Bluefin limits in December — some lingcod tips

Dock totals Nov 26 – Dec 2

Author

By Daniel Powell

Publish Date

Dec. 4, 2017

Cristian Hernandez in northern Baja California with lingcod

Dock Totals Nov 26 – Dec 2: 1,547 anglers aboard 74 boats out of San Diego landings this past week caught 1,027 bluefin tuna, 35 yellowfin tuna, 14 bigeye tuna, 57 yellowtail, 11 calico bass, 17 sand bass, 2,514 rockfish, 32 lingcod, 96 bonito, 336 whitefish, 51 sheephead, 76 sanddab, 19 bocaccio, 6 halibut, 1 mako shark, 1 cabezon 61 red rock crab, and 22 spiny lobster.

Saltwater: The tuna bite was predominantly a bluefin thing for our 1.5 day and longer boats out of San Diego landings this past week. Though the angler count dropped by a third, the Bluefin tuna numbers more than doubled this week over the week previous. The majority of those trips reported limits of good grade fish in mixed schools from 30 pounds to well over 100 pounds, and even with the yellowfin, skipjack and dorado all but gone from our mid-range waters, offshore anglers are able to bring home quite a load of pelagic fillets for their efforts.

For those targeting groundfish, the up and down fishing has been good so far early in the season. One-half and three-quarter day boats are reporting good numbers of rockfish, whitefish, sheephead and lingcod for their anglers as they target the high spots off the coast. The most aggressive species targeted in the lower water column is the lingcod. Though not closely related to either ling or cod, the greenling - Ophiodon elongates – is named for its resemblance of both. Lingcod range from Alaska to Baja along the Pacific coast and can grow to five feet in length.

Lingcod caught off southern California’s near shore waters are usually smaller than those from the Channel Islands to the Gulf of Alaska. Here, a 15 pounder is an outstanding fish for ½ or ¾ day fishing. The Nine-Mile Bank down to the Coronado Islands are the best spots. Further out, on the offshore banks 30 to 60 miles from Point Loma, 20 pounders are rare.

Though usually caught by those targeting rockfish in 150 to 300 feet of water, lingcod can be found in water as shallow as 70 feet deep. They will eat anything from mollusks to rockfish, octopus and whitefish, the latter two being favorites. For lures in the depths, try a heavy diamond jig with a strip of mackerel attached. A dropper looped whole bait like a super-sized sardine or mackerel will work

About 25 percent of lingcod caught have a bluish tinted flesh, sometimes very strikingly blue. The color disappears when cooked and the flesh is firm and prepares well in baked or lightly-fried dishes. I had some last night that I baked in a foil wrap tucked into the toaster oven. I lightly coated the foil with olive oil and then layered fresh spinach, scallions, tomatoes and boneless fillets of lingcod. I added a couple little dabs of real butter to the tops of the fillets and added fresh diced garlic and ground pepper and more spinach so the fillets were completely wrapped in greens, and sealed the foil.