Pollack that swallow

[FearTheHands]

Hi all

 

New to the forums & fairly new to fishing in general.

 

Have taken up sea fishing & having a blast doing so!

 

I spent the last week along the West Dorset coast trying every method of fishing I could. I was successful ledgering (West bay) & float fishing (Weymouth Pier) catching varying sizes of Pollack at both places.

 

No matter what size of Pollack I caught or whether on a float or ledgering EVERY fish without fail almost swallowed the hook. The worst when I caught a 2 pound Pollack meaning I had to cut the hook off (advised by a fellow angler - is this correct?).

The rest of the fish I managed to un-hook.

 

Is there a way of presenting the bait to ensure hooking in the jaw or is this a particular trait of the Pollack.

 

I previously have caught mackerel spinning & hooked all of them fine in the lips/jaw

 

I was using sandeel in both cases.

 

One last beginner question - are Pollack good eating fish ? If so, what is the minimum size you can keep ?

 

Thanks in advance,

FearTheHands

[Gillies]

Hi - and welcome to AN, I would be interested to hear if there is a method to catch Pollack also that does not involve deep hooking.

 

When I fish from them from the shore, I usually just catch them, photo the fish, and return them - though 50% of these fish are deep hooked, and I do wonder about there survival.

 

When fishing from the boat, and using a slow retrieve of a lure, I would say at least 75% of them are deep hooked - which is a shame when you return them .... Ive tried bigger hooks etc, but the hungry blighters still insist on takimg the hook deep down.

 

Gillies

[Zigs]

welcome fear the hounds,

 

maff minimum size for pollack is 30 cm. they are not bad eating but can get a lot bigger than that.

 

i find if i stike when they attack the bait, i usually hook them in the side of the mouth.

 

its ok to cut the hook off as they do rot out, dont use stainless steel hooks, as although they are not pure stainless, they do take a long time to rot

[Ian Burrett]

On an average Pollack day I will unhook probably 20 or 30 gut hooked fish out of 100-200 fish.

The trick is to go in through the back door. It is possible to carefully push the index finger through the gill covers and turn the hook. We perhaps end up killing one or two a day.

It seems that the smaller the fish the more likely it is to be gut hooked.

The first bite from a Pollack is just an experimental feel, at the first bite draw the bait slowly away from the fish. This will encourage a positive bite and hopefully a lip hooked fish. If you are slow to get the tension on then the Pollack will swallow it deep.

They aren't known as the Linda Lovelace fish for nothing.

[Snatcher]

Would pinch the barbs down and also buy some long handled artery forceps. That should solve your probs on 95% of the unhooking

[Alan Taylor]

Firstly welcome to AN, you seem to be doing well with your fishing so far.

Pollock, see if you can get hold of a packet of Wydex circle hooks size 1, these have a double barb so flatten 1 or both barbs down, the fish self hook in the side of the mouth (most times) these hooks also rust very quickly, within 24 hours out of the water so they should be eaten away fairly quickly by the natural acids from the fish.

Email me your snail mail address and I will send you one of my Valley disgorgers for free, the details are on my signature at the bottom of the page.

 

Eating them, I fillet mine out and soak them in salted water over night, this removes the oily stuff. For a fishermans pie, skin the fillets and lightly boil them in milk and water with a few Onion rings. Remove the fish and onions and allow to cool. Using the same milk and water boil some spuds. While the spuds are cooking gently go through the fillets and remove any bones that you may have missed. Mash the spuds as normal and FOLD the fish into the mash, fold gently and this leaves nice flakes of fish allow to cool.

I then line an oven proof dish with garlic butter, put the mixed fish and spuds in and cover with cheese. Remember the fish and spuds are cooked so put the dish in the oven to heat through and melt the cheese, brown the cheese off under the grill and there you have it.

Oops missed out the salt and pepper.

 

In batter, we use Blue Dragon batter mix, half beer half water, a little vinegar helps keep the batter chrisp. Flour the fish, coat with the batter and lower into very hot fat (ie blue smoke coming off) and there you go, smashing.

 

The other advice given is spot on so it just depends where the hook is.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Alan

Ps, you could also post them off to Davy holt for his bait box

 

[ 18. September 2004, 11:04 AM: Message edited by: Alan Taylor ]

[Newt]

So Alan - are the circle hooks performing for you like you hoped they would? I love the things for any fish with a proper bony jaw.

[FearTheHands]

Thanks to everyone for your quick & informative replies, some useful information for me there which I will try out next time I go fishing.

 

Thanks also for the recipe - I look forward to trying it out!

 

Alan - I have sent an email to you with my postal address on it - thanks very much indeed!

 

[ 18. September 2004, 10:03 PM: Message edited by: FearTheHands ]

[Alan Taylor]

FearTheHands:

 

Alan - I have sent an email to you with my postal address on it - thanks very much indeed!      

No problem mate, as you are only catching the smaller Pollock I will get the coarse fishing one off to you on Monday, it was a bit late for today.

 

With the fish pie I usually chuck some peas in and a few cleaned and chopped king prawns, just for the colour

 

Alan

[Ian Burrett]

Snatcher:

Would pinch the barbs down and also buy some long handled artery forceps. That should solve your probs on 95% of the unhooking

I agree on the barbless hooks but not on the forceps as you can't turn the hook with forceps. They are banned on my boats as the anglers end up applying too much force and ripping the hook out causing needless bleeding.

The finger under the gill cover sounds barbaric but it is the kindest and easiest way.