Lingcod
Lingcod (Ophiodon elongatus) is a saltwater species. The first thing to check: an enormous mouth filled with large, irregular, obviously uneven fangs. The look-alike to rule out is Cabezon: cabezon have no scales at all, a fleshy flap on the snout and between the eyes, and an unnotched dorsal fin.
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| Scientific name | Ophiodon elongatus |
|---|---|
| Also called | ling, buffalo cod |
| Water | Saltwater |
| Group | Greenling |
| Temperature | Holds and feeds between about 45 and 55 °F. |
How to identify a Lingcod
- An enormous mouth filled with large, irregular, obviously uneven fangs.
- A long dorsal fin running most of the back with a distinct notch between the spiny and soft sections.
- Heavily mottled brown, grey, green or copper, and the flesh of some fish is a startling blue-green that cooks out white.
If you would rather not work through a key on a wet deck, photograph the fish and let the app name it — you get the common and the scientific name back, and the record is filed before you release.
Fish it is mistaken for
| Species | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|
| Cabezon | Cabezon have no scales at all, a fleshy flap on the snout and between the eyes, and an unnotched dorsal fin. |
| Kelp Greenling | Kelp greenling are far smaller with a small mouth and neat spotting rather than heavy mottling. |
Where it lives
The Pacific coast from Alaska to Baja, on high-relief rocky reef, pinnacles, ledges and wrecks. Territorial and rarely far from the rock it lives on.
Temperature
Holds and feeds between about 45 and 55 °F.
The conditions that matter
Lingcod are ambush predators glued to structure, so the fishing is about getting a bait to the rock and staying there. Current is the deciding factor — a running tide over a pinnacle brings them out, and slack water shuts it down. Because they hold a specific piece rather than roaming, a GPS-stamped record of what came off which rock is worth more here than for almost any other Pacific species.
Global Fishing League records 18 weather and water readings against every catch automatically — tide stage, barometric pressure, water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, swell, current, moon phase and more, taken at your GPS position at the moment you log the fish. Over a season that turns a hunch about lingcod into a pattern you can read.
See every reading recorded with a catch, or the guides to what each reading means.
Size limits, bag limits and seasons
Size limits, bag limits, slot limits and seasons are set by your state wildlife agency — and for many offshore and migratory species by federal regulators — and on many waters they differ from the statewide rule. They also change between seasons. Check the current regulations for the exact water you are fishing before you keep a fish — we do not republish limits here, because a number that is a season out of date is worse than no number.
What the app does do is make your side of it accurate: every catch carries a length measured from the photograph, a GPS position and a timestamp, exportable if you ever need to show your work for a tournament or a record claim. It is also what a Global Fishing League entry is built from — a record that verifies itself, without publishing where you caught the fish.