Ling/Cod reports?

[bulletbob]

I have seen almost nothing here about Ling/Cod past few months.. Last I heard from NJF member tautog it has been slow, but that was weeks ago.. Read some reports from central LI boats, and those look pretty good with decent numbers of smaller cod, and big ling.. Just wondering if anyone has been out for them since the blow... bob

[shrimpman steve]

Miss Montauk was getting them. Give Jamie a call

[tautog]

After the storm has been bad. I would wait a week more until things get straightened out.

[bulletbob]

Gotta a scary PM from member here that knows.. Ling fishing has been pretty much dead, and Cod even worse.. Hope they come back strong in spring.. bob

[jmurr711]

excellent in july

[tautog]

late June thru late August is usually the peak. Some years May and early June is good inshore, but most years it is a pick.

[bulletbob]

Please forgive my ignorance.. I am a throwback to the old days, when Ling were simply not fished very much in July and August... Ling were late fall, winter and early spring with whiting and mackerel .. July and august nobody really fished for them, the fluking was too good, and if you wanted sea bass all you had to do was go 1/4-1/2 mile off Sea Bright, Deal or Elberon.. Plenty of them mixed with fluke.. Ling were always there in the dead of winter, and I guess thats my flawed point of reference... Decade after decade I fished wintertime ling in shallow inshore areas, not deep water wrecks.
I must stop thinking of ling as the " go to" for mid winter anglers... It doesn't work that way anymore.
In any case, I will wait for spring just like everyone else.... bob

[Solemate]

We would go to Deal Jetties and catch ling at night. Throw out a clam strip on a single hook rig with a short leader and a 2-3 oz sinker and fill a bucket on a good night. Dont forget the lantern and the Thermos or Brandy

[tautog]

There were 50 times more ling back then because most people did not want them and the draggers hadn't decimated them yet. Ling like cool water not cold water. Some warm winters, there is a decent bite, but most of the time, not much until May. Always plenty of ling July and August, just no one fished them. In the 90s we would stream out, fish one wreck all day and I would have 70 2 1/2-4 1/2lbers with a 5 to 6lber as a kicker on a partyboat with 60 people.

[bulletbob]

There were 50 times more ling back then because most people did not want them and the draggers hadn't decimated them yet. Ling like cool water not cold water. Some warm winters, there is a decent bite, but most of the time, not much until May. Always plenty of ling July and August, just no one fished them. In the 90s we would stream out, fish one wreck all day and I would have 70 2 1/2-4 1/2lbers with a 5 to 6lber as a kicker on a partyboat with 60 people.

I fear "regulations" may be placed on Ling before long... The numbers don't seem real good these days... We see them frozen in the round here in upstate NY at Wegmans .They are often labeled "Whiting" other times "hake"... So there is a commercial market.
I would not have a problem with reasonable limits on them if it would bring the numbers back up, but the netters better get limits as well.... I really hope we have a few good year classes coming up... No ling around would spell disaster for head boats... bob

[jmurr711]

$7.99-9.99 mountain trout,ling,hake here in philly Def a market for em now. Seems to be plenty in the summer but the winter linings gone

[Leif]

We would go to Deal Jetties and catch ling at night. Throw out a clam strip on a single hook rig with a short leader and a 2-3 oz sinker and fill a bucket on a good night. Dont forget the lantern and the Thermos or Brandy

Those were the days!!

Leif

[Capt. Lou]

Never remember winter linging as good as spring . U could fill a burlap bag on the tide @ the Cedars in April / May .
Winter whiting / cod were king , such drops as Scotland , Ambrose, Cholera , Red square & 17 to name a few . Remember filling bags w/ whiting in sight of Ambrose light ship !
Mackerel were very abundant in fall & huge runs were available in spring, along the beach . Flounder fishing was solid in all the rivers / bays Feb thru May .
Both ling & whiting could be caught in the deep year round ! Gt Tuna loved em'!
We'll never see this again, hard to swallow it's all gone !
Thanks 200 mile limit !!

[bulletbob]

Never remember winter linging as good as spring . U could fill a burlap bag on the tide @ the Cedars in April / May .
Winter whiting / cod were king , such drops as Scotland , Ambrose, Cholera , Red square & 17 to name a few . Remember filling bags w/ whiting in sight of Ambrose light ship !
Mackerel were very abundant in fall & huge runs were available in spring, along the beach . Flounder fishing was solid in all the rivers / bays Feb thru May .
Both ling & whiting could be caught in the deep year round ! Gt Tuna loved em'!
We'll never see this again, hard to swallow it's all gone !
Thanks 200 mile limit !!

It won't kill me to not be able to get a trip or two in this winter for bottom fish. It is what it is. I'll live.
What I wonder about however is how this affects the party boat guys moving forward through the years.. Without some sort of a viable winter fishery in the future, that means these captains sail 9 months instead of 12.. Pretty tough to deal with I would think. Thats a quarter or better of their work year. I suppose a few more could go blackfishing, but that would mean even more pressure on the poor tog.. I hope for a resurgence of the traditional cold water fisheries that were with us every year, year after year for as long as records on such things were kept.. We caught and ate all those huge masses of fish? With nets and rods?
Its been like this for many years now, but I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact outside a slow pick on tog, there are virtually no fish to be caught from Jan through March..... sucks.......... bob

[tautog]

Recreational limits would do nothing. The two big culprits are small mesh whiting dragging and scalloping. Baby ling need scallop shells to survive and whiting draggers catch the vast majority of ling with lots of waste.

[Capt. Lou]

It won't kill me to not be able to get a trip or two in this winter for bottom fish. It is what it is. I'll live.
What I wonder about however is how this affects the party boat guys moving forward through the years.. Without some sort of a viable winter fishery in the future, that means these captains sail 9 months instead of 12.. Pretty tough to deal with I would think. Thats a quarter or better of their work year. I suppose a few more could go blackfishing, but that would mean even more pressure on the poor tog.. I hope for a resurgence of the traditional cold water fisheries that were with us every year, year after year for as long as records on such things were kept.. We caught and ate all those huge masses of fish? With nets and rods?
Its been like this for many years now, but I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact outside a slow pick on tog, there are virtually no fish to be caught from Jan through March..... sucks.......... bob

Rod N Reel did not destroy this fishery 200 mile limit which I fought for very hard in 70's was the major contributor in R ground fish demise !
Once foreign fleet was sent packing our own commercial fleet finished the job !
Indescriiment netting with virtually no regs polished off the rest of our ground fish!
U need only be a Gt Tuna fisherman during that era bear witness to miles of floaters made up primarily of ling / whiting that were killed as by catch !
We , I , sat by while a national fishery was destroyed !!