Northwest Reel Life April 2024 Volume 3 Issue 6 - Flipbook - Page 22
fishing
lingcod lookahead
brent knight
While I know that our
local lingcod fishery closes
June 15th hopefully this
will be available for the
last few days of the 2023
lingcod season. If not, it will
give you a head start on
next year’s lingcod plans.
With the exception of
the Marine Area 12 (Hood
Canal) lingcod closure,
Washington State WDFW
Marine Areas 5-Marine
Area 13 are open for
lingcod fishing from May
1st through June 15th. It’s a
short fishery managed with
a slot limit. You can only
retain 1 fish that is 26-36”
long each day. With the slot
limit, legal fish are hard to
come by after the opener.
22 | NWFISHING.net
Lingcod is excellent table
fare with many preparation
options. Sooo, what the
heck is a lingcod?
Lingcod or Ophiodon
Elongatus. They are not
actual cod, but a species
of greenling. Lingcod are
eating machines and can
weigh over 80 pounds
and tape out at 60” long.
They have a 5-gallon
bucket for a mouth with
18 needlepoint teeth to
make sure their intended
meal stays put (handling,
never put your hand or
fingers in their mouth or
try to pick one up via hand
in the gills). They are a very
cool-looking warrior of the
depths. Their color varies
but all have clusters of
darker colored and coppercolored patches. Unlike
humans, male lingcod
mature at around 2 years
old and 20”. The female
lingcod mature at 3-5 years
and 24-30”. Us mortals are
just the opposite; females
mature earlier than men
and like myself, some of us
never mature beyond 12 or
so. Initially, both male and
female lingcod have similar
growth rates and grow very
quickly. At around 4 years
old the female lingcod
growth rate outpaces the
males.
Lingcod spawn DecemberMarch along reefs and
rock outcroppings during
periods of strong tidal flows
and wave action.
