Also known as Ling, Lingfish, Buffalo cod, Cultus cod, Blue cod (blue-fleshed fish), Greenling (mistaken). Bait, technique, tide windows, and where the bite is on right now.
Lingcod — The toothy ambush boss of the Pacific reef. Also called Ling, Lingfish, Buffalo cod, Cultus cod, Blue cod (blue-fleshed fish), Greenling (mistaken).
Lingcod is also known as: Ling, Lingfish, Buffalo cod, Cultus cod, Blue cod (blue-fleshed fish), Greenling (mistaken). The toothy ambush boss of the Pacific reef.
Regional names can confuse anglers and cause misidentification. The table of common names below covers the most-used alternatives across Australia, New Zealand and the US:
Key to correct identification: check the regulations-authority species sheet for your state or territory before keeping any fish — minimum legal sizes, bag limits and identification guides are published by each fisheries department and are the authoritative source.
Hero spots in our coverage where Lingcod is in season for June. Click through for the live forecast.
Out of season across our covered spots in June.
Fish hard structure—rock pinnacles, ledges, reef edges, jetties and high-relief humps in roughly 40–300+ ft. Lingcod are ambush predators that pin to the rock and don't chase far, so you have to put the bait in their face: drop a heavy swimbait or jig straight down, let it hit bottom, then lift-and-drop with sharp 2–4 ft hops so the lure thumps along the structure. Stay vertical—reel up a couple cranks after each touch to avoid hanging in the rocks, then drop again. The 'bait-and-switch' is deadly: when a small rockfish or greenling loads up on your gangion, a lurking ling will clamp onto it on the way up—don't horse it, lower a stinger bait or just keep steady pressure and the toothy fish often won't let go until it's gaffed or netted. They feed best on a slack-to-moving water window over the reef. Use a stout rod (jigging/conventional, 30–80 lb braid, 40–60 lb leader), reef hooks/circle hooks, and have a gaff or big net ready—they come unbuttoned right at the surface. A descending device (SeaQualizer / weighted release) is must-have gear for releasing barotrauma'd rockfish and short lings.
Best on the slack and the early push of a moving tide over the reef—slack lets you stay vertical on the pinnacle and the first of the new current flips on the bite. Hard-running mid-tide buries your lure in the rocks and pulls you off the structure; fish the top and bottom of the tide. Dawn and the last light low-light windows over shallow reef edges and jetties produce the most aggressive grabs.
Lingcod aren't a moon-cycle bite the way pelagics are—structure and current matter more. That said, the strong tidal swings around the new and full moon stack the deck: aim for the slack and the soft push on those bigger exchanges, and avoid getting stuck fishing only the ripping mid-tide. Winter spawning (males guarding nests in shallow rock) overlaps the groundfish opener—handle and release nest-guarding fish with care.
Lingcod are part of the Pacific groundfish complex, and rules differ between state and federal waters and by state (CA/OR/WA each set their own). Seasons, depth limits and Rockfish Conservation Area (RCA) closures are set annually—the groundfish season often opens in spring and closes in fall, with depth/area restrictions that change year to year. There are minimum-size and bag limits that vary by state and zone. Barotrauma rules typically require a descending device aboard. Always check the current rules with your state agency (CDFW, ODFW or WDFW) before you fish.
Olli-Mikael Vaittinen has fished his whole life. Fifteen years of fly fishing, guiding seasons on Norway's Lakselva — his favourite Atlantic salmon river — and a blue marlin landed in Vava'u, Tonga. Founder of Fishare — the app that puts the data behind the decisions every angler makes on the water.
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