Lingcod Fishing in Sooke, BC

Lingcod live on Sooke's rocky Juan de Fuca structure year-round, which means there is no dead season on this water. We cover 17 spots that hold them, including Aldridge Point, Beechey Head, Bentinck Island, Christopher Point, Jordan River Mouth, Muir Creek and Muir Point, Otter Point, and Pedder Bay. The strongest stretch runs September through May, when fish concentrate on shallow reefs and pinnacles rather than scattering across deeper broken bottom.

Plan around two peaks. Adults move shallower through late autumn and stage on the reefs, and males hold and guard nests on shallow rock from December into March and April, which puts aggressive fish in reach. Abundance softens through late spring as females shift back to slightly deeper structure nearby, then builds again in August and September when mature fish come shallow to feed hard on herring and juvenile rockfish before the winter dispersal.

Jigging carries most of the fishing here. Drop metal jigs, swimbaits or leadhead jigs over pinnacles and reef edges in 60 to 200 feet and keep contact with the rock. Live greenling, herring or whole squid worked near bottom pulls the bigger fish off structure. Drift fishing soft plastics, leadhead jigs and large spoons across broken bottom covers ground when fish are spread out. Fish the slack, from dead slack to about 0.5 knots. By roughly 2.5 knots you are done.