning areas are never fished.
The fishery you should be worried about are the live fish commercials that are allowed to fish the inshore reefs and retain 400#'s/day all year long. Your 2 fish limit per day is a drop in the bucket compared to what they take. I've watched 3 guys in a boat clean out a reef during spawn. It was disgusting. They don't follow the same restrictions on the bar either, so they fish many more days we can't.

Thank you. I wasn't pretending I knew anything about lings except I like to catch and eat them, so your first-hand info is really helpful in understanding what goes on. Used to catch a bunch of big ones in AK. I am not around the ocean fisheries much any more, but I still retain the fears of the total disregard we have for our ocean resources. The short-game mindset in regard to our resources (of any kind....especially our ocean) are wrong on so many levels. Thanks for the great information.

Reactions: 1

Guitarfish

· #19 · 13 d ago

I kept a big mama only once. As stated earlier, the meat was lower quality. Now I don't care what kind of fish it is, I keep the smaller ones for dinner. Of course that's only if I find them first.

And there is pleasure in watching a beast swim back down.

Threemuch

· #20 · 13 d ago

Guitarfish said:
I kept a big mama only once. As stated earlier, the meat was lower quality. Now I don't care what kind of fish it is, I keep the smaller ones for dinner. Of course that's only if I find them first.

And there is pleasure in watching a beast swim back down.

I wonder if the big girls are not great because they are big, or because when most of us catch one, they just put everything they had into makeing 5-10 pounds of eggs.

Reactions: 2

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