Pollack size ?

[flynnboy]

Hi Guys

This is my 1st sea fishing season and I've been having some relative success with Pollack - usually take at least 4 or 5 each trip. I fish from piers and so of course my casting distance is about 100 yds max. The fish I have been taking are usually 12 - 16 oz which is a nice size for the plate but my question is this - fishing inshore is this the kind of size which I should get used to or is it possible to find bigger fish within this casting range ? It would be nice

Cheers

FB

[doggie3131]

where are you fishing?the west coast would produce bigger fish than that on most marks,but if you want bigger fish then you need to be fishing deep rock marks around high tide,or even a pier that would have deep water and then they will be very close within 20 to 30ft out and nearer!this year however the size of the pollock seems to be smaller,most between 3-5lb, i have not had a double this year, yet!! mind you thats probably down to the amount of fresh water going into the sea due to the s**t summer

[nullpointer]

5 lbs of pollack, nothing wrong with that...scale down the tackle and even a 1lb pollack can be awesome fun to land.

In my own [limited] experience you need deep water for the really big ones to show up.
Anywhere near a reef or wreck - but that's not to say you can't find them close to the shore, esp. in the evening time.

From what I have seen, many areas will have a fairly sizable stock of "resident" pollack the size of which will be limited by what that area can support. So where you are fishing, 16 oz. seems like the maximum supportable size (mind you there are bound to be some bigger exceptions)...if you're catching loads of them that makes sense, especially if they are all around the same size.

But if you are anywhere near a reef or wreck or deep water shelf, when the sun starts to go down and/or the baitfish start to mass in the shallows on a rising tide - then the biggies will follow them in as they seem to be more nomadic in nature and follow the tides a lot further out. But if they do come in - you'll catch them right under your rod tip.

But as pointed out, this year is pretty poor for big pollack, I winder is that just the bad weather scattering the baitfish or are we starting to see the effects of commercial fishing hitting even the poor oul' pollack?