A member of the cod family, but the ling has a far longer, slim line shape to the body. The characteristic single feeler barbel is there on the chin like the cod. Ling have two dorsal fins, the first rounded and short based, but the secondary main dorsal is long and flat topped. The anal fin is similar in shape to the secondary dorsal but is less long ending short of the vent. The tail fin is also rounded.

Ling have a medium sized eye and slim profiled head. The top and bottom jaws are equal, but the mouth is armed with needle shaped teeth designed to grab and hold passing prey.

The only confusion in identifying ling is when they are small up to a 1lb or so when it's easily mistaken for members of the rockling family, especially the three bearded rockling. Rocklings have barbels on the upper jaw which ling do not, and also note that the rockling's first dorsal is flattened in shaped and not rounded.

DISTRIBUTION
Widely distributed around the UK shores, but less frequently taken in the upper English Channel waters and North Sea. It was thought that ling were not resident in the southern North Sea at one stage, but recent exploratory trips to wrecks off Essex have produced ling in excess of 20lbs.

Also found in a thin belt from the Orkney Islands across to Iceland and resident on their south and west coastal waters. Pushes north along the European coast past the Russian border and south in to the Bay of Biscay.

BREEDING SEASON
Breeding takes place in deep water mostly between late March and late May, but some late fish are still carrying eggs in July. The female lays a staggering 60 million eggs. These float at surface level during initial development before the juvenile ling adopt a normal bottom living existence.

HABITAT
Ling favour very rough, rocky ground, the more uneven the seabed, the better. They're found over medium to deep water reefs, though these are the smaller fish mainly running up to double figures.

They're especially abundant where tide races are created such as in the vicinity of islands and in narrow sounds between islands and the mainland. Places where coastal cliffs fall sheer in to deep water is another ling residence.

The bigger fish exceeding 20lbs choose the food abundant offshore wrecks laying in very deep water. The same applies to rising rock pinnacles surrounding by a cleaner seabed.

DIET
Virtually an all fish diet. Ling take whiting, codling, pollack, coalfish, pout, flatfish, gurnards and smaller ling. Reef dwelling ling will also eat big crabs and other crustaceans when abundant.

SEASON
Wreck and deep water fish can be caught virtually the whole year round. The biggest ling from deep water are taken during January through until March when they're full of spawn and extra heavy. Reef ling tend to more biased towards summer and autumn, but again individual fish can show at any time.

Best of the shore fishing season is June onwards, but expect more success from August into October. It's likely that the ling follow the migrating whiting inshore at this time and this is the best time for a fish over 5lbs.

SHORE FISHING

ARE SHORE LING RARE?
Ling are rare from the shore, but this is more to do with how few anglers target them, rather than there being few ling within casting from suitable rock platforms.

THE BEST AREAS
Shore ling frequently show from the rock ledges in Devon and Cornwall, throughout Wales, right around Scotland, and especially the south and west coast of Ireland.

MARKS AND FEATURES
To be in with a chance, you need deep water very close in. Look for rock platforms that have 40 feet plus of water within casting range over a very rough seabed made up of rocks, ledges, pinnacles and kelp.

Ideally, this should be close to islands or at the end of a headland where a tide race forms. Even the ends of small bays where a tide run runs across will hold smaller ling providing the depth is there.

WEATHER
Inshore ling like some movement in the water, but any swell needs to be within the confines of safety from your point of view. Ideal conditions are a fining sea after a steady, but not severe blow. But even the calmer nights produce fish.

Daylight is not good. You will always catch more ling from dusk to dawn, with the period close to dusk best of all.

TIDES
It depends on the depth and nature of the mark you're fishing, but generally, the bigger tides give the best results providing the tide Run is fishable. Neaps can produce just as well inside sounds between islands and mainland, and off headlands.

Shore ling tend to feed best as the tide is picking up just after low water and just after high water, but this is not a fool proof rule.

TACKLE
Heavy beachcasters balanced to 6ozs of lead and an ABU 7000 sized multiplier coupled to 25lb line makes the best combination. Really rough ground would make an ABU 9000C a better choice with it's better gearing, or possibly the Daiwa SL30.

