Rock Cod and Ling Fishing Reference:

Please feel free to add to these threads!

MM Rocky Rigs For FAQ's:

Rock Fish Hoochie Snell Rig:
Leader:                  Berkeley Big Game 50 lb.
Length:                  30” Finished with Surgeon’s Loop
Snell:                  5/0 Mustad O’Shaugnesey
Slider:                  6/0 Mustad O’Shaugnesey Adjust to 5” Total Eye of Top Hook to Bend In Bottom Hook.
Bead:                  8 mm Light Color
Hoochie:            4.5”
Bead:                  6mm Above Hoochie
Clevis:                  #3
Spinner Blade:            Willow Leaf, Hammered, 1.5”
Bead:                  6mm Above Clevis
Colors:                  Dull Colors are better than bright or chrome or fluoro

Rockfish Hoochie Circle Hook Rig:
Note:                  Tied the same as above with 7/0-5/0, 7/0-6/0, 6/0-5/0 Red Gami Circles

Rockfish Hoochie Wire Rig:
Leader Material:      9” Nylon Coated Wire, 80 lb.
Leader Finished:      7”
Snell Slider:            18” 40 lb. Maxima or Big Game
Connector:            Single Sleeve Sz. 4
Bottom Hook:            5/0 O’Shaugnesey (Mustad)
Slider:                  6/0 Gami Octopus
Bead:                  8mm
Hoochie:            4.5”
Bead:                  6mm
Clevis:                  #3
Spinner Blade:            Willow Leaf, Hammered, 1.5”
Bead:                  6mm
Connector:            Single Sleeve Sz. 4




Rock Fish Bait Rig:
A 7” Wire with a 6/0 O’Shaughnessy Slider and a 1/0 Treble Bottom Hook.

Rock Fish Hoochie Snell Rig:
Hoochie on a 7” Mono with a 6/0 O’Shaughnessy Slider and a 5/0 O’Shaughnessy Bottom Hook

Rockfish Hoochie Wire Rig:
Hoochie on 7” Wire with a 6/0 Sliding Gami Octo and a 5/0 O’Shaughnessy.

Ling Chain:
12” of 1 inch Link with Treble Hook or Meat hook on the bottom. 5/0 Siwash is a recommended hook for Iron. Attach Hooks with 80 lb. wire.

Sabiki Rig:
Sabikis in 2-14. For chovies/smelt I use 10/12/14. For dabs 6/8/10 and I've never used the bigger ones.

Flies by Jan:
These two are the ones I use for Rockfish, Sole and the Pacific Halibut, Mustad Long Shank Circle Style 39977 hook.

Weights:
6-12oz. Torpedo Sinkers, less snags

Treble Hooks: 
1/0, 2/0, 2X Strong

Hex Bar Jigs: 
8 to 12 oz.

Diamond Bar Jigs: 
8” Minimum, 8 to 12 oz.

Torpedo Weight Jigs:
Double Eye, 8 to 12 oz.

Kalin Scampi Rigs: 
16oz. Kalin Jig head with a large (10") Kalin Double Tail Scampi, White Color

Shrimp Flies:
Yellow, Blue, Red ( for the Rock Cod )

Squid Flies: 
P-Line

Swim Baits: 
Big Hammer 7 to 9 Inch, White, Anchovy, Sardine

Tube Jigs: 
Assorted, Fished Bare
Berkley Gulp Squid: 5 to 10 Inch

Frozen Bait: 
Squid or Octopus, Sand Dabs

Leaders: 
3.5' of 60#. Swivel on bottom for fast replacement of sinker. Loop on top for attaching main line. 50# stuff on my hooks (Snelled). 65# braid as mainline. First loop 1' from bottom swivel; second loop 1' above that. 2 Hooks Maximum.  Short leaders for Dabs 6” on loops, 18” for Lings on bottom loop.

Colors:
Dull colors are best, Green, Black, Brown, Gray, and Blue with exception of Chrome, Orange, and Yellow. Avoid bright fluoro pinks, chartreuse, and greens.

Bleed every fish upon Boating!

Lob bait down wind for quickest descent to bottom.

Hookset:
Let fish take bait, reel to fish, then set.

Quick jerks will take bait away from fish. Reel quickly to avoid fish swimming into rocks.

Hitch Hikers:
Reel consistently and keep fish’s heads under water until netting.

