Atificial lures

[Young Corkman]

Basically i dont want to use any live bait, all i want to do is use artificial lures for shore/harbour/pier/rock fishing.Please comment even if you have the slightest idea thanks

[jimmymellis]

Basically i dont want to use any live bait, all i want to do is use artificial lures for shore/harbour/pier/rock fishing.Please comment even if you have the slightest idea thanks

it depends on what type of artifical lures you have but you best bet is to try they of a rocky area for coalies and bass this time of year or in the summer for bass mackrail and pollack

[Young Corkman]

would any artififciallures work in cobhs deep water quay?

[jimmymellis]

would any artififciallures work in cobhs deep water quay?

only in the summer for mackrail im afraid try roches point i take it you have jelly worms and shads or do you have any poppers or diving lures for bass

[MikeQ]

Dont want to put a dampner on your desire to go fishing but if you have decided that you only want to use artificials then you need to wait till the weather starts getting up into the mid to high teens before your artificials are going to work. I know Rockhunter from this forum did have a day out just before Christmas where he managed to catch about 10 Bass on Plugs from the shore but this is the exception to the rule. You MIGHT get lucky fishing artificials for Bass but you would need to be pretty damn lucky!!
All of us have put away our spinning and lure fishing rods for the Winter and gone on to bait fishing rods because the species you are targetting from the shore now are Codling and Whitting with the odd Coalfish also. These species respond far better to bait fishing tactics than to artificials during the winter. They can be caught on artificials but you would really need to be on a boat to have a proper go at them. Targetting flatfish with artificials can also be done but you also need far warmer water than we have now. Most artificials besides jelly worms are designed to immitate bait fish and the bait fish simply arent around at the moment so the fish have got their minds on other things like Lug or Crab. If you really fancy your luck and youre set on using artificials then you should go and try for a winter Bass. You need to fish your artificials really slowly, the water is cold and the fish are going to conserve as much energy as possible so they wont be prepared to chase things on the off chance. Forget about feathers or strings of anything like feathers. Jelly worms wont be great either. You will need to fish one lure and make it work for you so look at fishing lures like the Xlayer, Its plastic so you will be able to still make it look life like without too much speed. You could also try deep diving plugs. Dont go for small ones that resemble sprats, try something a little bit bigger, maybe in the 6 - 9 inch range? The fish arent going to be feeding from the surface or midwater so you need to be getting the lure down to the bottom and working it really slowly. Piers, harbour walls etc are not the places to be fishing them though. That is a whole different discussion because you cant just fish for Bass anywhere! If you want to give this a go then send me a PM and ill try and give you a few marks where you might have a chance

[tazdogue]

Good response there MikeQ.
There are gulp artificial crab, i think i may have even seen them in the angling centre by the Kinsale road roundabout but i dont have any experience with them, may be an option?
Without being too personnel, is there any particular reason for not wanting to use live bait? If its the killing of crabs or worms that you dont like, you could always get frozen baits which are obviously dead already?

[Young Corkman]

Good response there MikeQ.
There are gulp artificial crab, i think i may have even seen them in the angling centre by the Kinsale road roundabout but i dont have any experience with them, may be an option?
Without being too personnel, is there any particular reason for not wanting to use live bait? If its the killing of crabs or worms that you dont like, you could always get frozen baits which are obviously dead already?

No its not that, iv no problem with killing a crab to catch me something, its just that i am not the most organized person so they would probably rot by the time im fishing, therefore artificial all the way Would a three way swivel with a 3/0 hook with a jelly worm and a 2oz weight do the job?

[tazdogue]

Why not get a small container and have it in the freezer with a few small frozen baits - crab, squid, Mackerel etc, no planning, very handy to have. I used to have an old container in one of the drawers in our freezer with enough frozen bait for a spur of the moment trip but now i have a mini freezer in the shed.
I know its not as ideal as fresh but at least it gives you more options than artificial.