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Old 02-08-2009, 08:41 AM
Tin Squid Tin Squid is offline
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Default Wreck fishing Strategies (forty miles plus)

Offshore Wreck Fishing Strategies for Wrecks Forty Miles Plus

Cod, Ling, Pollock, Seabass and White Hake

The angler has many choices to make when wreck fishing. The following is an attempt to highlight and discuss some of the choices, options and philosophies to making wreck trips over firty miles out more successful. You have already seen myriad rigs (thanks Leif, Tropics, Finsta Baby and others) so this is more slanted to other aspects of this sport.

Where to fish on the boat: This is a topic that deserves some forethought. If you can get in a prime spot, your chances can sometimes be greatly improved for success. For cod and Pollock this can be especially true. The bow and the stern are the two spots that get the most play and often times the most fish too. Right under the wheelhouse is another spot that produces consistently. I know people who do very well fishing the mid ship too. Go with what you have confidence in. I have the highest confidence in the bow followed by the stern. In the bow, you can more easily cast out and you are usually less crowded. In the stern you will get bounced around a little less. It’s is also little less windy there.

Okay, you’ve picked a spot and now you need to rig up your rods. If you have two rods, it is advisable to rig one rod for bait fishing and one for jigging. If you have only one then you need to be able to switch rigs quickly to make the most of your day.

The whistle blows, and it’s time to fish. It’s not a bad idea to try jigging with a Jig N Tube or Jig N Teaser rig right off the bat as pollock and cod will slam that type of rig right away if they are actively feeding on small fish such as herring, mackerel, baby ling etc. They will also hit if they are flat out hungry and you put the jig in front of them. If you can underhand cast, you can fish more real estate and this ups your chances significantly. You will need to use a jig that will hold and not get swept down current to snag your neighbors rig. Both yo-yo jigging and retrieving work well so try both. You can vary the speed of the retrieve greatly for pollock as they’ll chase down a fast moving jig with ease if they want to. Cod and Pollock will hit a jig rig that is slow to medium speed retrieve of about 10 cranks. For Pollock you really do need to fish the water column as they can be found way above the wreck and sometimes will follow your rig and hit it when you begin the free spool the rig back down so be vigilant. When you are jigging, keep an eye on where the line stops when it hits the wreck. If it stops short when free spooling back down, get the reel in gear and get tight and set the hook as it’s likely a pollock has hit the rig on the drop. Jigs from 8- 20 ounces are used for these trips. Vike’s, diamonds, crippled herring’s and other types of jigs, will work. It’s how you fish them that often times matters the most.

For those who opt to bait fish on the first drop, get your line down there quickly as he who hesitates is sometimes the one to miss the first few cod. Being late by a minute can cost you so be ready at the rail for the whistle with bait on your hooks ready to go. I cannot stress this next point enough. If you just drop it in and it immediately goes right under the boat, you are better served by reeling the rig quickly back in and flipping your rig out in the opposite direction of the “slant” of the lines. Always use a sinker that can hold bottom easily. More tangles are caused by sinkers that are too small than any other factor when wreck fishing. If you are not sure about what sinker size to use, ask the mates, please! Do not try to save a couple of bucks and stick with a ten ounce sinker if they (the mates or a more seasoned wreck fishing veteran) say to use a fourteen. Buy that size sinker and use it! You’ll be spending a lot of time untangling lines and you will not be very popular with your neighbors either if you do not heed this advice. Tangles are inevitable when wreck fishing but keeping them to an absolute minimum is critical for success. Bringing sinkers from 10 to 24 ounces insures you will have a correct size sinker. I get the most play with 10-16 ounce sinkers but I have seen 28 ounces get swept away in NJ on wrecks as shallow as 225 ft.

Bait fishing philosophy: Here is the portion of the post where it is up to the individual to decide what will be their best approach. Do you want to catch everything? Do you want to target cod and ling only? Are you a big game hunter? Are you looking for the best fighter? Do you want to be different from everyone else? The following will outline the advantages and disadvantages if fishing hooks high, low, one at a time, 3 at a time and so on and so on.