Saltwater Care:
Store all tackle that touches Salt Water in Separate Bag, Rinse and Dry for Storage.

Storm Wild Eye Finesse Minnow (Silver Shiner)
http://www.stormlures.com/products/luresdetail.cfm?modelName=wildeye_finesse_min...

Rockfish I.D.:
http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/groundfish/RockfishGuide/species_list.htm


Soft Plastic Swim Baits:
http://www.swimbait.com/hammer.htm
http://www.fishtraplures.com/
http://www.boneyardbaits.com/

Torpedo Weights:
https://max.12wonderdns.net/~drloecom/store/index.php?PHPSESSID=9db0c673f4e56430
b95dd7a6b5a7714a

From Fish R Us:

To catch bigger cabezones, you need to use larger bait, like a whole squid, baby octopus, green crab or whole anchovy. For the crab use a large hook and run the hook directly thru the middle of the top and bottom shell. Cast way out into the deep instead of fishing the nearshore crevices and pools. This will probably make for more snags, but that's where the bigger fish are. During the flat sea conditions (around the end of august) are when the bigger cabs come into the shallows to feed. I use a 40 lb handtied leader with (2) # 1/O hooks tied directly to the dropper loops and a 3-4 oz weight. I don't know about catching more cab's, you are only allowed to keep (1) each per person/per day.

I was out last sunday morning and kept a 17", 4.5 lb. cabezone, releasing all the smaller ones. Good luck.

I mainly fish the areas between Pescadero and the Santa Cruz Co line. Bean Hollow SB is a good place to start.  Pidgeon Point has alot of nice places, especially Pidgeon Rock (during minus tides). I'm usually anywhere between Pidgeon Point and Ano Nuevo. The Davenport area as alot of cliffs and neat places, but I rarely venture that far. South of the S. Cruz Co. line, the terrain changes to mostly sandy beaches and then gets rocky as you get closer twords Santa Cruz.




