how to boat fish jellyworms and ells

[john douglas]

just started,first season.can anyone tell me how to fish jellyworms from a boat and what rig to use?

[petekd]

Can indeed John and welcome to the site. There are a couple of different methods, first off is using them on a leadhead. A simple method, best used in shallowish water and with something like a spinning rod for maximum sport. Cast out or drop over the side and retrieve slowly. If you can cast, try and retrieve it as close to the bottom as possible. This can be deadly when fishing tight against cliffs and the like for pollack.

The second way and most common way of using them is a practise known as Gilling. You can either fish one or several at a time with this method and can pick up Pollack, Coalfish, Cod and the like. You need a french/flying collar boom. Avoid those soft plastic ones and go with metal, about 12 inches should be grand. See pic below for diagram. Again, drop it all the way to the bottom and retrieve slowly. You will feel bites as a soft plucking, DO NOT STRIKE.... continue slowly retrieving until all goes solid, lift into the fish rather than striking and hang on.... :D

Experiment with different colours on the day and if things are really quiet, its hard to beat a single ragworm at the end of 15-20 feet of Fluoro crawled up from the bottom. Its a deadly way of fishing, you can substitute the Jellies for small shads, ragworm or nice long narrow strips of mackerel belly.

HTH....

[Conor H]

Good advice Pete .

Another jellyworm trick , make sure you have a full range of colours - as long as they're all black !!

[petekd]

Aye, hard to beat the black firetails alright.... Although my best results this year have come on a "motor oil and gold fleck" with an orange tail. Seem to work better than the firetails in shallower water for some reason picking up pollack and codling.