Area 4 Lingcod opener. Who's going?

[Jon Borcherding]

April 15th is the opener for Lingcod in area 4 (Neah Bay) and once again I'm faced with the dilema of pursuing extremely ugly fish or big ugly birds as the turkey opener is on the same day.:beathead:
Last year I chose the lingcod and we had a great trip. I think I'll try to repeat the success this year.
I apologize in advance to those of you who's sensitivities are offended by the use of bait and jigs but that is what I used last year. This year I'm planning on bringing the 8wt. and casting streamers for rockies. Most of the lings hang pretty deep but we have pulled up some nice ones from kelp beds in about 30 ft. of water so lings on the fly are not out of the question either.
My wife nearly boated a monster ling last year when it chomped down on a kelp greenling that she was reeling up. The ling spit out the greenling just before I could get a landing net under it. I'm guessing it would have gone about 30 lbs. Some friends who were fishing in a boat near us landed a 36 lb. ling the same afternoon.
We've got reservations at The Cape and plan on arriving Sat. 4/14 so we can get launched and be ready to chase big uglys in the morning. If anyone from the site is headed up that way it would be nice to get together and sneak a beer, wink, wink, nod, nod. (the reservation is dry:confused: )
Hope to see you there!
JonB

[topwater]

i always loved lingcod opener. i don't know what size or range you have in the boat you fish neah with, but if you can travel south aways the lingcod terrain is much better. there is good fishing at times in the strait but the nature of the shoreline is a disadvantage compared to further south. south there are some nice big rocky areas with a constant depth of 35- 50 ft... versus the steep drop you tend to find in the strait. big flies are going to be the best, although any fly put near a ling will likely result in a grab. my favorites were big whistlers and clouser half and halfs.

the only problem with down south is keeping the rockfish off your line... and if you keep rockfish they are wormy as hell down south. have fun and may the weather bless you with a rare calm spring day.... 3-4 ft swells and no wind.

[Jon Borcherding]

.....................have fun and may the weather bless you with a rare calm spring day.... 3-4 ft swells and no wind.
Thanks! It's always interesting to see what the weather is going to do up there. I have a stout little 17' aluminum boat..It was built buy a guy who welds up commercial boats for the Bristol Bay fishery. Not pretty but, stout. By "further south" do you mean Father & Son rocks, Point of Arches, Cape Alava, those areas? We usually make it out to Duncan rock but it's been a few years since we've been down to Cape Alava durring the early season. Just too rough last year. Do you have any pictures of the flies you mentioned? I was gonna tie up a bunch of Clousers. Are you planning on going?
JonB