The stinger set up is a little tricky. That’s why I like the Owner stinger hooks. The braid they use is thinker (more abrasion resistance for sharp teeth on rockfish), and its more malleable which makes it easier to set up.
Here is my step by step for setting up swim baits (don't know how much experience you have with jig heads and plastic baits).
1. Place the bait next to the jig head just behind the back of the lead head. This way you can approximate just how far down the body of the bait the hook should be poking out. Mark that area with either a small tear in the side of the bait or on top.
2. Thread the plastic bait onto the hook, and aim the tip towards that tear so that the curve on the shank exits at this point (if you thread to far down the bait will bend slightly giving it a different action which may not work as well).
3. Grab the stinger hook, and using the pre-made loop make other "slip knot loop" (if this doesn't make sense take a close look at the pics). Slip this loop over the top of the hook. Then, approximate again where this hook will stick out of the bait, and repeat previous procedure. Thread it through the bait. I pull the hook through until the point is curved back down the line of the body with the point pointing towards the head. If you pull to much it my curve down; not enough and it might curve backwards. Probably not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but is all about maximizing hooks right. Would hate to feel you lost a fish because the hook wasn't set up properly.
The main reason for the stinger hook is for those short bites which are more common with the bigger baits. Its also nice when you bring up a big toad ling cod, and you both hooks in the mouth. Gives you a little breath of relief he wont be spiting them both out any time soon.
Remember, the stinger hook set ups put you at the limit for 2 hooks for rockfish so plan accordingly if you choose to use the stinger hook.
As for the wire leader set up. These are good for when you are using live or frozen baits for ling cod including sand dabs, large sardines/macks/herring/anchovies.
Each leader contains: approx. 16-18" of leader material, 4 crimps, one treble hook, one J-hook, and one barrel swivel. Probably want leader material of 30-40lbs or so with appropriate size crimps (ask the tackle shop guy if you are uncertain), and 50-60lb barrel swivels.
1. Cut leader material to desired length.
2. Thread on crimp on one end.
3. Thread on swivel.
4. Place tag end back through crimp, and crimp down using either crimping pliers of appropriate size, or wire cutters (but with this option you have to be careful not to press to tight or you will cut the crimp and line). This gives you a closed end at one end with the swivel.
5. Thread on another crimp, then J-hook (make sure it is fed correctly so that you don't have it facing backwards, pretty easy to figure out if you look at the swivel end as the front of the leader). Thread on another Crimp. DO NOT CRIMP THESE down. This will be done on the spot once you figure out the approximate size of bait you are using.
6. Thread the 4th crimp onto the line, then the treble hook. Thread the tag end back through the crimp, and crimp it down to secure the tail end of the leader.
With both ends you should leave a small loop of leader to avoid putting any kinks in the leader material. This will also give the leader a little play as well.
If done correctly by now you have to ends: one with the swivel and one with the treble hook, that are securely crimped down. You also have the J-hook which has a crimp above and below it.
Once you are ready to bait up just approximate the length of the bait with the plan being that the Treble hook will be hooked to the tip of the tail and the J-hook through the mouth or nose. MAKE SURE You take into account the shank length of the hook so that ideally when it is all rigged up the shank of the J-hook will lie flat along the leader material.
Now its time to fish!
One last part. If you use wire material 16-18" inches is not very long and there is no stretch factor like monofilament lines. You should have premade mono. leaders of about 3-4ft with snap at either end as well as pretied 3-way swivels. One end of the mono snaps to the 3-way swivel and one end snaps to the wire leader barrel swivel.
Keep in mind its a lot of snaps to double check that they are all closed properly (one of the draw backs to this approach).
Hook size: 4/0-7/0 for the J-hooks, but I think for most ling cod 5/0 or 6/0 hooks are big enough. For the treble hooks probably size 2 or 1 (3x or 4x strong). These are your back up hooks, not the primary.
I don't know if I mentioned shrimp flies, but these are the most commonly used outfits on party boats. They make for quick and easy limits of rockfish. I have also caught a fair number of ling cod on these which can be surprising given how small the shrimp flies are. Make sure you buy the ones with only two flies/two hooks.
Depending on how much time you have on the water these are either good or not so good. If you want large quality rockfish then these are NOT your best bet. But, if you want your limit quickly especially if you are running short on time then these are perfect for that situation. The problem I find with these is that you tend to end up catching quite a bit of the smaller blues and other small rockfish. When it comes to rockfish they are voracious predators, and you'll be amazed at what some of the smaller ones will go for. Basically, bigger baits generally mean bigger fish. So, either use 7" swim baits or bigger for large Vermillion and lingcod, or you can use 5" baits but you might find your self with some smaller rockfish.
Problem with rockfish is that they all have swim bladders (except ling cod and Cabezone). When you bring the up the bladder expands, and basically most fish may not be dead when you bring them up but will end up dying from the trauma they sustain. You'll see what I mean when they come up bug-eyed and bloated. Some people like to bring them up slowly to give them time to equilibrate, but even that doesn't work to well. Fish and Game has a law about "Wasting" fish, and dumping them back over the rail to float away almost dead is considered wasting the fish. It makes it hard to be selective. There is a product which I have yet to use, but wanted to check out. Its called The Shelton Fish Descender made by Shelton products. They have a website with a video. Its basically a reverse barbless hook on your line which you can use to drop the fish back down and release it at depth. Problem is no one has done long term survival studies, but I figure every lit bit helps.

Northern California Rock Cod Species:

Please Note These May Change At Any Time:

BLACK
BLACK AND YELLOW
BLUE
BOCACCIO            {1 Fish in 10 Fish Aggregate, 10” Minimum Length}
BRONZE SPOTTED ROCKFISH  {no take}
BROWN
CANARY             {No Take}
CHINA
COPPER (CHUCKLE HEAD)
COWCOD            {No Take}
FLAG
GOPHER
GOLDEN EYE
GRASS
GREENSTRIPED
GREENSPOTTED
GREENLING      {2 Fish in 10 Fish Aggregate, 12” Minimum Length}
KELP                  {2 Fish in 10 Fish Aggregate, 12” Minimum Length}
OLIVE  (YELLOW TAIL)
QUILLBACK
ROCK            {2 Fish in 10 Fish Aggregate, 12” Minimum Length}
ROSETHORN
STARRY
TIGERSTRIPE
VERMILION
WIDOW
YELLOW EYE         {No Take}

CABEZON            {1 Fish in 10 Fish Aggregate, 15” Minimum Length}
LINGCOD            {2 Fish in 10 Fish Aggregate, 24” Minimum Length}

mooch, do you order those or is there a store you get them from?

I got one more species to add to your list MM.
-bronzespotted rockfish {no take}