THE POWER OF PIRKS
Pirk fishing is often referred to as being  a brutal way to catch fish, and personally it’s not my favourite technique, but  you can’t deny how effective it is at catching cod, pollack, coalfish and ling.  At classic cod ports like Whitby  pirking is by far the most successful way to fish.

Ideally you need a rod more towards 8ft and  stiffish in action. The extra length of rod allows more tip movement for the  same amount of arm movement helping to make the pirk work more in the water.  Reels need to be tough, so look at Penn Senators in the 4/0 sizing for their  strength of gears, though Shimano’s are also popular.

The key to pirking success though, is using  braided line. Fireline in 50lb or 80lb is most pirkers first choice. With  little if any stretch this gives you roughly the same movement of the pirk as your  arms generate lift at the rod tip. Normally when fishing braid, you’d use a  30ft section of mono to create some stretch to avoid putting too much pressure  on the hook hold. When pirking you want all the direct pressure you can get to  make sure the hook gets a good hold, especially when fishing at depths up to  300-feet, so you tie the braid directly to the pirk.

Because the braid does not stretch much,  you feel every bump and bang on the pirk as it bounces across the seabed as you  jig. There is no mistaking a fish attack either, you actually feel the fish hit  the lure and shake their heads, rather than the progressive and slow increase  in pressure that you would normally associate with mono fishing in deep water.

Pirks obviously vary in size, but carry  12oz, 1lb, 1½lb and 2lb sizes, with emphasis on the smaller three sizes. One  mistake is to go for pirks more than 12-inches long. It’s actually the smaller  more dumpy pirks that are more effective. A 10-inch pirk is about right using  different diameters of chrome tubing to get the desired weight.

You can make your pirks more effective by  coating some in Powder Coat colours like yellow and white, but black is also  good. Don’t use treble hooks, two Mustad 3406 O’Shaughnessy’s with the hook  points facing opposite ways are better and snag less. Also try fitting a pink  or luminous yellow muppet on to the hooks to increase the target area and add  movement.

  Pirking is tiring. Try to time your lift at  the rod tip with the lift of the boat as it drifts and drop as the boat drops.  This maximises the movement of the pirk for minimal effort on your part. Aim to  have the pirk “tapping “bottom with fish hitting the pirk both on the drop and  just as you start to lift. Don’t bully fish. Remember you have a more direct  contact with the fish using braid and weak hook hold is more likely to pull  free.

TIPS AND TRICKS
When you’ve finished fishing most baits  leave your hands in a pretty grotty mess, especially mackerel which stinks as  it dries on your hands and black lug leaving iodine stains too. Couple that  with a session that’s seen a few conger or cod landed and your hands are in a  pretty filthy state. Driving home like that, and worse driving to work the next  day with a sticky smelly steering wheel isn’t my idea of fun.

I always carry a small jar of Swarfega in  the car and clean my hands with this. At least then, if you call anywhere for a  pint or something to eat, you’ve got clean hands to eat with.

Another good tip for getting oily fish  scales and slime off your hands is to carry a lemon in the boot and use the  juice to wipe your hands with. This works a treat and removes any smell left  over from the bait, but if you’ve got any open cuts it will smart a bit.  Personally I’ll stick to the Swarfega.

BEACH DAB TACTICS
Always obliging, the dabs form the mainstay  of many anglers’ catches throughout the winter, and with a little tackle and  technique tinkering some good bags can be taken.

Dabs, though not necessarily a shoal fish,  often swim inshore in groups, so use multiple hook rigs like three-hook  flappers, either with the hook traces loose for close range, or clipped down  for long range. Wishbone rigs are also good for dabs fishing as it puts two  baits very close together to maximise the scent trail. Keep your hooks small.  Ideal patterns are Aberdeen’s  size 4 or 6 such as Kamasan’s or Mustad Match.

Essential bait is lugworm, but tip off with  strips of mackerel or sandeel. The bigger fish fall to plain fish baits like  mackerel strip, sandeel sections and strips of sprat bound to the hook with  bait elastic. Experiment with bait combinations as the bigger fish can be  choosy. Dabs also show a liking for very stale stinky lug that s well past its  best.

Tides size is immaterial as the dabs will  move within casting range on any size of tide, though the bigger fish tend to  be caught at low water casting long range during the bigger spring tides. Dabs  prefer calmer seas in shallow water, but will still be feeding a little further  out in rougher conditions, though it may take a good cast to find them. On  shallow beaches stick to fishing the dark hours, but on deeper venues dabs will  be feeding all day, especially in overcast grey sky conditions. Less so in  bright sunlight.

Try to fish in areas where there are deeper  gullies across the beach, or place baits on the offshore side of small  sandbanks and around the needs of deeper wooden groynes during the flooding  tide.

Fishing multiple hook rigs, it pays to  leave the first dab that takes on the hook and resist reeling in. One dab will  attract others to the adjacent baits.