Ling/Cod reports? - NJFishing.com Your Best Online Source for Fishing Information in New Jersey

bulletbob · #1 02-01-2016, 04:29 PM

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 · #2 02-01-2016, 05:03 PM

Miss Montauk was getting them. Give Jamie a call

tautog · #3 02-01-2016, 05:23 PM

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

bulletbob · #4 02-01-2016, 09:05 PM

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 · #5 02-02-2016, 12:56 PM

excellent in july

tautog · #6 02-02-2016, 01:20 PM

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 · #7 02-02-2016, 04:29 PM

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 · #8 02-02-2016, 07:40 PM

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 · #9 02-02-2016, 08:41 PM

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 · #10 02-02-2016, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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.

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