Catch an ugly fish

They are oh so ugly but oh so tasty. "They" are ling cod, bottom dwellers found in waters off the coast of Alaska.

My son-in-law, who hails from Pittsburgh, looked over the side of the boat on one of his first fishing charters in Alaska a few years ago and hollered to me to come look at the sea monster that was coming up on the end of his line. That pretty well sums up what these fish look like when seen from the front. Though charter skippers rarely target ling cod specifically, these "sea monsters" are often a bonus brought to the surface on halibut charters. It's not unusual for one of these fish to be four feet long.

In the picture here, deckhand Stan Harris (who is a high school music teacher for most of the year) assists a visitor from Wisconsin with her first-ever ling cod.