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Anyone target Rockling ?

Posted: 31 Mar 2019, 00:22
by frappa11
My mum likes to buy Rockling from the fish market for eating. I thought I would try to target it.

I have read that it is caught in both ppb and wpb (saw a spearo on FB shot a 4kg one !), but not many people seem to target it - not sure why ?

Did a few google searches but doesnt seem much on it.

Anyone target it ? If so whats your approach to it ?

Re: Anyone target Rockling ?

Posted: 31 Mar 2019, 10:53
by peatop
If your mum is buying it, it's most likely pink ling, from my days of rock fishing the number of rockling (rock ling) I've caught is minimal, most if not all ling is caught as a by catch, i would think to target ling you would need to fish breakwalls, rocky areas and jetties with reefy areas like queenscliff.

Re: Anyone target Rockling ?

Posted: 31 Mar 2019, 11:51
by 4liters
I would love to target it but they seem to be few and far between. I have heard they are predominantly nocturnal and hang out in rocky caves during the day. That suggests night fishing over reefy, rubbly areas would be the way to go. I don't know about rockwalls, those tend to be heavily fished throughout the day and night so I'd say any that move into those areas are pretty quickly caught.

Re: Anyone target Rockling ?

Posted: 31 Mar 2019, 18:02
by shane
I've only caught a few decent ones at night in WP from a lot of fishing. One was near Eagle rock and the others have been further south around Rhyll, Sandy Point and Ventnor. All as bi-catch so I suspect they'd be difficult to target. Pink Ling seem more common but they're typically caught offshore in depths over 150m.

Re: Anyone target Rockling ?

Posted: 01 Apr 2019, 13:31
by mingle
Like Shane I've caught a few around Phillip Island at night - got one spotlighting one night...

But they are more of a bycatch than a targeted species. They tend to live in very reefy, weedy and rocky areas.

I think you're better off saving your pennies and buying from a fish-shop (Springvale fish shops usually have nice, fat NZ-caught pink ling fillets for 20 bucks a kilo), rather than driving around hunting for them - I'd say they're 10x more elusive than mulloway!

Cheers,

Mike.

Re: Anyone target Rockling ?

Posted: 01 Apr 2019, 15:15
by frappa11
Haha thanks guys - I am not targetting rockling for $$$ purposes, but rather if I am going fishing I thought I would target something my mom would like to eat since she doesnt eat much snapper or flat head or gummy.

Guess I will stick with KGW !