Most folks seem to like the two hook set up for wreck fishing. You need to ask yourself two questions here. 1. Do I want to catch ling or not? 2. Do I want to factor pollock into the equation? If you answer yes to ling then you want a hook right off the sinker. This hook is on the bottom. It will catch ling like mad, seabass too as well as an occasional cod, tons of pout, mucho bergalls, sculpins and rest of the ugly “usual suspects”. It will also catch an occasional doggie, but not as many as one would think. The placement of a second hook here is a good question as the higher hooks catch more cod and pollock but often times, more doggies too. Placing the second hook at 2.5 ft up “may” keep the doggies to a minimum but you are not as likely to hook pollock and I firmly believe the best height for cod is around 4 ft up and make it 5-6 ft up or more for pollock. So, how does one figure all this out? If the wreck is in 120 ft of water pollock are not likely to be there in significant numbers so place your hooks with cod and ling in mind. Use a size 4-5/0 for the bottom hook and 6-7/0 for the top hook. If you are in 210 ft of water, there may be more pollock than cod so downsize the top hook to a 6/0 and fish it 5 ft up at least. If the wreck is in 165 ft it might be a spot where cod and pollock may be there in similar numbers so a 6/0 hook at 4.5 ft might be the best compromise for the winter king and the boston blue on that one hook. A good rig for cod and pollock without ling in the picture is a 6/0 or 7/0 hook three ft up and a 6/0 hook at least six ft up. Bait the lower hook with clam and they higher hook with a whole squid if you can. If you want to try three hooks (I do not do this often) fish one right off the sinker then 3 ft up and at least 6 ft up. This would be the “offshore wreck gorilla rig”. To cover all bases fish a mackerel or other fish strip on the bottom hook, a clam on the middle hook and a whole squid on the top hook. You have basically covered all the bases with that one rig. Three hook rigs seem to snag way, way more often than two hook rigs so “user beware”. If the boat is railed and you are getting tangled frequently, do not use this rig as it only compounds the tangles. The deeper wrecks can sometimes produce the red hake’s larger cousin the white hake. If you know how to catch ling then just keep doing what you are doing for ling as white hake like hooks right off the sinker and can be distinguished from ling by their lighter color. They sometimes have a purplish cast leading the the myth that there is a purple hake. This is not accurate as there is no such animal. White hake can get much larger than red hake but the majority of white hake caught in the NJ area are 4-15 lbs. If you fish up north, 30 pounders and larger are caught fairly regularly. Like ling, white hake prefer mud bottom to sand and they like water depths in excess of 200 ft. A wreck in 250 ft of water sitting in the mud has a much better chance of producing white hake than a wreck sitting in the sand in 170ft of water. Just like the ling they like strips of mackerel, herring, bergalls etc. which is more effective than clams for the simple reason that you will not get your bait stolen by bergalls as they don’t particularly care for fish flesh, they will strip a clam off a hook quickly though so keep that in mind when fishing for hake.

As far as seabass goes they are a very cooperative fish and they’ll hit all the baits and rigs described. The only become difficult to catch when the water gets cold and they get lethargic. In short, if seabass are down there and the water temps are ok, you’ll be catching them as they are among the easiest fish in the ocean to catch. Size 5/0 hooks are about the most correct size for seabass, but the bigger ones will get a 7/0 in their mouths with no problems. Too often, I see people fishing 2/0 and 3/0 hooks on offshore wrecks for seabass. This hook will not hold a big cod or pollock very well, but, as they say “to each his own”. The only advantage that I can see to fishing these smaller hooks is you’ll have no trouble hooking porgies if they are there.

Now go get a reservation on one of the sponsor boats and give wreck fishing a try. Once you’ve tasted an ultra fresh fresh cod fillet or fought a 25 pound pollock, you’ll be hooked!

Sponsor Boats currently taking reservations for wreck fishing over forty miles out include the Voyager, Miss Belmar Princess, Golden Eagle, Gambler, Jamaica and possibly others.

Good Luck!

Last edited by Tin Squid; 02-10-2009 at 05:48 AM..
  #2  
Old 02-08-2009, 09:00 AM
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MartyS MartyS is offline
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Default Re: Wreck fishing Strategies (forty miles plus)

Great dissertation, Tin. Thanks.
  #3  
Old 02-08-2009, 09:27 AM
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tropics tropics is offline
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Thumbs up Re: Wreck fishing Strategies (forty miles plus)

Nice post Tin I enjoyed reading it.
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  #4  
Old 02-08-2009, 09:29 AM
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Leif Leif is offline
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Default Re: Wreck fishing Strategies (forty miles plus)

What can I say?......Outstanding!

Leif
 


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