LING!!!

[TheGreenHornet]

I've been a trout fisherman my whole life but I'm ready to branch out a little and thought that Ling would be a fun place to start.  I enjoy night fishing but I don't have clue how to go about catching Ling.  So here's my questions.  Where is a good place to try and learn?  How deep do they stay?  What is the best bait?  Do they like sucker fillets?  Do you use trebles or sing hooks?  Do you need some kind of attractor like a jig or just the hook? Are tip-ups the best way to go?  Anyways I know this is alot of questions but I tried to catch them on Canyon Ferry last year and got skunked so any help would be appreciated.

[atcayko]

We catch quite a few ling back in the eastern part of the state on the rivers. usually any kind of walleye set up w/ jig works but live bait and quite a bit of jigging in 20 fow or deeper is usually best. We usually catch them on blue/glow jigs. My knowledge of the lakes here in the western part of the state isnt that great but I hear Tiber holds some ling in the deeper bays. I may be going there a weekend or two to try for some ling and walleye.

[live4hardwater]

So I fish with tip ups using a crappie rig with 1/0 standard hooks and smelt cut in chunks for bait.  sucker meat might work but have never used it personally.  Deeper water is better right now but the ling should be starting to spawn soon here and will come into shallower water for that.   If you can find a drop off and fish right on top of it would be a good place to try while they spawn.  They are more active at night but you can still catch them during the day it will just be slower.  Just curious were from the east you are from I grew up on the eastern side of the state myself.  Good luck and let know how you do.

[Hook them Lipps]

I have fished out at Clark Canyon a couple times for ling.  Both times we used sucker meat on the bottom with glow in the dark jiggs.  Always be jigging one of them right on the bottom. Also every ten minutes recharge the glow on your lure.  they don't stay lit for very long. Used Glow sticks on a swivil and bait below.  Had a bite on it.  Both times we went out we caught one.  We had a half dozen bites each time and a couple coming up the hole but never got them up.  Also when you hook them they can easly get into your other lines because they go to the sides when hooked. 

[rookieice]

My dad an I walked out the ice at Yacht Basin a few years ago on Canyon Ferry to see what a guy was night fishing for, and he was fishing successfully for ling.  He was fishing close the bottom jigging with some sort of glow hook with a chunk of some sort of bait fish.  It was about 10 pm and he was just getting going and had six already. I can't remember how we got to the the point talking to him, but he gave us a couple fish to take with us.  Ugly and a bit of a challenge to clean - kind of like peeling a banana with pliers to get the skin off - but they were really good to eat.  Better than trout, not quite as tasty as perch or walleye.

I don't know if the alleged proliferation of walleye in CF has done anything to the ling population, but i doubt it.

[RobG]

I've been a trout fisherman my whole life but I'm ready to branch out a little and thought that Ling would be a fun place to start.  I enjoy night fishing but I don't have clue how to go about catching Ling.  So here's my questions.  Where is a good place to try and learn?  How deep do they stay?  What is the best bait?  Do they like sucker fillets?  Do you use trebles or sing hooks?  Do you need some kind of attractor like a jig or just the hook? Are tip-ups the best way to go?  Anyways I know this is alot of questions but I tried to catch them on Canyon Ferry last year and got skunked so any help would be appreciated.

I've only done it a few times at N**lan, and I haven't found them to be too difficult, but they are small this time of year. Just a plain old piece of sucker meat on a plain old jig. The only purpose of the jig was to get the meat down. The hook is about a size 2 and the meat was maybe an inch long fished 6-24" off the bottom. They preferred very little movement and would bolt if I started jigging it actively most of the time.

I fished near drop offs in about 30-40 fow last weekend and caught 12-22" fish. If you are on a relatively flat spot you can see the fish on the finder, but on slopes you'll be fishing blind. I'm sure bigger setups will pull in bigger fish when they start showing up, but nothing ate my bigger stuff. Based on their stomach contents they prefer small crayfish, smelt, corn, and one big piece of bacon, the latter three items coming from people who chum, which I'm not sure is legal. (No really, it was bacon! ANother one must have got to the omelet first)

Fish start showing up about sunset and they go away about 7-8pm. After 8pm the fish bug out... maybe they head to shallow water, or to the local diner for more bacon.

I clipped a white bobber on the end of the rods and set up flashlights to shine on them - that way I could tell when a fish was chewing on the meat. For some reason most wouldn't swallow it so if you didn't get there quick they would give up. It is also easier to release them if you prevent them from swallowing it.

rg

[Rghnrdy_mt]

I've had good luck with the bigger ling fishing with whole smelt one reel crank off the bottom-sometimes they'l grab it and run, then stop to eat it-had better luck waiting a bit to set the hook, otherwise you get some that spit it in your face at the hole...Good luck!

[GOOSE_EGG]

you know a good place to get some ling is below the dams. had really good time below CF last year and out at black sandy. i like to use smelt and sucker meat on a circle hook with a sinker 3" or so below the hook and leave it at the bottom. all at night. set lines are a good way to find where the ling are go out leave a few set lines in a few place you may think they are and check them the next day. i have also used some catfish bait those blood balls or whatever and have had a little luck with that even.

[IcemanZ]

I have a lot of luck fishing ling in Holter Lake.  Like stated below go about an hour before sun down and get everything set up.  I set up my shanty just out the cove at Log gulch and a 20-30yds apart & so on.  That puts them running right up that ledge.  The first flag was the furest  with a 17in'er (20'' and above is worth the meat and give other chance to grow) as the night rolls on, the ling get closer to shore and hella bigger.  First fish hooked at 2030hrs (17'' fish) and last one at 0415hrs(30" fish).  A sucker cut bait works, the fresher the better.  I take 5 or 10 fat heads right out of my minnow tank depending on how long I plan on staying.(Keep'em in a ziplock bag/don't bring'em live) On the ice as you need'em cut them in half so you have enough guts hanging off each piece.  Seems the bloodier the better for the ling, like it chums them in.  Hook (gut side) that onto a crocodile spoon or Swedish pimple and send it to the bottom.  The quieter the better like said below...when you run out of sucker you can use regular minnows.  I just hook 2 onto a treble, run my knife from its gills to its tail and let some guts seep out.   I caught the 30" in the shanty on the 2 minnow concept....fun fighter to catch on a pole I tell ya!!   Good luck Hard Water Brothers!
Z

[andercee]

Can't wait to catch my first one hopefully this weekend if its not too late.

[FishStalker-187]

I've been a trout fisherman my whole life but I'm ready to branch out a little and thought that Ling would be a fun place to start.  I enjoy night fishing but I don't have clue how to go about catching Ling.  So here's my questions.  Where is a good place to try and learn?  How deep do they stay?  What is the best bait?  Do they like sucker fillets?  Do you use trebles or sing hooks?  Do you need some kind of attractor like a jig or just the hook? Are tip-ups the best way to go?  Anyways I know this is alot of questions but I tried to catch them on Canyon Ferry last year and got skunked so any help would be appreciated.

I tried Goose bay on feb 7th 1 or 2 bites and that was it. I like circlehooks for tipup and deadsticking and jig a pimple, rap, jig and so forth tiped with sucker. sucker is awesome for bait they can smell it try making noise off the bottom gonna try hellgate and further north in the lake I think there are some in there just got to time and find them let me no if you wanna meet up and Fish. I do no there at the damb I brought my spinning set up and got one small one and headed home.