FISHING WITH BARHAM
How to make the most of a day’s wrecking when the bite is on…
Trip turns into amazing day on the pollack .
Ilove it when a plan comes together! Okay, so we got lucky on our latest wreck fishing trip out of Hayling Island, but as soon as we knew there were big pollack to be caught, we all had to switch into ‘hot mode’ and make the most of it. A number of tactics were utilised, which I shall explain now. The pollack wreck fishing sport along the south coast had been patchy, at best, during the winter, with so many boats heading offshore returning with just a handful of fish for their efforts. I wasn’t expecting much from the day as we headed out of the marina on board Bex Florence and Ian Dale’s charter boat Kelley’s Hero III. Couple the poor reports with the fact that we had a ridiculously small tide, and you can understand why I wasn’t too excited. I was just there to enjoy a day out at sea and catch up with old friends.
The weather was glorious, the sun was shining, the wind was non-existent, and later on in the day you would have thought it was mid-May as we all stripped down to T-shirts to fish.
ON THE MENU
Because we were fishing really small tides, that meant that the boat would take longer to pass over the wrecks, we were fishing on the drift. The near-zero wind would also play a massive part in keeping us over the wreck for longer – at least with a bit of breeze it pushes the boat along and lets you cover the wreck, but with no wind we could quite easily be doing five-minute drifts while hardly moving.
It was for this reason that I took along my DB4 10-40g lure rod and fixed-spool reel loaded with 20lb braid. I knew we would be sitting over the wrecks for quite some time, so it was the perfect opportunity to mess about with some metals and slow jigs.
I’d had a couple of squid-like metals in my lure box for some time, from JimyJigs over in Mexico, and today would be their first outing to see if they would tempt anything from the depths – and boy did they work a treat!
I had also taken a load of weighted soft plastics with me, including some Black Minnows and Artic Eels, plus my favourite Delelande Shadka II lures in various colours.
When the tide did eventually get going, I’d planned to fish weighted soft plastics on my usual fixed lead rig, switching up to a heavier rod if required. That was my game plan, and I stuck to it throughout the day, scoring well with every method and lure approach I tried.
FIRST BLOOD
As Ian positioned the boat for our first drift over wreck number one, I clipped on the 120g Pink Persuader lure to the Breakaway Mini Link clip on the end of my leader. I love using these clips for all my lure fishing – they make changing lures so quick and easy.
Today I was using a rather short 5ft length of 20lb fluorocarbon leader tied to the end of my 20lb braid mainline. I rarely use long leaders when fishing with a spinning rod, and the short length is purely a confidence thing with me.
I like to use some form of clear break from the braided line, because I believe it helps present the lure more naturally, and it also doubles up as something to grab hold of when the fish hits the surface, to help guide it into the net. I know a lot of folk who don’t bother using a leader at all and fish straight through with their braid, but each to their own – this approach works for me.
As we all dropped down, Ian confirmed that we were drifting along at 1.3 knots, which was actually faster than we had anticipated. As the shout “Wreck coming up” bellowed from inside the wheelhouse, I began to lift the lure up through the water column with erratic movements. Lifting sharply, then holding it there for a second, then
giving two short, sharp lifts and holding again – I was basically trying to imitate a squid and the way they move in the water.
My technique worked a treat, and as I lifted the rod tip for another jig it buckled over and my reel began to scream. I’d hooked into something rather substantial on the first drop, and it was giving me the runaround on the light tackle.
After a few really powerful runs from the fish I began to gain some line, and after a dogged fight with a good deal of giving and taking, I had the first pollack of the day in Bex’s waiting net. What a beauty it was too, weighing in at 15lb 8oz.
MORE AND MORE
I was over the moon with my first capture, and with it being on a lure I’d never used before, I was even more chuffed. Determined to ensure that it wasn’t a fluke, I dropped straight back down for another go.
During the pandemonium of me boating a 15-pounder, I hadn’t noticed that Arron Shons had also boated a good double right next to me. Before I could start jigging my jig, Roger Cooling bent into a good fish, followed by Dereck Wilson – all of which turned out to be double-figure pollack!
We had another couple of drifts, putting another four doubles into the cool box, then Ian decided to make a move and see if there were fish on any of the other wrecks in the area.
As we began to fish wreck number two, I decided to stick with ‘old pinky’ and, to my surprise, I was rewarded with the biggest fish of the day, which tipped the scales at 16lb 8oz, followed by another around 12lb, and another… we’d hit the jackpot!
We caught a dozen or more big pollack from wreck number two, then headed off a few more miles to try wreck number three and, you’ve guessed it, that one was loaded too.
By now I’d switched to a heavier set-up because the tide was running a tad under two knots, so I was using a 4oz ball lead and a 4ft trace with an orange HTO Artic Eel on the end. Roger had switched to a similar set-up with a No4 Black Minnow (blue).
Rather than jigging these set-ups, it was simply a case of dropping them down and retrieving slowly like we used to in ‘the good old days’ – it still works.
Arron Shons stuck to his plan, though, and continued to use a single lure. It was one of the latest creations with a 150g head from Dave Cheal at Wight Water Angling.
Arron knew what he was doing. The fish on this particular wreck were all situated just off the back edge, so he was waiting a minute or so into the drift before casting his lure 30 yards uptide and allowing it to sink right into the strike zone – a rather productive tactic if you can manage to get it right.
END OF PLAY
The action continued thick and fast, with more than 40 pollack coming to the boat, nearly all of which were into double figures. Even Bex got stuck into some great sport by using my DB3 travel rod, which is only 7ft long and rated for 7-35g lures. She slapped a 60g lure on and dropped down straight into a 16lb-plus pollack. What a scrap that was!
It’s been years since I’ve experienced the quality and quantity of pollack like this, and it just goes to show that sometimes the weather and tide conditions don’t always dictate the fishing. We went expecting very little, and returned with enough fish between five anglers and two crew to keep our families fed for the coming months.
With near-zero cod on the ground, and only one bass per angler at the back end of last year, my freezer was in desperate need of restocking – and this was just the trip to do it. ■