I caught this massive Ling Cod jigging for Kings right next to the pilings off TODD shipyard.

To give you an idea of how big it was, my shoe is 12 inches long.
To bad they are not in season.

to bad it's not in season is right. talk about a fish for the table, ling may be my choice. as far as a fish to catch well, a king would probably be up there

Carl, nice ling! Caught some like that out of Ucuelet last weekend. They are good eating. I would be leery of anything out of the river in that area though....I had heard something about contaminants. Have you? Did you see anyone catching kings?

I believe the contaminents issue relates to regularly consuming fish from the Duwammish river. I believe eating a rare ling like the above does not pose a risk, unless you make a steady diet of it.
Nice fish, I'll have to reconsider that area for next years ling opening - keep it in the back of your mind, Carl.

Carl, tried to zoom in on the lure you were using...was that a 6 oz needlefish? white with green? what was it.

I'm sorry,but not to rain on your parade. When I was a kid(a very long time ago), I saw a sailor bring home a ling that made your ling look like a minnow. 40 to 50 years ago there used to be alot of them in the sound. Saw one that was at least 4' long when I was fishing for perch off of the Bremerton ferry dock. It broke a fiberglass rod like it was a stick.

I was using a white Pt.Wilson Dart (3 1/2 oz.). There is a ton of other bottom fish (rock fish and flounder) just off the pilings too. If you have kids and want to get them interested in fishing this is a good place to do it. I started jigging after the tide change and the bite had cooled off. It was a lot of fun! The bottom fish would hammer that dart.

Oh ya, I did see two fish caught right at the tide change (18:30).

John Youngquist of Youngquist Jigs came to our club a couple of years ago to talk about bottom fishing in the straits. He did a slide show and there was a picture from the 1940s of two ling cod that were commercially caught near Port Townsend. The little one weighed 65 lbs and the large one was over 100 lbs. He also showed a picture of a halibut caught in a sein net in Alaska that was 11' long, weighed 1,500 lbs and it was full of 10 - 15 pound chum salmon.