Lingcod around sidney

[ratherbefishin]

I have never fished around Sidney,but my Hunting partner was over for dinner last night and saying he bought some fresh ling cod and wanted to know where he could get some .He lives on the water at Tsehum harbour and had my zodiac and 8 hp Yamaha which he uses for crabbing .Any ideas where to go that are not in the rockfish protected zones?

[srthomas75]

that info may be viewed in the same light as someone's honey hole for the monster buck that they may want to keep private.

[steel_ram]

You can look at the free online charts and pick out the rocky pinnacles of reefs and that would be a start. Most obvious reefs with visible kelp are well picked over. The best spots are those rock piles not on the charts. They are marked on experienced fishers GPS's and kept secret. If your finding lots off small lings, your probably not in the right spot.

[ratherbefishin]

I realize the numbers aren’t what they used to be,( it was pretty common to stop at a kelp bed,drop a jig and pick up a ling on the way in..)but we would pick up small ones up when trolling deep for winter springs which is good news they are spawning.yah, I know about GPS spots, Terry and I would be fishing halibut off sooke and somebody would come alongside to ‘say hello’ and next time out we would see them anchored off..not too concerned though, there’s room for everybody..
But speaking of pirating somebody’s favourite spot,way back before Depth sounders and GPS, my friend deckhanded for old ‘Tor’ (the ‘Tor Haven’,with a live well)who commercially trolled for cod off Oak Bay and if anybody was following him,he would pull up his gear until just the surface and run right across a reef and laugh like a maniac when the following boat hung up..his favourite lure was a piece of oar joined at the middle with eye bolts which he would wire on the skin of a smaller cod..and then troll that around the rock piles which he knew by memory and triangulation