Looking for advice on spots for lings on the coast or the Sound

I want to get out and try my hand at the Lings and other bottom fish but don't know where to start.

I am in Tacoma and would obviously like to find some places as close to home as possible, but I'm also willing to travel for good locations.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

Matt, I'm out here in Twin Harbors, and not far from the South Jetty at the entrance to Grays Harbor. Access is from Westhaven State Park, in Westport. We fish near the outer end, on the Harbor side of the jetty.

I lost a heavy (never saw it, but it fought just like one) Ling out there on my first go-out last Sept. Also C&R'd 4 juvenile Lings (17" - 21"), and brought in 3 nice Black Rockfish. I've been dying to get back out, but the conditions have been prohibitive for a yak when I'm free. There have been some marginal days when I might have gone out if I had a buddy for moral support. I used to hike out there to fish, but my aging knees and ankles won't allow that kind of punishment any more.  Its better from a yak, anyway. Give me a shout if you want to come out here and fish with me. Its big and wild out there! I wouldn't mind having a buddy along to distract Bully, the resident sea lion!

It might be decent this Sat, and there's a razor clam dig going on, too. I am going to try to get my priorities out of the way and check it in a couple of hours. The wind is forecast to shift from E to S this afternoon.  Gotta run!

That sounds good to me.  I've got one other friend that will be coming along too. 

Do you use live bait or lead jigs and worms or something else?

Also, I checked the surf forecast and it looks like it should be pretty calm until later in the day on Saturday. 

Would you be looking to go sometime in the morning?

If you're interested I've got a guided 4 day yakfishcamp ling trip in the San Juans June 3rd-6th.

PM if you would like more info.

Jason

That sounds good to me.  I've got one other friend that will be coming along too.  

Do you use live bait or lead jigs and worms or something else?

Also, I checked the surf forecast and it looks like it should be pretty calm until later in the day on Saturday.  

Would you be looking to go sometime in the morning?

Matt, Saturday's forecast is looking pretty windy. I'm looking for winds gusting no higher than 15 mph. 10 mph with gusts up to 15 is about as high as iI like, because I don't anchor out there. I am also looking at Friday afternoon for a potential go-out. If the wind forecast drops for Saturday, it might be OK. I'll be here looking at it for sure on Saturday, though.

Friday afternoon will be the low tide change at about 4:30pm. Wind is supposed to swing from W to SW at 13mph in the afternoon. A 3pm launch would be about right to sneak out after max ebb and fish until 6:30 or 7pm.
Saturday will be the morning high tide, which is around 11am, so a 9am or earlier start is in order. Wind is supposed to be about 15mph, getting higher gusts in the afternoon after 3pm or so. Be heading in before then so I can go dig Razor Clams later, anyway.

Ahhh, we have all year until Oct 31 for the Lings, anyway. There will be plenty of "user friendly" days out there. I'm self employed, and can alter my work schedule to fit the fishing, if I need to.

Yesterday at 2:30pm I noticed the wind was from the south, so I loaded everything up as fast as I could and was heading to the jetty by 4pm. Wind was 10 to 15mph with gusts over 20...just a tad too much, even in the wind shadow of the jetty. I chose not to go out and fight the wind.
I don't like to anchor out there, because every time I anchor somewhere, I get snagged on the bottom sooner rather than later, and have to raise anchor to go retrieve my jig, and that's just too much a pain in the okole.  I like to drift with the current (not the wind) and jig straight up and down for the Lings, and cast and retrieve for the Black Rockfish while drifting. If I get hung up, I can quickly paddle over and get a better angle to free my jig.

I use 1/2 oz jigheads with soft plastic twirl-tail worms, various metal flake colors, and larger jigheads (usually 1 oz. and never more than 2 oz.) with soft plastic baitfish.
Also, I toss Carolina-rigged soft plastic anchovy imitations for the Black Rockfish, using a 3/4 oz sliding egg sinker.

I also use sandshrimp as bait for Cabezon and Greenlings. Best bait for a big Ling is a live Greenling. Drop one of those down and any big Ling in the area will come over and grab it.
 
I go out on the mudflats at low tide (either before fishing, or the day before) and get the sandshrimp myself. Then use those to catch a Greenling or two and keep em alive in my bucket. I'll rig the Greenling up on a mooching rig with 3/0 and 4/0 octopus hooks tied on 20# leader. 30# would actually be better for a "bite tippet" for Lings, but my mainline is only 20# right now. That's a bit too light for Lings, since they will try to go into the rocks and have gnarly teeth. I'm going to go up to 30# braid for mainline, next time I spool up, so I can use 25# leader (and that still will be "light" tackle for Lings).
I suppose I could use 30# for a bite tippet and put a breakage section of 15# in between that and my 20# mainline.
  I'll use enough weight to take it to the bottom. I'll probably stick a large plastic bobber 1/3 of the way from the bait to the weight, to keep the live Greenling up out of the rocks, since it might try to hide otherwise. That's a trick the guys who hike out to fish for Lings from the Jetty rocks using Greenlings for bait showed me back in the mid 80's.
You can also rig a dead Greenling (10"er or 12"er) up with no weight, and just cast and mooch that. I've seen guys catch Lings that way!
I bring scents to apply to my jigs and bait. Krill, Shrimp, Anchovie, etc.

If I'm feeling a bit lazy, I'll forego getting the sandshrimp, and just use jigs and soft plastics with scent. That actually works better for the Black Rockfish out there, anyway.
But everything out there will take a sandshrimp. I rig 'em with a corky (floats 'em off the bottom) and apply shrimp or krill oil to 'em. I fish 'em with a sliding sinker, often pencil lead or slinkies rigged like you would for drift fishing steelhead.
Various techniques will catch fish out there.
Best fishing is at least halfway out, past the bend in the jetty, out beyond the green can in the channel. The rocks are slicker and have bigger holes and spaces between them once you get beyond the recent repairs. My friend's Black Lab, Harley, fell in a hole and drowned out there several years ago. I used to hike out there all the time, but aging knees and (recently) a bum Achille's have put an end to that.