[lsdmt]

Been catching some small (6-9 inches) cod in the surf recently. Been fishing on Hatteras for close to a decade now and never caught a cod before. Caught 4 of them slimey bastards in about 4 hours near Avon earlier this week and talked to a few locals that experienced the same. Just wondering why this is, what this means with regards to big drum and also if they ever get big enough to eat?

 

[SmoothLures]

Spotted hake? Never seen them much bigger than 6".

 

[lsdmt]

Spotted hake? Never seen them much bigger than 6".

I honestly don't know if it is a cod, I was told it was one. Would love confirmation from experts as I have never caught one before. Sorry for the blurry images, my camera had been drinking. I didn't see any spots on him, the body was more the color of a whiting.

 

[Fishbreath]

Its a ling cod (aka hake). I've caught them there before. They're typically targeted and caught further north, up in Delaware or Jersey later in the year but you can definitely catch them in Hatteras (just not in numbers).

 

[SmoothLures]

Yeah it's a spotted hake, you can see the white spots running down above the lateral line.

 

[Papa-T]

Yea I caught one last week in the Waves area at 9:00PM. First one I've ever caught. Didn't know what it was. Figured it was a weak fish but your pictures confirm it was difinantly a hake.

 

[time2be]

I have caught some off of Rodanthe peir several years ago.

 

[bronzbck1]

Ling cod you catch them from now through Dec. up to 14- 15". We've caught them in tournaments and scored points.