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Old 09-13-2016, 12:00 AM   #11
Aaron&Julie
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Spring Valley
Posts: 1,400
Back in the winter of 1972/73 I was pinheading on the full day boat Pursuit out of Redondo. We'd fish the Kidney and other banks around Santa Barbara Island towards the Channel Isles, in 300+ feet deep. Whenever wed' catch 8-10" rockfish (especially striped) we'd often fillet out the sides to go after big Cows, Reds, Bocaccio, or Lings with good results. Rockfish this size were runts, and they would not survive if thrown back, not after coming up from that deep.
Regs were looser then, we were even allowed to use 10 hooks to go along with our 3-5lbs of lead.
I saw it a couple of times on the Pursuit where a Ling swallowed a whole rockfish on a ganion. Further up North in shallower water Lings regularly gulp down whole rockfish, or follow them up.

If it's legal, and you know the whereabouts of a good rock/shelf or lingcod location off of LJ, it might be worth a try, especially if you've caught a little 6-8" rockfish that's inflated and may not survive being released anyway. A rockfish that small will barely make 1 or 2 fish tacos, but catching a legal Lingcod off of it, or even a big Red means fish tacos for the whole family

If I get the chance to GPS some locations of lobster traps this winter, I would try it next year.

Oh, and yeah Lingcod love sand dabs and live squid. Just about anything they can get their big toothy mouth around.
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