Our lingcod season is off to a great start on both sides of the Island. All throughout Georgia Strait I'm seeing good reports, with many larger than normal lingcod.
Lingcod are a fast growing species that spawn at 3-5 years of age, so they are back in good numbers all over the strait. and while it's a good idea to release the large breeder lings, it's still nice to see that they are back in big numbers.
Some of the most productive lures have been the Brown Chrome Wake Snake and the Rapala Otus. Both of these are trolling lures which are changing the game for lingcod fishing. While jigging lures like are still effective if you know where to fish, these new trolling lure lets you cover mor ground until you can find your own lingcod honey hole. If you want to use a traditional jig for lings, halibut or rockcod the Chrome Green P-Line drop jig should be in your tackle box. It has that classic herring look that will take just about any fish in the sea.
The West coast is also doing well for lingcod, halibut and Chinook. One of the top trolling for that area has been the Savage Gear Burbot Tube. I spoke to one west coast guide that's been trolling it to catch halibut, lingcod and chinook. He said when he trolls it on the banks he never knows what he's going to get.
It's almost Coho season, and the Coho forecast is looking great. The catch and release fishermen have been dong well in the Nanaimo area, and they are reporting high numbers of extra large fish.
A friend of mine has been catching Coho up to 50cms for over a month now. His top lure has been the West Coast Tackle Superman Spoon. This is one of the super hero series spoons that have been doing very well since they came out late last year. With a clear cote of UV resin and a ball bearing swivel on the hook they hold up better than most spoons and work very well. At the Chandler we have several custom designed super hero spoons that we except to be top lures for the coming season. Our staff puts a lot of thought into the design of our custom gear, and it's basically the lures that we want to use ourselves. So come check them out. We are very proud of how they have turned out.
Thanks to Laura for the photo of the monster ling above this post.
