Posted on December 30, 2022

It's cold, it's miserable, and it's awesome. Paddling the Monterey Canyon during this time of the year means that you're the only boat as far as the eye can see. The Monterey Canyon is my playground and during the winter months I have it to myself.

Of course you're the only boat on the water when you are going by yourself. I was lucky that on many trips Jason would accompany me and that is the only reason why I have such an awesome piece of footage of my boat with a pod of orcas in the background. We met the orcas about 3 1/2 miles offshore or a little more than halfway to the area we had planned to fish.

The orca encounter was mesmerizing and for a moment the world stood still. Orcas or killer whales are the largest members in the dolphin family. There were two large adult orcas and a calf. The male was the biggest of the group, perhaps close to 20 feet in length and 2,000 pounds in weight, and the female a bit smaller. The pod was working the grounds on the southern flank of the Monterey Canyon and allowed us to come quite close. The footage was shot on a camera phone which can capture only so much. Experiencing the company of orcas in the open ocean was magical. For a while I forgot that we were on a mission to catch a big fish.

At this late stage of the year my main target is lingcod. I don't pursue this fish during the spring and summer months as there are many other fantastic fish to be caught. I saved lingod, a great game fish and exquisite table fare, for last. I also target the deeper shelf rockfish, foremost copper and canary, and more often than not I come across a school of mackerel which makes for primo live bait and also fills my personal saba needs.

Now, how do you find a lingcod in the expansive waters of Moss Landing? It's more difficult than you might think. There isn't a significant reef formation which would naturally hold rockfish and lingcod. The ocean floor consists of sand and mud as far as I can paddle in a day. My preferred method is to study the details of nautical charts, to locate interesting confluences where gradients change and where small plateaus rise from deeper surrounding waters. These confluences often are nutrient rich grounds which attract smaller fish, which then attract the mid and large size rockfish and last but not least I work my way up the food chain to the mighty lingcod. Often small elevations and plateaus make for spawning grounds which is another consideration at this time of the year. Finally, there are marine protected areas to pay close attention to as these are strictly off limits for this type of fishing. Generally speaking it is prohibited to fish for groundfish seawards of the 50-fathom line which means that we are limited to depths of 300 feet or less.

It is certainly possible to catch a stout lingcod on rockfish jigs or smaller baits like squid, octopus or anchovies, but you will also end up with a lot of small fish which may foil the opportunity to hook a big one. My approach is to filter out big lingcod by using large live baits, for example a bigger live mackerel or a Widow rockfish. The idea is to catch two grown lingcod and then to switch to smaller baits to fill out the stringer. This works quite well. Sometimes a bigger copper rockfish will hit a sizeable live mackerel but for the most part this route takes you directly to a lingcod.

My lingcod/rockfish fishing rig is a simple but highly effective affair: a four foot leader fished behind a torpedo sinker with a 1/0 circle hook at the business end. Another rig I like is a vertical rig with the aforementioned torpedo sinker at the bottom and a 10-inch branch several feet off the bottom to connect a 1/0 circle hook.

I fished the Monterey Canyon for many years now but only during the spring and summer months and mainly for petrale sole and salmon. In the past I encountered a few rockfish and sablefish as bycatch but never saw a lingcod. This year's lingcod adventures in deep water are completely new to me and rather exciting.

Why do we do this? I mean these are long and grueling days where we regularly paddle 15 to 20 miles in ocean swells, against currents and with the wind in our faces. Everybody has his reasons but here are a few I can think of:

• to venture out into the unknown
• to experience the vastness and solitude of the ocean
• to immerse oneself in incredible wildlife
• to form a strong bond with mother earth
• to push one's physical and mental boundaries
• to persevere and overcome adversity
• for athletics
• for self-reflection and meditation
• and before I forget, the table fare ain't bad either

Our sport offers all this and more in spades.

* Title photo by Jason Ngo.