I've caught a few over the years.
Lings are mostly structure-oriented, and structure means altered water flows during tides and currents. There is no such thing as completely still water for extended periods in the salt, if you're on the continental shelf or shallower - there is water flow. I've drug my leads down to 100 fathoms on the Nitinat Canyon side of the Prairie and was actually going backwards on the chart to keep my lines at the right angle. So always, always be thinking about how the water is flowing over and around structure.
The general consensus is that a shift in tide will concentrate bait "behind" structure. If you look at the laminar flow of water around a rock, you'll see a pocket of turbulence behind it. Right before a tide change, the bait is pretty spread out around a structure due to the low velocity of the surrounding water. When the change happens, the bait in the area gets swept into and held by that turbulence behind the structure. The predators know this, and will typically bite well in those specific areas for the first few hours after a change. This is also the time that you have the best chance to get your jigs/baits down into the sweet spot, as when the tidal flow increases it becomes increasingly difficult to get in the zone. You can pound and area for the last few hours of a tide during the low-slack current times as well, but it will never be as productive as the beginning of a new tide.
Some structure in the Sound fishes really well on a flood, and not on the ebb, and vice-versa. These pockets of turbulence and also happen on the leading side of a piece of structure, along side it, well behind it, etc. There's a learning curve.
But always, always be thinking about water flow around and over structure, and how the bait moves in relation. The predators will be there if the bait is.
