Sea Fishing – Alan Yates’ Monthly Diary

Whiting should be plentiful this winter, but fish the rough stuff to avoid the 'pins'

It’s time to start gearing up for winter cod – and Alan is looking to avoid the dreaded ‘pins’ by getting into the rough stuff!

Cod are on most sea anglers’ minds this month but it’s the small ‘pin’ whiting that are the main talking point.

Last year they reached plague proportions on many clean ground venues with undersized, stunted fish all there was to catch. Sadly there is no way to avoid them on many venues, although I intend to target the really rough ground this winter because whiting are not so fond of the rocks and kelp so my advice is to head for the rocks to avoid the pins in the coming months.

Rough ground may cost you a few leads and a bit of line sometimes, but it’s the place to fish for the better quality fish and that’s because the fish feel safer amongst the snags; and whilst many of the cleaner beaches are trawled to death, the rocks can often be fish sanctuaries.

If you intend to fish among the rough stuff you need to accept that losing gear is a fact of life and go prepared for it. Spare rigs, leads and a couple of standby reels are essential. As far as the technique of fishing rocks goes it’s basically lift and reel as fast as you can on every occasion. More tackle is lost because of a dithering retrieve than anything else. Lift the rod and reel in one movement and don’t stop until the gear arrives back on dry land!

As for terminal tackle, it’s essential to fish with a single hook, fewer hooks mean fewer chances to snag up. Of the terminal rigs the Pulley Rig is by far the most efficient for fishing rough ground and if you are using one make sure it has a proper Pulley Bead.

The old style rig made up with a swivel meant that the hook snood line needed to be as strong as your leader. But because the Pulley Bead has a flat internal surface lighter hook snood lines can be employed as the bead won’t damage them like a swivel does. This allows better bait presentation (30/40lb snood as opposed to 60lb)

Make your Pulley rig up around four feet in length, some use a longer snood if the fish are shy, but four feet is usually perfect.

Finally, because the Pulley is a clip down rig it is streamlined, but you can also make it failsafe by using a Breakaway Impact lead which has a built-in bait clip that releases the clipped down hook bait on ‘impact’ with the sea.

Top cod baits this winter

Lugworm is always my first choice from the shore, whilst from the boat a whole, or two, Calamari squid helps to keep the dogfish off. Cocktail the two and you won’t go too far wrong.

In some regions peeler crab is deadly for the smaller codling, whilst white snakes, hermit crabs, ragworm, mackerel, herring, clams and razorfish all have their fans. I remember years back an angler catching lots of cod on slugs and snails when he found himself short of bait and that raises another seasonal problem - bait shortages.

The lack of daylight hours, the terrible weather and the low temperatures combine to make the pro diggers life difficult at this time of year. Bait price hikes at best, no bait at worst but don’t moan about the diggers or dealers unless you have tried digging for yourself - and that’s not a bad idea because you only need enough to fish with, not a dealer’s supply!

As for the tackle dealer, my advice is to keep him sweet with a few tackle purchases and he will see you ok for bait – buying tackle on the Internet may bring some bargains, but it does nothing for your local tackle dealer’s mood - and your winter bait bucket!!

I get lots of questions about tackle and the choice of rods and reels is a regularly asked question on my e-mail. As I work for TF Gear, and have designed a range of tackle for them I am naturally biased towards it, and as such advise all anglers looking for value for money to look at the TF Gear range of sea rods and reels.

I use the 13ft 6in Force 8 beachcaster and the S Mag multiplier as my first choice of winter combination for casting. For lighter fishing the Delta 14ft and an S Mag is my choice and the Delta is, in my opinion, (Well I would say that wouldn’t?) the best value beachcaster available.

We have also just introduced a couple of 16ft rods into the range including the all round match which is a three piece quiver tip, plus a 16ft force 8 which is for low reel casting. Long rods are such an advantage for the less powerful casters – I know because I am no longer a spring chicken and I turn to the longer, softer rods when I need extra distance. Providing you can bend a long rod, and they are easier to bend, they return a smooth cast and the lead goes further. Good advice to the less powerful, or older, angler is to switch to the low reel and longer model.

It’s nearing the end of the year and I have started to receive 2013 fixtures for the Penn League competition that I organise in Sea Angler magazine. You can send them in to me via email at: alankyates@aol.com Please send ten weeks in advance of the match date and include all the details you can, including a contact telephone number for the main organiser.

Good luck, and remember to wrap up warm as we move into October - and winter -  a warm angler is an efficient angler.