RIGS
A fixed single hook rig made from 75lb mono using a blood loop for hook connection and a weak link to the lead is essential.

The hook length needs to be 12"-18" of 50lb line ending in an Mustad Viking 3/0 to 4/0.

Better still is to set up with a pulley rig as follows. Take 36" of 75lb mono. Tie a loop in one end using two granny knots and add a short length of 15lb line to this that takes the lead. Slide on a bead, small size 8 rolling swivel and another bead. Now tie a second loop in to the free end.

The hook trace needs to be 12" and of 50lb line ending in a size 3/0 Viking. Tie the main reel line or leader to the free swivel eye.

Bend the end of a long tail lead over and place this inside the free loop with the weak link attached for casting, or use the loop and pin method if preferred.

BAITS
Blast frozen mackerel such as Baits Direct or Ammo seems to work as well as fresh mackerel. Small ling will take frozen sandeel, whiting, pollack or coalfish strips, and sometimes squid, but less so.

TECHNIQUE
The hard work has been done in selecting the right mark. Aim to cast the baits tight in towards the bases of rising rock pinnacles that can be seen on the surface waters, as the tide runs, as swirls and boils. Also, take note of casting distance that puts you in to areas where tackle losses are extra heavy.

The rest is patience and fishing hard during the peak early hours of darkness.

What can help is adding a short length of luminous tubing above the bait which does tend to draw the smaller ling in.

Also, fish two rods, one close and the other far. Ling do not conform to set routes and will cover a large area of ground when seeking food.

BOAT FISHING

REEF FISHING - MARKS AND FEATURES
A ling's shape, being long and relatively thin, shows that they are happy in fast running tides, but use their shape, as conger do, to follow the cracks and contours of the reef to reduce the effect of the passing tide making swimming easier, but more importantly, their shape lets them use the rock formations and cracks as cover to ambush smaller fish.

This in mind, look for areas on the reef where the seabed is confused with different rising peaks of rock, definite fissures and gutters, vertical shelves and drop offs close to a run of tide.

Worth spending time over are wide depressions which tend to fill with kelp. Ling again use the kelp as cover and stay in such areas over the peak tide runs letting the tide pass over the top.

WRECK FISHING
Ling let the tide strength govern their movements on the wreck. When the tide is slack, they move away from the wreck itself and work around the debris scattered to the sides scaring up small codling, pout etc. At the same time they will lift in the water someway off the bottom to intercept schools of baitfish like herring and smaller pollack.

Once the tide run starts to increase they work back in towards the shelter of the main wreck which gives protection against the tide and holds the bulk of the passing food.

Bigger, more solitary ling are often found working the banks close behind the downtide end or edge of the wreck, again ambushing food as it passes by.

It's less frequent now, but in the early days of wrecking locating the big ling over 30lbs took a weeks work. It took the first few days to clear out the smaller and mid sized ling. This was when the 2000lb and 3000lb per day hauls were made. Only towards the end of week would the big 30lb fish start to appear and with them the conger.

TIDES
Reefs, and wrecks for that matter, predictably have a fair run of tide over them otherwise they'd be covered with sand. Fishing will, at best, be difficult in most areas on the bigger spring tides with the boat travelling too quickly over the ground for the anglers to fish effectively with a bait close enough to the seabed.

Also, once a boats drift exceeds a couple of knots, the bait is also moving too quickly for the ling to make an accurately timed interception to eat the bait. Such conditions often sees ling foul hooked in the mid body and head as they've attacked the bait, but the speed as it passes by has confused them and resulted in poor timing and they're missing the bait.

The smaller neap tides will gives a more controlled drift of the boat with a slower overall ground speed helping the baits to work properly closer to the seabed.

Ideal conditions are wind against tide. This wind holds the boat against the tide slowing the boats drift speed right down and maximizing time over the ling hot spots.

