Ling Cod in danger... I dont think so.....

[drbill]

What I dislike is when limits are imposed on rec fishermen who take maybe 5% of the catch but the commercial guys with 95% of the take are left to go drag as many as they like out of the water to sell.

For the volumes taken it makes a hell of a lot more sense to chop the commercial catch quota by 10% than to put a total rec fishing ban on an area but let the commercial catchers carry on as usual!

I can't speak for the PNW, but the data I saw two years ago indicated that the catch of lingcod in our waters by recreational anglers and spearfishers exceeded that of the commercial catch.

 

[rjack321]

I can't speak for the PNW, but the data I saw two years ago indicated that the catch of lingcod in our waters by recreational anglers and spearfishers exceeded that of the commercial catch.

Ditto here. And they are dirt simple to catch (as evidenced by an entire boat getting their limit). Apparently it takes a genius to realize that if every boat caught their limit every day there wouldn't be all that many fish anymore. And that having rules in place BEFORE a population is decimated might actually be helpful.

In the PNW the gist of the recreational rules are:
26-36" slot limit for all fishers
1 per day
6 week season for hook & line
3 week season for spearos.

Cause like duh, spearing lings is easily 2x more productive than hook and line. Especially if you are a semi-regular diver its not hard to know where they are. Besides the OP, not many people beetch and moan about the length of the season. Imposing a slot limit on spearos is new and somewhat challenging to grasp. But in this case it was all about equity with the hook and line crowd, not People for Puget Sound, Sierra Club, PETA or any other "tree huggers" which the OP has a long history of blaming for all the world's ills. The only people to blame are fellow hook & line fishermen who complained that allowing spearos any length ling was an adverse impact on "their fish".

 

[spoolin01]

Here's an interesting link, for those still working on their genius:

FishWatch - Lingcod

Seems consistent with what the OP said.

 

[Jaksonbrown]

The problem here boys is that the local fish and game dept is now all about politics and personal agendas. They claim that spearfishing is decimating the population and are moving to eliminate it. This is a rediculous claim as there are only a few spearos around here taking a few fish, while boatloads of fish are being taken by hook and line. Yet the populations are still plentiful as I personally whitnessed and read the boats catch records for the past few years. And that was just one boat. The problem is, there is one treehuggin anti spearos guy on the board of directors for the F&W. It is his goal to shut down spearing not only in the sound, but in Neah Bay as well. He wants to make Neah into his own personal aquarium filled with all the cute little fishies he likes to look at. He blames spearos for removing them so he cannot look at them. It is purely politics and personal agenda with no science involved in making these decisions. Its pathetic.

 

[Jaksonbrown]

Ditto here. And they are dirt simple to catch (as evidenced by an entire boat getting their limit). Apparently it takes a genius to realize that if every boat caught their limit every day there wouldn't be all that many fish anymore. And that having rules in place BEFORE a population is decimated might actually be helpful.

In the PNW the gist of the recreational rules are:
26-36" slot limit for all fishers
1 per day
6 week season for hook & line
3 week season for spearos.

Cause like duh, spearing lings is easily 2x more productive than hook and line. Especially if you are a semi-regular diver its not hard to know where they are. Besides the OP, not many people beetch and moan about the length of the season. Imposing a slot limit on spearos is new and somewhat challenging to grasp. But in this case it was all about equity with the hook and line crowd, not People for Puget Sound, Sierra Club, PETA or any other "tree huggers" which the OP has a long history of blaming for all the world's ills. The only people to blame are fellow hook & line fishermen who complained that allowing spearos any length ling was an adverse impact on "their fish".

This is hilarious!!!! Equity between spearos and hook and line guys?? Thats a joke right?? There are tens of thousands of hook and line guys (which I am one of also) that fish for ling in the sound and the PNW. There might be at most, a few hundred spearos around here...
Our boat last week caught more fish in one day than my entire group of spearing friends took in the entire season... by FAR!!!! All the science shows that Ling Cod populations are on the rise. All federal protections plans for them have been removed as the species is thriving.

Have you actually read the link Spoolin01 posted. Here it is again. Perhaps you should read it. FishWatch - Lingcod

To blame spearos for a "decline" in lingcod populations is like blaming smokers for global warming.

Ohh.. and all the environmental groups you listed... are most definitely the problem!

 

[Thalassamania]

One of the issues, from a fisheries biology management perspective is that fecundity (the number of viable eggs produced) often varies as the cube of length. Spearfishermen (of which I consider myself one) tend to impact more heavily on the larger members of a species, who produce the most eggs and also who are the most fit individuals from a natural selection perspective. This is why a maximum length regulation might make as much (or more) sense as a minimum length, thus the "slot".

Line fishing tends to be much more random in terms of who is caught.

 

[rjack321]

This is hilarious!!!! Equity between spearos and hook and line guys?? Thats a joke right?? There are tens of thousands of hook and line guys (which I am one of also) that fish for ling in the sound and the PNW. There might be at most, a few hundred spearos around here...
Our boat last week caught more fish in one day than my entire group of spearing friends took in the entire season... by FAR!!!! All the science shows that Ling Cod populations are on the rise. All federal protections plans for them have been removed as the species is thriving.

Have you actually read the link Spoolin01 posted. Here it is again. Perhaps you should read it. FishWatch - Lingcod

To blame spearos for a "decline" in lingcod populations is like blaming smokers for global warming.

Ohh.. and all the environmental groups you listed... are most definitely the problem!

Who ever said lingcod were in decline? Not me. In fact you haven't shown a single document to support your position that "tree-huggers" are even lobbying WDFW to restrict spearing lings.

Just because lings are stable or even increasing does not mean they can support the unlimited harvest you seem to think is warranted.

 

[VooDooGasMan]

Ok, divers think ling is easy to spear, thats at dive sites theory, in the san juans it is a riot cause you have poor vis and they run, this is not at the popular sites up there. ling at dive sites catch on after first day of season and run.

I know there are way more ling all over in general, I cover many miles underwater doing fast current dives.

Another is the fisherman in front of my house get skunked most the time, there long season is maybe 1/2 dozen a season, not all get one everyday.

Here the indians drop there nets and bring them in with a bunch of others also.

We only have a ling, and a cabezon for big fish to spear.


The only home practice we have for when we travel to spear.

The spearo's I know barely get three hunts in 3 weeks, and vis is usually not that good.

Nea bay is challenging, weather and currents, you spend to travel and if you get one day out of you $300 dollar trip it is a success, two bad trips and the spearo never comes back.

Everyone has there likes and needs, to close spearfishing, close the little travel spearo and his family to spend money in these areas.


Ling are good in many ways. Taste is one of the better ones.


Happy Diving

 

[drbill]

Personally I greatly prefer those who spearfish legally to many hook-and-line anglers because they can assess their take ahead of time. The ones I know are very careful to ID the proper species, assess whether they are of legal size and only take what they need for food. Of course then there are the bozos I've seen on our dive boats who just purchased a Hawaiian sling or speargun and shoot at anything yelling "I'm going to kill something today" despite our best warnings about proper fish to target and legal sizes. Unfortunately the latter give the real spearos a bad name.

 

[Jaksonbrown]

Personally I greatly prefer those who spearfish legally to many hook-and-line anglers because they can assess their take ahead of time. The ones I know are very careful to ID the proper species, assess whether they are of legal size and only take what they need for food. Of course then there are the bozos I've seen on our dive boats who just purchased a Hawaiian sling or speargun and shoot at anything yelling "I'm going to kill something today" despite our best warnings about proper fish to target and legal sizes. Unfortunately the latter give the real spearos a bad name.

Well said Doc!