i need help with pier fishing

[zubby]

hello all,

I am just wondering if someone could give me some tips because I have just started going on the pier in seaham (near Sunderland) and I am having trouble catching fish. I must be doing something wrong. I am using a pulley rig with rag worm. 0.3 hook and 5oz weight. when I have the bait in the sea I do get knocks but no bites. I have tried different locations but still no fish to be caught. I have seen other people while fishing catching lots of mackerel and codling. i am just wondering is there any tips people could give me to catch some fish. (i have caught some fish there but only like 2 in a month).

thank you for reading

 

[103841]

The best advice would come from those guys you are watching catch fish, why not get chatting with them?

 

[no-one in particular]

I would say the same as s63. get talking to other anglers local. I don't know Seaham but googling it there is a sea angling club that might be worth looking into. Regarding the pier I expect there are hot-spots and have a good look at low tide, preferably a low spring tide and look at the ground, any gulleys rock patches etc you can cast into when the tides up. It looks like a sea wall so try just lowering down it sometimes, fish might be mooching along it looking for food trapped or in the weed at high water.
Cant advise on tackle, local knowledge is best, what species, what times of year etc will decide that, is float fishing down the wall possible? A sand eel float fished could take a bass if they are around. You could try smaller hooks, might transfer those knocks into fish. Small hooks with half a lugworm or bits of squid might work if they are just small fish. Sometimes a long flowing trace works better or a tighter trace, try that with smaller hooks and bait and see what happens.
Simple traces, weight on the end, a loop a ft above it, and a long hook length attached to the loop with a couple of small hooks. I don't know what a pulley rig is but simple is often as good as any, sometimes better
But really you need a local to help you best but try experimentation and you will get to know what works best with hooks, baits, rigs, species , times of years, tides etc.
But don't give up through lack of fish, its learning it all will improve your catches. piers are often just chuck in lug-worm places for many, but take your time, look and listen to others, and try your own experiments along the way and I am sure it will improve.

 

[no-one in particular]

Here yesterday-gone today.

 

[JohnSLocker]

Now then Zubby, I'm free for a crack if you want to ask any questions. I do a bit of shore fishing from beaches, rocks and piers. There are loads of variables to take into account, for instance - sea and tidal conditions, what is the ground like that you are fishing over - sandy, muddy, rocky? You say 0.3 hook. do you mean 3/0? if so its possibly too big for the fish in that spot - which would explain why you're getting knocks and no hookups. Also, with the pulley rig, what length? What type of lead are you using? Are you casting a good distance - are you at a high elevation and steep angle to your bait in the water or is it quite flat? this will effect how you're bait is presented. These are just a few things to consider. Also, bait choice. Although ragworm is a great bait for catching fish. You are very unlikely to catch mackerel on it, and codling are generally associated with big smelly juice baits.

 

[John Keane]

A Pulley Rig is usually only used when you are distance casting over rough ground as the principle is that the weight of the fish pulls the lead above the fish so that the lead doesn’t snag during the fight/retrieve. Fishing from a pier you are well above the water and retrieving a lead, almost vertically, shouldn’t necessitate using a Pulley Rig. A simple 1 up 1 down rig, or a Pennell Rig and a plain lead of up to 8oz should suffice when pier fishing, dependent on the strength of tide, of course.


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