LIMIT YOUR LOSSES
Losing tackle fishing over rough ground offshore is inevitable, but I'm still amazed at how many boat anglers make no effort at all to minimise their losses. Continually snapping gear off and having to reassemble is both costly on the pocket and wastes good fishing time. Here are a few tricks I use to keep my losses acceptable.

A short length of telephone wire wrapped around the bottom rig link or boom link and then attached to the eye of the lead with a few turns of wire means that when using line strengths of 20lb and above a good steady pull will unravel the turns of wire leaving the lead in the snag but releasing the trace, and if you make you own leads it's the cheapest item to lose. You can also use freezer bag ties for the same purpose.

Limit your rough ground losses

When I working rubber eels on a flying collar rig over wrecks I prefer to use a metal paper clip and double the tag end over just enough to continually allow the lead to hit bottom and be retrieved, but when snagged again the weak paperclip will unfold leaving the lead behind but retrieving the boom and hopefully the lure. I also use a lighter hook length than the main reel line to the boom so that if the rubber eel snags the hook length will break but I've a good chance of getting the boom back.

A mistake many anglers make when fishing over kelp that grabs hooks and leads is to fish the weak link systems we've just discussed. The knack to getting the majority of your gear back over kelp is to fish heavy. I'd go for minimum 30lb main line and no weak link from the lead to the rig. If the lead gets stuck in the weed a darn good continual pull will rip the lead free of the kelp. The same goes for a hook that's dragged in to the weed.

Also think about how you fish tackle across rough ground. Hold the rod all the time and feel the lead across the bottom. As soon as you feel the line tightening up in a snag, release some line and just as it starts to tighten again lift the rod upright. This often releases the snagged lead, whereas pulling against that initial tight line only drags the lead further in to the snag.

I'm not a lover of pirk fishing, effective though it is. However arming pirks with treble hooks will see the pirk snag frequently. Swapping the treble for a single large O'Shaughnessy pattern hook and adding a large plastic muppet over the hook shank will reduce losses. The large hook is less prone to snagging but I find it catches just as many fish.

TIPS AND TRICKS
I've started to add a short length of John Roberts hollow rig tubing to some of my pulley rigs to act as a boom to keep the hook trace away from the main rig body.

I make the rig as normal with a sliding bead on the line, putting the line through a swivel eye, then another bead, but then add a short 3-inch section of the tubing followed by another bead, then a figure of eight knot to lock the boom in place.

I've found this helps presentation when fishing amongst broken ground in a light tide run and is effective for coalfish and codling, but also caught for me a lot of shore black bream this past summer.

COD SPOON TACTICS

Cod spoon set ups

Norwegian anglers nearly always use attractor spoons when boat cod fishing on the drift, and there were a lot of big cod caught in the English Channel back in the 70's on the now famous but defunct ABU Rauto spoons.

Delta makes a good copy of the Rauto, the Sonar spoon, but any chrome or white spoon between 2 and 3-inches long is ideal. It's not just the reflection of light off the chrome that attracts the cod, but also the vibrations as the spoon flutters and twists in the water as you drift.

Spoons are best fished off a long plastic boom with 6-feet or more between the boom and the spoon. Rig the spoon by attaching split rings and swivel at each end. Attach one end to the boom mono and the other end takes the hook trace. This needs to be about 12-inches of 40lb clear mono. You can add a few bright pink or red beads too for extra effect, and finish with a size 6/0 Mustad 3261 Aberdeen or equivalent Varivas pattern. Bait with a good helping of lug and tip off with a long sliver of squid.

To fish the spoon, let the tackle down to the seabed slowly to minimise the chance of tangling. Now let the line come tight, then keep releasing a few yards of line during the retrieve until you're sure the lead is continually in contact with the seabed. Hold the rod all the time feeling for bites.

Cod hit these spoon led baits really hard. There are no initial indications. Expect the cod to take the bait and instantly pull the rod tip hard over. There is no need to strike these fish, especially the bigger 4lb plus fish.