WEATHER
Reef ling catches tend to be associated with calmer, settled periods of weather. This is more to do though, with the greater number of boats able to fish as a result of flat sea and also because the smaller food fish are well scattered across the reef in calm conditions. Persistent rough seas will concentrate smaller food fish in to sheltered areas with the ling following making actual ling location more difficult.

On the wrecks, overcast days, even rain seems to produce slightly more ling than the days when the sun shies all day and the water is clear. This follows through too, with seas still carrying colour after a blow fishing better than clear seas after settled weather.

RIGS
There are two main ways to target ling. With a two hook rig, or a pirk.

The two hook rig is the best for numbers and is no mean performer when it comes to taking the quality fish, either. You can tie this rig with three hook lengths, but this is unnecessary and increases the likelihood of snagging.

Tie the two hook rig from 75lb to 100lb mono. If you start with a length of mono some 6 to 7 feet long, by the time you've tied in two longish blood loops to form the hook length connectors, a Mustad oval split ring at the base, and strong swivel or stainless steel link at the top, you'll end up with a total rig length of about 5 feet. The blood loops want to be about 6" long.

The hook lengths need to be 150lb mono about 12" to 14" long tied with a small loop at one end that passes through the blood loop on the rig for securing. There is no need for wire traces as some books suggest.

The best hooks are the Mustad O'shaughnessy size 8/0 to 10/0, depending on bait size.

Attach the hook, not directly to the split ring, but either to a weak length of line, or better still using a short length of 'phone wire lightly twisted that will pull out if the lead gets snagged.

Pirks need to be from about a pound to as much as a pound and a half in weight. Some anglers arm these with a 6/0 treble hook, though some prefer a single 10/0 O'Shaughnessy as it snags less on the wreck. Whichever, the hook needs baiting with a whole fillet of fish to interest the ling.

BAITS
Use whole fillets of mackerel, pollack, coalfish, whiting, codling, or smaller ling. Whole fish such as mackerel and herring up to a pound or so in weight with the backbone and tail fin removed and the hook placed in the front lip look like free swimming fish and big ling really hit these hard.

Alternatives are whole Kalamari squid, or long strips cut from cuttlefish.

TACKLE
Reef fishing can be taken on with 20 or 30lb class tackle. Mostly, it's the 30 and a multiplier reel holding a good 300yds of line.

Deep water wreck fishing makes more sense with a 50lb unit, especially if you're using a two rig and may hook two big fish at once. The best reels are the Penn senator 4/0 to 6/0's, Daiwa Sealine's etc.

Carry a harness and butt pad for extra comfort as ling can fight long and hard using deep dives.

TECHNIQUE
Fishing for ling Technique is very simple. It's a matter of finding a mental rapport with the skipper and watching how he sets up the drift. He'll be using a single big buoy to mark the wreck, but with a line of three smaller buoys which tell him which way the tide is running over the wreck.

He'll steam up above the wreck, manoeuvre, then put the engine in to neutral or switch off. Get the baits down to the seabed and working as soon as he sets up this initial stage of the drift and keep working until the last minute before he shouts "Rods up" and re-sets the drift.

When the weights hit the bottom, deliberately release a few yards of line to make the baits trail along the bottom. Risking the tackle amongst the debris is the best way of hooking a ling. If you start lifting the baits up off the bottom to avoid the snags, you'll avoid most of the ling, too.

It's the same with the pirks. Hard on the bottom, lift these just a few feet clear, then start gently raising and lowering the rod. No need for energetic arm movements, remember, you've got bait on the pirk as well. Ling can bite viciously, but often gently. If you get gentle plucks on the line, release a few extra feet to let the fish take the bait, then re-tighten. If this fails, deliberately lift the baits off the seabed and drop them back down again. This is when that vicious streak shows and the rod bowls over at the tip.

GAFFING
Big ling need to be gaffed. The best place to gaff is in the head and lower jaw. Don't go for the belly as sometimes a big ling can tear away and shed the hook.

Ling will always blow their swim bladders when coming up from deep water and tend to stop fighting about mid depth if brought up very quickly. If a ling breaks off the gaff and hook, then it will float and can be collected on the way to the next drift.

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