Using pink lures and whiting bait huss tactics

THE POWER OF PINK
I'm not sure why, but I've found predatory sea fish to have a liking for pink. I was fishing with famous Irish international boat angler and charter skipper Mary Gavin Hughes recently, and Mary rates pink as a must have colour too.

Take wreck cod for example. If you want to target cod and winter pollack on a wreck, then the top choice of lure would be a pink muppet or a pink jellyworm. Switch to shallower reef ground and pink feathers are good for codling again, and also for mackerel. I've also started adding pink marabou to some of my bass and pollack flies with some success.

Wreck caught cod

It's not just in some areas either. Pink is a hot fish catcher the length and breadth of the UK, and just as good in foreign waters, especially for bonefish.

So why pink? I personally haven't seen many pink fish in our seas, so it must be something to do with how a fish's eye perceives the colour pink. I've long realised, contrary to some writings, that fish can distinguish colours.

My theory is based on two things. Firstly, especially in shallower water, I think pink keeps its colour longer as it goes deeper unlike red which becomes black after a few metres. I also think that there is a shock factor involved. Fish are used to seeing silver flashes, or more likely a black silhouette as potential prey pass by. Suddenly confronted by something different with obvious colour triggers an attacking response out of sheer curiosity

Remember a fish in day to day life, can hit and take a bait, then reject it if the bait tastes wrong. This is probably what is happening when you feel a pollack pull on the tail of a retrieved rubber eel but not get hooked. The fish was plain curious and just testing the lure.

To sum up, if you're fishing lures for sea fish, then get some pink in stock. I rate pink equally alongside black, red and white for all our major predators, yet many anglers shy away because they think it an unnatural colour for fish to attack. Unnatural to us maybe, but not to the fish!

TIPS AND TRICKS
Finding boxes deep enough to take sea flies isn't easy, and of the boxes available most are quite expensive, but here's a tip I've nicked off the trout boys that creates a tough easy access storage facility at reasonable cost.

Nip in to a video shop or store like Woolworth's and you can buy empty video cases for around 75 to 90p. A good tackle shop will sell sheets of Ethafoam for relining fly boxes, and these cost about £2.00.

Measure the video case inside and you'll see it works out at about 7 1/2ins by 4 1/2ins. Cut two sections of Ethafoam to these dimensions. Ethafoam is sticky backed, so just peel the back away and stick the sheets in place inside the cases. Total cost under £3 and you've a box that will last years, plus it floats.

These are especially good for big flies, but you can also store small spinners like Mepps and small plugs in them, the hooks holding the lures in place and without tangling.

WHITING BAITS FOR SHORE HUSS TACTICS

Whiting caught huss

You need to be fishing near rough ground that normally holds huss, but choose marks where you can cast on to preferably clean sand or mostly clean sand with boulder patches.

Tide size is immaterial, the huss tend to come off the rough and work the sand either side of low and high water when the tidal flow is minimal and whiting more inclined to be vulnerable while feeding. In daylight you'll need deep water to keep the whiting within range, but at night the huss and whiting can by right under your feet in just 10-feet of water.

Use an up and over rig to give a long trace about four to six feet long fishing hard along the bottom. It needs to be about 40lb mono to combat the rough teeth of the huss and its skin. Cut the tail off the dead whiting, which needs to be about 6 inches long, and pass the hook down through the tail and body stitching fashion until it comes out just behind the gill cover. Use a breakaway Impact lead and clip the baited hook in to this. This keeps the weight concentrated in one area and aids casting.

Use a sharp Mustad Viking 6/0 hook or a Varivas Bigmouth 5/0 and make sure its sharp. Huss have tough mouths and can hold a bait in their mouth then let go at the surface if not struck hard with sharp hooks. Give them time to take the bait and turn it. The long trace helps, but let them pull the lead out before striking. Most fish hook themselves in the lips by the weight of the lead.