Duration: 29th Oct 14 7-9pm
Tide: Going, LW 9pm
Weather: Dry, calm
Bait: Power Isome, mini-metals
Rigs: Drop-shot, Hk sz 14
Results: Pin pollock, pin whiting, pin pout
Report:
I hadn't been out in 2.5 weeks which I'm sure has to be the longest gap in 2 years. Winds have been bad on the weekends and I have little motivation to fish midweek in darkness just yet because a) the cod haven't arrived and b) the doggies are still well within range of a modest cast. I set myself a goal a few months back not to catch another dog this year. Doing well so far with I think 2 since!
So, at a loss to come up with a "big fish" plan anywhere within an hour's drive (my limit for midweekers), I decided to do some voluntary pinfishing, more for the sake of getting out than anything else. If I'm going to catch pinfish anyway, it's more fun on a 6ft 11" LRF rod than a 16ft beachcaster eh.
I also have the objective of extending my mini-species list, especially since that beggar Atchy got the one-up on me with his Weymouth smelt.
Anyway, the bro. in law and I tooled up and hit Bangor pier at about 6:30pm with LW at 9pm. No prizes there for tide selection but as I said, we were hell-bent on getting out. With minis in mind, I set up a drop-shot rig with a size 14 hook fished on a 0.5-7g lure rod with 6 lb braid. Bait to start with was a 3cm tail of red Power Isome.
Now I use braid for most of my bait fishing. However, despite digesting Henry Gilbey's many pearls of wisdom monthly in Sea Angler, I can't go 3 casts spinning with this ultra-lite braid without a wind knot. And when I say knot, I mean semi-bird's nest, horrible. So 5 casts, 1 pin pollock and 3 knots later I said "f it" and switched to 4 lb mono.
After that, 4g was flying out just lovely to 25-30 yards. It wasn't hectic by any means, but I was kept busy with pin pollock, pin whiting and just for a change, a pin pout near the end. There were bites on most casts but many missed as was to be expected with such a tiny hook. Worked better for the whiting which inhale the lure slowly as opposed to the smash and grab tactics of the pollock. Most fish taken on slow straight retrieve with little happening twitching on the bottom.
We called it a day at LW. The bro. in law didn't seem to do as well on his 1g jig-head fished grub but I think he was too in awe of his new Shimano setup to notice : ) Interestingly, that came pre-spooled with very light braid and he had no issues with it. He gave me a few casts with it at the end and even I didn't get tangled! If only I knew what braid BAC put on that reel! Maybe I'll ask next time I'm in. Alas, no new species to rival Atchy's mini-bashing fame but great fun on my ultra light gear all the same.