was wondering how much you guys would estimate a 50.5 inch (yes 4ft) lingcod would weigh. also whats the biggest ling any of you have seen caught in the sound area.

did you keep it are releas it

I would put it at about 40-45lbs tops. I've seen a few that were in the 50 lb range and they were a bit longer. I have yet to land a ling over 25lbs by line here in the sound but anything over 20lbs is usually to long to keep. They are also the older breeding females so even when I'm diving I try not to spear the biggest ones. The two my brother and I got last weekend (17 and 18 pounds both about 37") were 12 or 13 years old accourding to the fish checker who took fin clippings. I would feel bad killing a fish that was to much older than that.

i caught it last year on a baby rockfish bout 175' down. i released it thats why i didnt know how much it weighed, thing was huge. i was guessing 45-50lbs. anyone know what the state record is?

My biggest was 35lbs.
I was with my dad and he got one just under 50!

The biggest I have caught was in the 20 pound range. I've seen a live one in the 60 - 70 pound range though.

state record was caught by tom nelson in the san juans in 1986 it weighed 61 pounds. the world record was taken in homer alaska in 2001. it weighed 75 lb. 12 oz.

My big ling went 53#'s in 1983 first year after about a 10 year closure in Puget Sound. I caught it on live horse herring on the west side of the Narrows Bridge right next to the pilings for the bridge.

I've seen pictures of a ling that was caught by a commerical near Sequim in the 1960s that weighed 100 pounds.

I know a guy who speared a 70+ up in P.A at green bank back in the late seventies I've seen the pic with the weight on it in front of a dive shop, he and his wife wrestled it in. what a pig!