# Ling/Hake/Cod/tasty slimey catfish looking feeshes



## AtlantaKing (Jul 7, 2002)

I've heard a lot of people hooking the little Lings or hakes or whatever they are called from the surf in recent reports. Now, my curiosity is piqued and I need to know. What are they exactly? What do they eat? What's best to use if one's targeting them? Just how tasty are they?


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## TunaFish (Aug 16, 2001)

The lings to me is one of the best tasting fish. I usually target them in late November at CHSP. They seem to hit on cut bait such as bunker or mullet. The best description of taste is comparable to whiting/sea mullet/king. It doesn't have that strong fishy taste like blue or croaker.


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## Big Rad (May 19, 2003)

*They are da bomb*

The hake possess a delicate flavor encompassed in a flakey white flesh. I like mine fileted and dipped in my sierra mist batter mix and deep fried. I should mention that the meat is very moist and difficult to dry out


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## Guest (Jan 10, 2007)

Here's a thread where I found one person's opinion interesting to read that you may find helpful. 

THey are pretty slimy, I found. Resembling that of the old 'Gostbusters' movie.


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## dha123 (Feb 13, 2005)

*This is a good article on them*

http://www.noreast.com/magazineissues/article.cfm?i=46&e=3&s=53&a=219


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## cygnus-x1 (Oct 12, 2005)

dha123 said:


> http://www.noreast.com/magazineissues/article.cfm?i=46&e=3&s=53&a=219


Nice article ... thanks !


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## Big Rad (May 19, 2003)

*As for Da Slime*

After you catch one let him roll in da sand That make it easier to handle him


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## Fishbreath (Nov 11, 2004)

You guys catch 'em with any regularity here in the DelMarVa??


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## TunaFish (Aug 16, 2001)

*Lings*

Milt,

I usually do well at CHSP in late November, usually at night.


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## Fishbreath (Nov 11, 2004)

hey Pete!  I've only ever caught one and that was in Hatteras in early November. Didn't know they were that plentiful here. Good to know.


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## KT_UMCP (Oct 11, 2005)

I caught my first ling at CHSP couple years ago. I didn't know wtf it was and it was rather big for a ling around 16 inches. To me it looked like a crossbreed of a catfish and robin fish. Not knowing what it was we kept throwing them back. A couple hours later a gentleman comes by and asks if we caught any ling. He described them and said they were very tastey fish and that if we caught anymore to give to him instead of throwing it back in. The slimey texture is comparable to a catfish. A big distinction is that it has these two toothpick like fins protruding down on the belly side.


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## TunaFish (Aug 16, 2001)

KT_UMCP;251529these two toothpick like fins protruding down on the belly side.[/QUOTE said:


> They're more like a whisker than a fin. But they taste nothing like a catfish and it's also one of my favorite eating fish. BTW, that's a great size fish you released. I usually catch them in 10''-12'', but still lots of meat for that little thing.


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## hengstthomas (Mar 11, 2006)

These are RED HAKE and we do well catching them from Nov to Jan normally but they have yet to show in numbers do to the water temps and none for as of yet from CHSP.I can usually go and fill a cooler in about 2 hours.Cutbait is best.WE also catch a few in april and may and live line them.Flounder,blues and stripers will devour them.Not much fun cleaning a cooler full but well worth the effort as they are delicious.


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## Guest (Jan 11, 2007)

Nice article, but I wish they'd cover cleaning them. Cleaning ling looks like a big pain. Anyone have any experience and advice for cleaning them?


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## hengstthomas (Mar 11, 2006)

Not real hard to filet what makes it hard to do is how slimy they are.I clean 90& of my fish this way Grab fish in the head area and hold firm then make a cut behind the gill plate and around the fin..Take knife into the same cut and basicaly cut the fish in half . Flip it over and repeat.After you get your filets you then put them skin side down ...now this is pretty hard at first and you have to get used to different types of skin.Anyways I hold the filet with fingertips and cut straight down to the skin and turn knife to follow skin using a cutting motions.Once you have enough skin to grab you can pull the skin off on some fish.Once you get the skin off you can cut the rib meat out and the hair bones out bloodlines and whatever else you dont want to eat and you rinse in ice cold water and throw it in some hot grease...


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## Guest (Jan 12, 2007)

thanks hengstthomas


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## KT_UMCP (Oct 11, 2005)

I use the same method as hengthomas, but I filet one side all the way near the tail and then flip it over and proceed to filet the skin off. This way I don't have to dig my fingers to hold the slimey critter with my nails.


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## Anthony (Jul 3, 2002)

Just to let you guys know these are spotted hake, not red hake. Red hake tends to stay offshore and spotted hake are the ones that are commonly caught along the beaches. The spotted hake have distinct spots running along each side.


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## Big Rad (May 19, 2003)

*Thats is what they are*

The hake we catch off the wrecks in NJ grow pretty big. These still taste good


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## hengstthomas (Mar 11, 2006)

http://www.njscuba.net/biology/sw_fish_cods.html

We called them tomcod or tommycod when I was younger and ling replaced that but now after looking into it they are infact spotted hake as Anthony said.


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## Guest (Jan 12, 2007)

Here's a spotted ling I caught last weekend.


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## SteveR (May 9, 2003)

*Ling*

We used to catch a bunch of them with Monty Hawkins when he was on the "Angler" in the 80's while wreck fishing. And yes they're worth the slimey effort to fillet, they are tasty.


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