Cod
Wreck - Page 2
Normally, when you fish from a wreck, the first choice of rig will be the flying collar with either a jelly worm, latex shad, red gill or other alternative upon the hook. Each of these lures can be deadly but they work best at different points in the tide. Just after the ebb, for example, when there is little movement in the tide, jelly worms are at their best. This is particularly true of those with curly tails since the vibrations given off are that much faster than those with straight tails. This is also the time to be using artificial eels with curly tails like the scallywag, westender or Eddystone eels.
As the tide starts to become faster then red gills come into their element, overtaking captures from jelly worms. Pollack will hit these lures hard so you need to think carefully about colour if you want to encourage cod to hit instead. Personally I always use deadly nightshade eels (purple with darker backs and silver undersides) since they have often produced fish on hard days when everything else has blanked. Alternatively I will use either orange or black with orange tails.
As the tide rises to its strongest is the time to use shads. With their wedge tails and stocky bodies these are at their best when the tide is helping to give them some movement, producing an active vibration trail which helps predators to home in upon the lure. Again I would stick to orange lures.
You can also experiment with jigs and pirks, which are basically lumps of metal that are either geometric or fish shape in design. You fish them on their own, dropping them down to the bottom before winding up a few turns then dropping them down again. The new 'speed assist' ones with two hooks mounted at the top are popular and certainly seem to be effective. I'm not keen myself, not because the tackle doesn't catch fish - it catches a lot - but it just seems such a brutal method of fishing. I might be lazy but I prefer to slow down and enjoy myself a bit more, getting more out of each fight rather than the 'yank and haul' style of fishing with this method employs.
As the tide starts to become faster then red gills come into their element, overtaking captures from jelly worms. Pollack will hit these lures hard so you need to think carefully about colour if you want to encourage cod to hit instead. Personally I always use deadly nightshade eels (purple with darker backs and silver undersides) since they have often produced fish on hard days when everything else has blanked. Alternatively I will use either orange or black with orange tails.
As the tide rises to its strongest is the time to use shads. With their wedge tails and stocky bodies these are at their best when the tide is helping to give them some movement, producing an active vibration trail which helps predators to home in upon the lure. Again I would stick to orange lures.
You can also experiment with jigs and pirks, which are basically lumps of metal that are either geometric or fish shape in design. You fish them on their own, dropping them down to the bottom before winding up a few turns then dropping them down again. The new 'speed assist' ones with two hooks mounted at the top are popular and certainly seem to be effective. I'm not keen myself, not because the tackle doesn't catch fish - it catches a lot - but it just seems such a brutal method of fishing. I might be lazy but I prefer to slow down and enjoy myself a bit more, getting more out of each fight rather than the 'yank and haul' style of fishing with this method employs.
I prefer the basic flying collar rig which seems, to me, a gentler and more forgiving style of fishing. I am however, experimenting not just with red gills and the like but also with different designs of soft plastics, especially since I have started making my own. At the moment, for example, I have started to produce some which I have sculpted to look like cuttlefish and squid. I am hoping that these will do well but I also think that it would be quite interesting to experiment with a whole range of body shapes. I have high hopes for some little flatfish patterns which really look the business. I will give them a go and come back to you in the near future, when I am going to add another section to the website on lures, LRF and making such items for yourself. In the meantime, the best of luck with any of your own trips. I hope that you have a great day!
The flying collar rig.
