REEF ROULETTE
Fishing doesn’t have to be a game of chance. Here’s how you can play the percentages by setting up to get lots of fish and give yourself a chance of a big one
Catch lots of fish and target the big ones.
During a recent fishing trip in Ireland, I got to thinking about how refined my offshore reef fishing has become, compared to no more than 20 years ago. Back then, I was constantly changing rigs in an effort to adapt to changing ground features and to target individual species. After a day’s reef fishing my tackle box looked like a bombsite. It was hard work, too, and though I still use specialised tactics to pick out a particular species, my approach is now far more relaxed, more simple, and more effective as to overall catches.
MAKING IT HAPPEN
There are ways you can pick out the bigger fish, but we need to establish exactly what’s big when it comes to reef fishing. On the deep-water reefs when drift fishing, I’d suggest a ling over 15lb, and a cod or a pollack over 10lb would be classed as big. The majority of other species we’re likely to catch will be sub 5-6lb.
By using bigger baits and hooks to target larger fish, we reduce our chances of catching the numbers of fish. I see this a lot, where boat anglers use huge baits and end up catching next to nothing. Putting aside the “big bait for big fish” philosophy for a moment, I believe in the percentage game. If you catch enough of the smaller to medium-sized fish, you will also inevitably catch a big fish sooner or later.
Although I have the conviction to wait it out with big baits for a big fish when necessary, I prefer to catch fish and enjoy myself, but still have a chance of something memorable. I’d noticed that smaller baits intended for the average fish often took the biggest fish of
the day. This motivated me to find a system that targets everything without the need to constantly change.
With so many small fish on a reef, a decent chunk of fish that falls to the bottom will be under constant attack from the ravening hordes, with smaller chunks being ripped off and floating away. The bait won’t last long. Predators are not successful on every attack and their kill ratio is probably one in five at best.
Smaller food items are likely to be the mainstay, even for bigger fish, with whole small fish they can predate on being the bonus.
TACKLE
Even in 200 feet of water I use a supple-tipped 15lb-class rod. I like a longer 8ft to 8ft 6in rod to get a more progressive action in the upper third of the rod before the power comes in at the midsection. I like a long tip/short butt format, with the butt fairly stiff to give the lifting power.
Match this to a small lever-drag multiplier loaded with 30lb braid and add a fluorocarbon shockleader about twice the length of the rod and the same breaking strain as the braid mainline. This is a balanced set-up that has the ability to beat big fish when needed.
The supple tip in conjunction with the braid helps you to feel every bump and bounce of the lead weight on the seabed, and highlights the smallest of bites. The tip and the fluorocarbon shockleader cushion the hook-hold when you need to play a big fish up slowly but surely from the bottom.
BAITS
Fresh mackerel is best. I like the white belly section, and cut these into strips about two inches long and no more than a half an inch wide.
Taper the bait to one end when you cut it and mount the hook by passing it through the flesh side of the thick end and through the skin just once. This gives a really neat presentation, and the size of the bait is such that small fish can still eat it. If you’re catching a lot of ling or bigger pollack, then increase the size of the bait strip to say three inches but keep the width slim.
Cutting neat and tidy thin strips is important, and the best tool for neat bait cutting is a cheap craft knife with replaceable blades.
Fresh sandeels, caught when mackerel fishing, can be used either in halves or thirds if they are bigger launce, or whole with the heads and tails cut off and threaded on the hooks tail first if smaller. They make incredibly good baits for ling, cod and pollack, as well as all the bottom fish.
Even when offshore, ragworm baits work well for the wrasse species, with lugworms a close second for these and codling.
TACTICS
The first task is to get the weight of your sinker correct, and this means using enough to keep in full contact with the seabed and not having to keep letting out line to do so.
If the line angle is not vertical, or nearly so, then you’ll be dragging the weight over the ground rather than bouncing it, and losses will occur to snags. If you do pull into a snag, instantly release a little line, say a few feet, retighten and lift the rod, which usually bounces a ball-weight or arrowhead sinker out of the snag.
With small bites, try releasing a few feet of line and let the fish have a few pulls before lifting the rod tip to let the fish take in the bait fully. If you miss a bite, lift the weight off the bottom and drop it back instantly to induce another bite.
More decisive bites from bigger fish are obvious, but pause for a few seconds and maybe feed off a small amount of line, then lift into the fish. If you feel an instant weight, bully the fish up off the bottom to get it away from potential snags. Set the reel drag slightly light, though, and if more pressure is needed, either fractionally adjust it on the lever or add a hint of thumb pressure if a bigger fish wants to take line. With the thumb, you can instantly release pressure if need be and let the fish take line.
Critical times for a crash dive are usually when a big fish has been lifted 20-30 feet off the bottom, and also at about mid-depth when increasing light levels may start to alarm it.
Be aware of the feel of the seabed. Get to know the hard ‘bang’ of lead weight on rocks and boulders, and the soft ‘dump’ as the weight hits sand. If you come across large patches of sand, then you can release a little more line and
deliberately drag the baits across the seabed to pick up bonus flatfish.
On both soft and hard ground, just lifting the rod up a couple of feet and dropping it back occasionally gives the baits the appearance of fluttering down, and this can trigger fish to take.
Keeping it simple, small, and targeting general species really pays off. ■