"I guess I just realized that there are not that many lings left in the Puget Sound to warrant any kind of fishery."

I agree and wonder what people are thinking fishing for them and other bottom fish?

Maybe a saltwater fish bio could comment, but I think at least PS lingcod are doing fine.

I know the rockfish are in trouble, but I understand that the ling population is way up compared to ten or even twenty years ago.

I suspect part of the reason the rockfish are in such trouble is that the lings were protected (and allowed to prey on rockfish unmolested)for almost a decade, while rockfish were overharvested (that and the rockfish have much longer lifecycles).

It looks like it took about 1 lingcod generation (~15-20 years) to recover lings from the overfishing of the late 70s and early 80s. I suspect with the current regs, the rockfish will come back in about 1 generation as well. Unfortunately 1 rockfish generation is more like 50 years.

I think with the restrictive regs, the lings will be ok. Now if we could just get the divers to stop killing the oversize spawner females, I think PS ling managment would be quite good.

Last years lingcod opener saw about 70 keeper lings caught off the Edmonds pier in the first 3 days. Haven't heard how it was this year yet. The population must be rebounding if that many lings can be caught in such a small area as the pier.

I don't know how much roaming lings do, but in the case of the Edmonds Pier area, I would agree that there are quite a few fish in the area. However, you gotta realize that there is an artificial reef in front of the jetty and also one on the ferry side. I will comment that the marine sanctuary at edmonds wouldn't be what it is today without the boats, pilings, tires, boulders put in there.

By the way, the ling in back with the prominent yellow eyes reminds me of a art piece done by Ray Troll depicting a couple big lingcod chomping down on some big rockfish.

Edmonds is a fantastic place to fish for Lings, and about as far south as I would fish for them in the sound because they get a good flush through there. I dont think I'd eat a ling out of Elliott or Commencement bays.

The best way to fish Edmonds is to hang about 300' away and to the south from the ferry with a horse herring rigged, then jaunt in as the boat leaves and drop your herring in the wash at the last set of pilings. Drop down to the bottom and mooch for a bit, because it seems the lings sit in there looking for wounded bait falling from the ferry wash. WHAMMMO!
Be sure to get out of the way of the returing ferry, you usually have about 10-15 minutes between departures and arrivals. Dont get too close or they will yell at ya or call in the CG to pay you a visit.

Typical fisherman logic. Nice.

The wild steelhead bonkers bonked 25 fish on the Hoh today. The population must be rebounding if that many wild steelhead can be bonked in only one day on one river.

Yeah, whatever. :rolleyes:

Nice fish skyguy Man those divers can be so b#*&%y! Think the sound is their private playground. Parker, think longliners when you talk about the demise of lings. (360 day a year season). Will be hitting our honey hole later this week after my arms recoupe from our marlin trip.

Chaser, not all divers are a-Holes.
Some fisherman are aholes that do stupid things.

If you see a dive flag up you don't cast you line over them, I dont care if your screen is filled with fish. You need to stay away. Know the rules. You are screwing with some ones life if you think it's funny to cast your hook and trying to hook them.

Learn to share.

Who said any thing about them being A_ _ _ _ _ _s? I know the rule about dive flags. Since you brought it up, whats the rule say about someone fishing a hole and then the divers show up and drop their flag and proceed to go down. Is the fisherman supposed to vacate the hole? Just curious!

No, then the diver is being rude. Le t them know you are fishing in the area. Most people that I dive with or know stay away from fishermen. As usual there is always the exception.

Thanks Sky-Guy! It's been a while since I've had any photos to post. Here's a photo of the first ling ever on my own from this afternoon.

Picked it up on a Grim Reefer per the instructions off the Edmonds ferry dock. 28" about 9 lbs.

I've been beating my head against those lings ever since last year when I went out Gary Krein of All Star Charters with my son and we each caught a huge beast. On my own I've tried Possession several times, Elliott Bay Marina, Boeing Creek, and Double Bluff yesterday plus a few others to no avail.

Finally back in the fish and chips!

Yes, I realize it was commercial fishing that slapped around the PS ling population. I'm not placing blame on anyone. I'm just saying that I highly doubt JG's logic of "See. Many fish here. Must be all good now".

On the flip side to that argument, I do not know what the pre-ling crash population of PS was, or what it currently is. For all I know, it is all better now and I'm just blowing smoke.

Until the science proves otherwise, I'm not a fan of fishing on the PS ling population.

Anyone got the science? Would love to read it.

Hey Nice Fish TDickenson, I'll be looking to you for a tip or two when Tualip opens up.

Question for ya, how many people were there fishing that spot while you were there?

Parker, I think I said the population of Lings is rebounding. Meaning better than it was when the populations were depressed.

Sky-guy,

At the 3:30 low slack on Sunday there were no other boats there. On Saturday afternoon around 4:30 there were a couple others.

Tulalip opening early will give me two extra weeks this summer of losing sleep from excitement the night before and futility from trying to beat the sun up in the morning. Plus a good workout from slogging out to the boat and back in knee deep muck in front of the cabin at low tide. I can't wait!

Hey tdickenson long time no seeing a post from you. Not so sure about the june 18 opener. Think it might be a little early (still trying to nail down king arrival timing from my tulalip hatchery contacts). Give me a wave when you go flying by me on your way to the hot spots

Parker -
Do you really expect anglers to apply consistent logic to fisheries management?

It has become quite clear that many on this site are more than willing to apply different management standards for steelhead and all other fish.

While it is clear that the ling cod populations have rebound to levels much higher than that of 10 or 20 years ago - areas were lings were only an occassional catch 15 or 20 years ago now produce multiple catches consistently. The current size limits seem to working quite well in Puget Sound. However it is true that the certainity of the "health" of the ling populations is not nearly as clear as that of say Quilleyute wild winter steelhead. The steelhead have clear escapement goals against which the impacts from fisheries can be evaluated annually. It is not possible evaluate the status of ling populations in the same way.

Tight lines
S malma

So when the ling numbers plummeted in the sound did they still allow harvest or was ling harvesting closed for a while?

Jerry -
As I suspect you know the harvest of ling cod was closed for several years until the population rebound and then harvest was allowed. However even when the harvest was closed in Puget Sound the harvest of lings was allowed at places like Neah Bay and the Ocean - not quite the same as a state-wide ban on harvest. Rather regulation based on the status of the resource.

Does your question imply that if steelhead populations rebounded to levels of say 10 years ago harvest would be ok with you?

Tight lines
S malma

Hey Sky Guy
sure hope you took those tasty cheeks out of those lings!!!!