Fishing for Pollock

[RKMG]

When fishing for Pollock from a boat, what is the best setup/rig to use and what type of bait? Do mackerel strips work for Pollock and if so should I keep it on the bottom or mid water?

Was thinking of trying a float with a feathered hook and a mackerel strip just to try something new? would this have a chance?

[kieran]

Lots of options...

Baited feathers will work fine, feathers on their own will work fine.

Jigging with a metal or soft plastic lure will take them. I've even seen one caught on a banana skin... for a bet, which I lost.

Pollack are ambush predators and attack from below, so you're probably going to find them near the bottom.

Float fishing will work in shallower water or off the shore... but probably not so good from a boat in deeper water.

HTH

[chuckaroo]

the float system will definitely work as long as the bait gets down to the depth of the fish.
but by all accounts the best method, as I find stated by a lot of anglers one that I'd agree to, seems to be a strip of mackerel belly fished very slowly (very slow retrieve) on a leadhead (to get it down).
the depth you fish at will depend where the pollack are located - whether they are sitting on the edge of a kelp forest mid-water (they tend to hang around within the kelp too and can be fished for over the kelp), whether they are located over a reef or on a wreck, or whether they are on the bottom; they can be found in all these places and more but these are the 'likely' places. The simple thing is to vary your depth to try to locate them.
if the pollack are there then they are usually easily caught. if they aren't there then keep moving the boat to other places to try to locate them.
I personally also find spinners and soft plastics every bit as good, it can save some hassle with needing bait and soft plastics with big single hooks can illimate catching a lot of the smaller 'nuisance' fish (if you find them a nuisance) and small coleys for example etc. Most things work, including feathers.
my 2 cents anyway. hope it helps

[RKMG]

Great, thanks for your advice, I think I'll just try a few different options in a few different places and see what happens,

when using soft plastics from a boat, do you usually just cast and slowly retrieve them back or attach them to a boom and jigg up and down?

[chuckaroo]

Would tend to use soft plastics in shallower waters from the boat, would tye the line directly to the soft plastic and cast and retrieve - as the soft plastic needs the movement action.
If it's deep water then baited or unbaited feathers/redgills would suffice with a bit of jigging.
The leadhead with the mackerel strip can be used in either scenario, just need the appropriate size/weight of leadhead.
Wouldn't use a boom.

[RKMG]

Thanks for that, I am fishing around Killiney Bay mostly as that is where I have my boat but I reckon its about finding the right marks as much as what lures/bait I am using!! keeps things interesting anyway

[Rob Millard]

Fish the rough ground around Dalkey Island. Ragworm will work well, or soft plastics. It's very snaggy ground, so be prepared to catch the bottom a bit.