Live Bait ?

I split this off into a seperate topic. Brian wondered about the use of greenling as some Ling candy..

Greenling (i.e. seatrout) however are not an AOTY species but do make for some great lingasaur bait. Not sure of the Oregon regs on sending rockfish back down as bait. It's legal in California but the "bait" counts towards your daily rockfish limit.

Brian

i did some reading of the regs. This is what i found and if i read it right, I think you "can" use greenling as  bait:


Live fish may not be used or held for use as bait, except live nongame fish may be used in the ocean, bays and tidewaters when
taken from the waterbody in which they will be used.

Here's what there definition of gamefish is:

Game fishAre defined as follows:
Trout, salmon when taken by angling, steelhead, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, bluegill,
crappie, other sunfish, catfish, walleye, yellow perch, hybrid bass (white x striped cross), whitefish, sturgeon
and shad when taken by angling, mullet, grayling and striped bass.

No greenling listed there....

 Am i , or am i 

they are the bait for lings!!!
and the greenling can be taken in Oregon by the following methods...angling, by hand,bow and arrow,spear, spear gun,gaff hook, snag hook or herring jig. Greenling must be a minimum of 10".
 this can be hard for me at times cuz I love to eat the bait!!!   MMMMMMMM Kelp Greenling ( we used to call em "sea trout" when I was younger.

they are the bait for lings!!!
and the greenling can be taken in Oregon by the following methods...angling, by hand,bow and arrow,spear, spear gun,gaff hook, snag hook or herring jig. Greenling must be a minimum of 10".
 this can be hard for me at times cuz I love to eat the bait!!!   MMMMMMMM Kelp Greenling ( we used to call em "sea trout" when I was younger.

LOL, i agree Box, they are tasty little buggers.. and ive never even caught one that close to 10",more like 14-15 inch range, which is kinda hard to use as bait, on the gear ive been using.

I'm pretty sure if you use Green Ling as bait you have to count that towards your daily bag limit on Oregon.  This is the only drawback to using Green Ling (Sea Trout).

I'm pretty sure if you use Green Ling as bait you have to count that towards your daily bag limit on Oregon.  This is the only drawback to using Green Ling (Sea Trout).

Same in WA I believe.  I try not to lose them, then eat them for dinner.  I've been using double 10/0 hooks, one through the upper lip and the other in the dorsal fin, not in the flesh, just dangling at the base of the dorsal.  It's really hard to rip the front hook out so more often then not, the bait is still there.

-Allen

I'm pretty sure if you use Green Ling as bait you have to count that towards your daily bag limit on Oregon.  This is the only drawback to using Green Ling (Sea Trout).

guess it would be one and done for using greenlings for bait, but if you could catch a big ling it would be worth the one spot on the limit. I have the perfect pole for it too, short and stout as hell.

Now, whats the best method to catch the smallest possible legal greenling ? I guess smaller hooks and bait, or smaller jigs and more in the kelp beds? and whats the best rig for using them as bait? weight? slider?

When I used to fish off the jetties in Newport and Coos Bay, I had great success catching greenling using earthworms on size 2 or 4 hooks.  I also would catch them on white 3" curly tail grubs.  Next to a cabbie, greenlings are my favorite to eat.

Yup, small pieces of bait on #4 hooks on a hi/lo rig.  Best baits for me are pile worms (or any worms, note Nomadic said earthworms), but almost any bait will work.  If you don't have bait, any small 2-3" rubber worm on a small jighead, or even a small iron will work.  In fact, if they are around anything small and moving around will get the bite.  But I do agree on the white color working well, but so does motor oil, pale chartreuse, black, ...

Did I forget to say use small baits?     The rest is not rocket science when it comes to greenling, at least once you find a place that is holding them.  But that part is not too hard either, IN the kelp beds.

But these are not the only live bait that work well.  Sanddab, herring, smelt, and shiner perch will all work well, heck, anythink live and swimming.  And if you feel like you have a small rockfish on the hook, let it sit a little bit and see if the rod loads up with big momma ling.

-Allen