Best Lingcod Lures, Big Swimbaits

Massive swimbaits get the eye of oversize lingcod.
Ron Ballanti

Lingcod rule the rock piles of Southern California’s coastal waters endowed with cavernous mouths studded with enamel, they’re desirous to latch on to no matter swims by. Whether or not they can swallow what they assault appears irrelevant. They typically seize different fish as they’re reeled in and refuse to let go, holding on all the best way to a ready web or gaff. This trait may not be subtle, nevertheless it makes lingcod excellent targets for oversize response baits when lingcod fishing.

California-based sort out producers like Kustom Kraft, Sweet Bar and Okuma have developed a wide range of supersize lingcod swimbaits that make the most of the lingcod’s deadly attraction to more-than-a-mouthful meals. With thick-bodied, sturdy plastic tails as much as 9 inches lengthy, heavy wedge-shaped lead-heads and seven/0 to 10/0 hooks, these lures capitalize on the lingcod’s ravenous urge for food. Okuma’s FishLab lures supply a heavy-duty swimbait referred to as the Mack Assault Delicate Swimbait.

And it didn’t take lengthy for native fishermen to find simply how efficient — and flat-out enjoyable — these mega lingcod lures may be for catching the most important, meanest lingcod on the reef. Whereas California lingcod usually aren’t as giant because the alligator-size fashions caught in Alaska, fish generally vary from respectable 22-inch “legals” to trophy specimens of 25 or 30 kilos.

Fish Deepwater for Lingcod

Lingcod will assault something they’ll match of their mouths like giant swimbaits.
Ron Ballanti

Relying on the placement and the time of yr, lingcod may be caught over high-relief rocky construction in depths from 75 to greater than 300 ft. Lingcod fishing from a drifting boat over a big hard-bottom space when the wind is up and the present is operating provides to the problem of constructing an efficient presentation.

Swim the large lingcod lures as near the underside as doable, and maintain it in that zone so long as you’ll be able to. When fishing on a celebration boat, it’s finest to throw these lures from the bow or the downwind nook of the strict. This allows you to forged so far as doable down-drift with out interfering with different anglers who’re fishing conventional dropper-loop rigs.

Sink the lure as shortly as doable, and while you hit backside, work the swimbait with a medium-slow retrieve for about 15 turns of the deal with. Should you don’t get bitten, free-spool again to the underside and begin once more. Because the boat drifts over and finally away out of your line, you’ll have to recast and begin once more.

How one can Hook a Lingcod with a Swimbait

Add a leadhead jig to a swimbait to get the lure down deep.
Ron Ballanti

If all this appears too difficult, right here’s some excellent news: It seldom takes lengthy to get slammed when you get your swimbait within the zone. Along with drawing huge lingcod like a magnet, these lures typically catch the most important vermilion and copper rockfish.

It takes follow and self-discipline to get the knack of hooking lings on these huge baits. The secret’s to maintain grinding into the fish till the rod is totally loaded. Image the lingcod latching on to the plastic tail “hitchhiker” type and munching its approach towards the hook. So long as you retain reeling, the fish goes to assume the lure is a meal attempting to get away — and that’s one thing this apex reef predator received’t stand for. Even when a hooked ling comes unbuttoned on the best way up, they typically assault the lure once more, so long as it’s shifting.

Whenever you hook an enormous ling, they normally make an preliminary sturdy run again towards the underside. It’s essential to tighten down the drag immediately and get the fish headed in your path. As soon as you progress a fish off the underside, simply maintain steadily grinding towards the floor with out pumping the rod. Whenever you do that, lingcod appear to come back up nearly willingly, however this typically adjustments after they see the floor. Another excuse for the sluggish and regular method is that repeatedly lifting and dropping the rod tip causes the heavy lead-head to work free from the fish’s jaw. In contrast to rockfish, lingcod don’t undergo from the consequences of barotrauma, no matter how deep they’re hooked, so that they typically go loopy subsequent to the boat.

Fish Heavier Greater Saltwater Swimbaits in Deeper Water

Voracious appetites and harsh dentures of lingcod take a toll on mushy baits.
Ron Ballanti

Boats like Pacific Daybreak, with Ventura Sportfishing, started popularizing this system on journeys to Santa Rosa and San Miguel within the outer Channel Islands, the mecca of Southern California lingcod fishing. Right here, when circumstances are proper, you’ll be able to fish these large swimbaits in depths of 100 ft or much less, rigging the plastics on 4-ounce jig heads. Loads of native makers produce swimbait our bodies, however so do nationwide producers similar to No Dwell Bait Wanted 5- and 8-inch paddle tails.

I bear in mind one sunny afternoon once I might see all the best way to the underside, and I watched a formation of three lings so long as my leg monitoring my swimbait earlier than certainly one of them darted out and attacked. I used to be immediately hooked on this methodology, and if I’m on a rockfish journey at the moment, I’m tossing swimbaits to the exclusion of all the things else.

As water depth will increase or the drift will get quicker, it takes a bit of extra work. Nonetheless, I’ve caught loads of lings this fashion in 300 ft or extra, by shifting as much as heavier heads and adjusting my method to a extra vertical, up-and-down swimming motion. A 6-ounce lead-head is an efficient all-around alternative, and when circumstances warrant, an 8-ounce head will get you down faster and retains you close to the underside longer. When even heavier weights are wanted, strive pre-rigged choices with contoured lead-heads weighing 9½ or 16 ounces. These are huge saltwater swimbaits, with tails like these from Huge Hammer.

Rigs for Lingcod Fishing

The swimbait, mixed with the lead-head, is a sure-fire solution to entice the lingcod to your line.
Ron Ballanti

Lingcod lures are available in a wide range of colours, from glow-in-the-dark to pure baitfish colours to patterns that mimic the rockfish that reside in the identical deep construction. Completely different swimbait aficionados will swear by their very own favorites, however I haven’t discovered shade to make a lot distinction.

The short-sinking, zero-stretch traits of braided line allow you to work these lingcod swimbaits on mild sort out. An 8- or 8½-foot jig stick paired with a traditional reel spooled with 65-pound braid does the job. My go-to rig is an 8-foot, extra-fast-action jig rod rated for 50-pound line. It’s essential to make use of only some ft of 30- or 40-pound monofilament between the braid and huge saltwater swimbait. This maximizes sink charge and gives shock absorption when an enormous ling goes nuts subsequent to the boat.

This system might need began across the Channel Islands, nevertheless it works on lingcod in every single place: northern California, within the Pacific Northwest and in Alaska, all the time with the identical consequence. After I first pull certainly one of these lures out of my sort out field and tie it on, all people seems to be at me like I’m loopy. After I put a couple of huge lingcod on the deck, they inevitably ask if they’ll strive a few of my jumbo swimbaits for themselves.