Double lings

[Devildiver]

Met up with Tyson this weekend for another dive on the Oregon Coast.

We hit the water at 9:30, and made our way out the finger. We got into a school of blacks at around 15-20' and both began filling our stringers. I found a nice greenling (not as nice as the one Tyson took in February), and decided to take him. meanwhile, Tyson took a nice ling, just laying on a rock in the open. He went 24" and 3.9lbs.

Having limited on rockfish, we scoured the finger for any more lingcod. When it seemed like I'd go home without one, and the vis began to deteriorate, I dove through the murk and came out right on top of a legal ling. I didn't stone him, but it was a solid compound angle shot through his head, and managed to pull him to the surface. This guy was REALLY blue/green, weighing in at 5.5 lbs and 26".

We got out of the water at 1:30, and came out to a hoard of people enjoying a rare sunny day.

All in all it was a fantastic day of spearing on the Oregon Coast, decent vis, lots of fish, and a good dive buddy. We had been wanting to get out and have a day where we both took lings, and it finally happened.

This is a shot of the carnage. 2 Lings, 12 black rockfish, 1 greenling, one sculpin, and two satisfied spearos.





Tyson with his Lingcod and biggest black.





Me with my bluegreenling.

[steepNdeep]

Right on - great way to start to spring!! Looks like your ling just ate a smurf. How did he taste?

[Devildiver]

Haven't eaten him yet, I'm still working on some other fish before I get into newer stuff.

[pablo]

Thanks for the report! Oregon has a 6 rockfish limit? When does your ling season start/close?
How do you like you Mako suit - 5mm right?

Cheers!

[Devildiver]

Originally Posted by pablo

Thanks for the report! Oregon has a 6 rockfish limit? When does your ling season start/close?
How do you like you Mako suit - 5mm right?

Cheers!

Oregon has a 6 rockfish limit, and we currently have a +1 allowed, totaling 7 rockfish. The bag limit includes greenling, cabezon, pacific cod, and a few others.

There is no closed season for lingcod, meaning it is open all year, night and day. There is a 2 fish per day and a 22" minimum size limit.

I really have enjoyed my Mako suit. There is a direct relationship between how much I enjoy it, and how much it cost me vs what I have to sacrifice, call it the spearo's ROI. For $200 it's an amazing suit. If you get one, buy a bottle of suit cement and hit all of the intersections inside and out. It keeps me warm, and Danno is great about customer service. It has a few pieces of stitching coming undone and it's tearing slightly in the groin, around a seam where there is a neoprene backer disc already glued on for added strength. The suit is just ripping around the edge of the disc rather than where it's glued. Oh well right?

-Casey

[Navanax]

Nice fish Casey; waiting here for May 21 and our 3 week season for a fish a day. Seems like time for a road trip to Oregon.
Ken

[Devildiver]

why don't we do some place switching Ken? you come down here some time and I'll put you on some nice fish, and then I'll go up your way and you can return the favor. What do you think?

[barbin35]

oh I'm so jealous right now. We went the same day only we went at low tide and the vis was horrible and we did not get nothing saw small lings but that was about it we saw shadows from the black rock fish but could not see them clearly enough to make a shot. what finger do you guys usually dive? we have been diving the 3rd one but i was thinking to try the 4th one next time. i thought high tide would be better we just could not get out there any sooner. good job guys.

[Devildiver]

Originally Posted by barbin35

oh I'm so jealous right now. We went the same day only we went at low tide and the vis was horrible and we did not get nothing saw small lings but that was about it we saw shadows from the black rock fish but could not see them clearly enough to make a shot. what finger do you guys usually dive? we have been diving the 3rd one but i was thinking to try the 4th one next time. i thought high tide would be better we just could not get out there any sooner. good job guys.

Thanks

We typically dive the first finger as it has been the most productive for us. I have had mixed luck with both high and low tides. I'm not sure if there's any way to figure that one out without just seeing how the vis looks. All in all, i've had more success on high tides though, but only by a slight margin.

Are you guys freediving or on scuba?

-Casey

[barbin35]

We are both free diving, so when you say the first finger you mean the one closest to the bridge or the one closest to the ocean? I always thought that the closer you are to the ocean the better but i don't know. I have had good luck at the third finger before with alot of nice black rock fish, just not last time.

[Devildiver]

To me the first finger is the one closest to the bridge, the REALLY long one.

I have also had luck on the third finger, particularly with a more diverse catch, but I've shot the biggest fish off of the first finger.

You two are freediving! Thats awesome - by my count that makes 5 of us in the whole state! Gotta love that market share

Don't feel discouraged though, two days of diving before this one produced 3 fish total between 3 divers.

We're always looking for more freedivers, shoot me a PM if you want to go out sometime.

-Casey

['o Cino]

Nice Lings, our season just started on April 1st. It's a close call as to my families favs...ling, halibut or sculpin. Enjoy!

[Tino Bernazzani]

Very nice,
Way to go Tyson!
Yes CA ling season just opened and it is shaping up to be a good one.

[ralphthehalibut]

Nice lings!

Just curious, what are the water temps you guys are diving in up there? And what is "decent" vis and average vis for that area in the summer?

I'm gonna be taking a trip up that way in the summer and hope to get some diving and spearing in

[barbin35]

The only bad part about Oregon so far is that there are no other places where we could dive at least we have not found any I wish there was a place in the open water we could go diving without getting smashed against the rocks. Has anyone thought about diving the rock piles visible of the beach between Lincoln city and Newport? I just hate the rush of the current in the bay, but then again the first finger should not be quite as strong sins the rocks slow it down a bit.