The Ling Thread

[whitechin]

Paramount Monday Marathon

Started out with another goose egg for fluke at this boat this morning, luckily the rest of the day was much better. First half of the day was sea bassing. We picked at them and they were mostly keepers over 15". Catches ranged from 2-7 keeper bass. Linging in the afternoon was very good for all sizes up to 4lbs. I wound up with 7 keeper sea bass, 5 in the 17"-19" range, 36 ling and a nice throwback winter flounder. Lots of people had 25-35 keeper fish, but as usually some had much less including 3 regs who got 30 of my ling. Pool was a 6lb cod which was the only cod that I saw. Very glad to have some sea bass this summer as compared to last summer. 2-3lb sea bass pull pretty good on 15lb casting gear.

[whitechin]

I was back after a long hiatus. Tried for fluke at the dock but nfg. Guy next to me hooked a 27" striper on a porgy rig while I was bucktailing. He though his rod was broken eventhough the fish was jumping, so I picked up his rod, set the hook and gave it a few cranks to prove that he had a fish. We started off inshore for triggers and sea bass. Not many triggers but the few that were caught were 3lbs plus. A pick of sea bass with some nice ones but not enough for the pails. Had some great readings on a few spots but they must have been busy doing the nasty because they weren't biting. I know they had 75 triggers on Monday, but today there were 10-12.

We went off linging and found some good fishing, 1/2 of them were 2-3lbs. Capt Frances stayed out a half hour late to take advantage of the bite. I wound up with a trigger, 5 nice sized keeper sea bass and 24 ling. Pool was a 4lb trigger. At least 5 guys had over 25 combined fish. Some had 0 keeper sea bass others approached double digits, but about 1/2 the keepers were 2 - 2 1/2lbs. A few heart breaker flounder were released and we had a nice dolphin show on the way out. Was glad to see 92 yo Sam Cohen out again, think he had about 15 combined fish as his 50 yo Harnell and 40lb Ande mono are not the best choice for linging. Heard the Jamaica slayed the blues and came in early and yesterday's Paramount Deepwater was one stop shopping.

[eddiebayboy]

center of the third hole 220 ft enough said

[whitechin]

Were about 100 feet shallower than that. Still plenty of ling in 100-120 on the Western edge.

[bluefish69]

We don't even go that far. Maybe the Mud Bouy or 17. As Kirk said 100' - 120'

[whitechin]

Not many bergalls on the edge right now to make things difficult and the ling seem the same size as the deep. Even the extra deep trips aren't getting many jumbos this summer, just lots of 1 1/2- 2 1/2lbers. From last Dec until now has been the best ling fishing I have seen since the late 90s. Seems like everytime I go out, I have in the 20s or more in only a half day of fishing.

[whitechin]

Got to the dock early. Captain Denny had a plan and I liked the plan, always a bad sign. Caught the snappers quite good on my sabiki and even a nice shad but eventually the snappers took 4 out of my 5 teasers. First stop to the south saw some fluke life but only a few short sea bass. I got a keeper here, threw back a dead on 17.5 and another 17"er. Next stop I am not sure a fish even came up...raroooo. Another move netted me 2 nice sea bass in 2 drops and then it just died. A move deeper brought a few fluke and sea bass.

Then we took a long steam as Denny was really burning the gas today. Out toward ling land we make a stop, start picking mixed size ling, I bag a 4lb or so fluke here for biggest fish, one other similiar sized fluke comes up and then the throwback flundies dominate. A 3lb mahi is caught here too. We wind up where all the blues and pelagics are biting, but not so much for us. We picked ling, but the albies and skippies were ignoring us while they bit 300 yards away. Those who kept at it did alright. I wound up with 2 keeper fluke, 2 nice sea bass and 15 ling, 1/2 decent fish. Another reg had a keeper fluke, a keeper sea bass and 16 ling and I talked to a father and son who had 1 fluke, 1 sea bass and 20 ling.

The fluke really liked the shad and snapper strips. The bigger fluke inhaled it as soon as I came tight and had the bait 4" deep in it's mouth. You may want to work a sabiki before the boat leaves. If we had stayed inshore I probably wound had had 4 or 5 keeper fluke but the utter lack of sea bass bite made that plan impossible.

[whitechin]

Went out linging with a small crowd today. Not much sun but the seas and temps were nice. First spot was slow with some big ling and a good dolphin show. All the next spots were pretty steady with mostly good sized ling and some nice sized throwback sea bass. I would up with 29 ling, mostly over 2lbs, 4 keeper sized throwback sea bass including a 3lber and a few bergalls. Guy next to me had 22 ling and another guy had 28. A few were lucky to get 3 which shows that ling do require some skill unlike popular opinion would have you believe. Remember to let them eat and if you do hook one, don't do the tuna pump on your retrieve. Pool was a 4lb ling, beating out at least 10 3 1/2lbers. Yesterday they had two guys with 30 ling and a 9lb cod for the pool. Get about the only thing you can keep anymore while it is still hot.

[whitechin]

Went out on the Paramount this beautiful day with a fair crowd including many regulars, and Blackfish Doug and his brother. Captain Dale was at the helm because Captain Frances is sick. We took a good steam out and set up on the first piece and were greeted with plenty of 12"- 16" sea bass. Then we had a pick of smallish ling and jumbo porgies, with the stern having a good porgy bite for a while, that was eventually screwed up by bluefish and dogfish. We made several more drops and caught more ling, mostly mediums, and of course more sea bass and dogfish. Results were mixed, I wound up with 9 ling, 8 jumbo porgies to 3lbs, a 2lb bergall, a 9lb blue and at least 8 or 9 throwback 13"-16" sea bass. One guy in the stern had 18 porgies and 12 ling. Doug and his bro had 6 porgies and 24 ling. Pool fish was a 4lb ling. A few small keeper tog were caught and 5 or 6 more jumbo bergalls.

[whitechin]

Jamaica II Weds Marathon. Went out with about 30 others on a beautiful early morning. Fishing started out quite good for ling, mostly medium and some large, and then slowly turned into an eel fest. We had both kinds, silver and ocean pout. Later in the day felt much colder than the 50s as we slowly picked ling among the eels. Captain Steve made a number of moves but most of the fish just seemed to turn off after 10am. With the good start, most wound up with a good catch. I had 29 ling, a small keeper pollack and a 2lb bergall. Dale Issacs had 33 ling. Wes Stout had 33 ling and the pool winning tog. Omar had in the 20s on ling. Anyone who wants to smoke up some silver eels, now is the time to stock up and still get a good bunch of ling fillets to go along with them.