Re: How to catch more ling on a party boat.
A lot of great advice on here already. I always fish with a Belmar rig with an added dropper loop up high when fishing for ling and cod. I find it crucial to have a leadered hook below the sinker (Belmar rig--just like a single hook tog rig) for ling. About 10-12 inches long on 50# leader material and secured by a double overhand knot with the sinker. I then tie a dropper about 18" above the sinker primarily for cod and pollack (mostly in winter), but ling do come up that high to grab a bait. Cod also hit the bottom hooks a lot.
I like to use 4/0 and 5/0 gami baitholder hooks for several reasons. The biggest reason is if there are cod around. You need a sharp hook that will stay buttoned up in the rubber lips of a cod. You will roll a 10-15 lb. cod or pollack on an improper hook and it is not a good feeling, believe me. Also, the barbs on the shank keep the clam woven onto the hook much easier than a non-baitholder. Also these hooks are extremely sharp and definitely help in getting a good hookset. Another tip--Stay away from the 1/0-3/0 gami baitholders. They are very fragile and the points bend and break pretty easily on a good sized fish or on structure. Use at least a 4/0--these are good.
Me and my dad have fished for ling and cod a lot on his boat and we've been having a very good year. One trip at the end of June we had 8 keeper cod to 10# and a bunch of ling, short cod, and seabass just at the SR reef.
One of my favorite baits other than clam is small pieces of pout. The trick is to fillet the pout AND skin it too. The meat is tough enough to stay on the hook w/o the skin. This bait works extremely well when there are a lot of trash fish around (mostly in winter). Sometimes the ling don't even have a chance to hit a clam before a dog, pout, silver eel, or sea raven is on it already. You can avoid these fish by using a small strip of pout--maybe 2 inches long. Bergall strips also work too.
Hopefully these tips can help you put some more ling in the box.
Erik
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