Pollack Profile

Pollack are a relation of the cod, but confusion regards identification is only likely with it's other close relative the coalfish. Another means of identification on the pollack is that the forward edge of the first of the two anal fins starts vertically below the centre of the main dorsal fin. On the coalfish, the leading edge of the anal fin falls vertically in a line below the rearward edge of the first dorsal fin. The quickest way to differ pollack from coalfish is to look at the lower jaw. On the pollack, the lower jaw extends beyond the top jaw, but on the coalfish both jaws are equal in length.

The pollack's lateral line curves over the top of the pectoral fin, whereas the coalies lateral line is virtually straight.

In deeper water over wrecks and rising rock pinnacle with weed growth the colours remain bronze brown, but with shadings of green, yellow and crimson. Some pollack even carry faint small individual black spots.

DISTRIBUTION
Populates the northern edge of the Mediterranean right up the northern side of Europe to the Russian coast. Found right around the coast of Iceland.

Features most prominently on the western side of the British Isles, especially in the English Channel, off Devon and Cornwall, Wales, and especially the rugged Scottish coast. Slightly less common on the north-east coast. Heavy concentrations occur throughout Irish waters, again predominating on the Atlantic side.

BREEDING SEASON
Takes place from January to early May, but mainly during late February to late March. This occurs offshore in depths up to 200 metres. The eggs and larvae are pelagic and drift inshore.

HABITAT
Small juvenile pollack up to 1lb or so are often found close to rocky fingers inside estuaries, also around harbour and quay walls, breakwaters, jetties and piers.

Bigger fish are to be found over offshore rocky reefs and rough ground underneath cliffs. Weights run from 1lb well in to double figures. The best fishing regards quality pollack is the privilege of the deep water rising rock pinnacles, but especially the wrecks in deep water which can hold vast shoals of pollack from 4lbs up to record size.

DIET
Pollack are easily satisfied. Juveniles eat mainly small shrimps and tiny sandeels inside the harbours, but once sizeable change over to a real fish diet consisting of sandeels (launce), small whiting, codling, pollack, coalfish, pout and rockling. Mackerel and herring also are eaten when easily available. Occasionally, crabs and squat lobsters will be taken.

SEASON
Starts to appear on the inshore reefs during April. Peak numbers occur in the late summer and through until November in milder years. The same applies to open sea rock marks.

Wrecks carry fish throughout the year, but numbers thin after February when fish are moving out to spawn. They filter back during May. Best of the fishing for big fish is in the post Christmas period when the females are heavy with eggs.

SHORE FISHING

MARKS AND FEATURES - SHORE
Whilst most estuary and harbour pollack are small as we've already said, bigger fish to maybe 3lbs will make a home tight in underneath man made breakwaters providing they retain a good depth of water over their base at low tide.

The best breakwaters are those made from large ill fitting rocks that leave large holes and out jutting fingers that the pollack can use for cover and ambushing food.

The best marks will always be the rock ledges underneath cliffs that fall vertically in to the sea. Remember, that the cliff face around you is generally the type of ground under the sea in front of you, too. Pick the ledges that are surrounded by the roughest terrain, but think safety first in case of rogue waves.

The best ground will be a constantly lifting and falling seabed made up from vertical rock pinnacles with an abundance of kelp weed to add to the cover. Depths tend to be in excess of 30ft, 60ft being best for the chance of better quality pollack.

One other shore station is worth considering. Many sizeable pollack are taken in much shallower water, often less than 15ft, providing such rough ground has a tide run over it caused by the tide being deflected around a headland. So much the better if there are small islands nearby to further concentrate the flow. The pollack will always be laying on the edge of the actual tide run aiming to pick off smaller fish out of control and being borne along by the flow.

TIDES
The estuary and harbour pollack feed on most tides, but the mid tide period of neaps will often fish best, simply because the depth of tide has been more constant.

Rock platforms are usually good around low water and for the first twohours of the flood, then again at high water when the pollack roam around more. Peak tide periods sees them static and sheltering from the tidal flow.

WEATHER
Again, you need clearish water and periods of fairly settled weather for shore pollack success. Forget after storms until the seas fine down.

Some swell in the sea when on the rock marks is okay and gives the fish an appetite, but make sure you're safe from being washed off by rogue waves.

Dusk and dawn sees the pollack rise to the surface and it's this time of day when they're most vulnerable to lures. Occasionally, pollack will take fish baits ledgered on the bottom, even at night, but this is not a recognised method of targeting pollack.

SHORE FISHING METHODS
Off the piers and breakwaters, you can do something different by float fishing with small strips of mackerel, a whole sandeel, or a small ragworm. Otherwise stick to spinning with silver Toby's, Dexter Wedges and Landa Herri lures 1oz size.

The same applies of the rocks, but experiment with the depth that the lure is working and cast in a wide arc to cover as much ground as possible. Try to work the lure near to boils and confusion on the surface water which suggests that there are underwater obstructions there deflecting the tide which should hold pollack.

Don't worry about fishing heavier 2oz lures to get extra casting distance. The lead heads in 1oz and 2oz size used with Twister worms can be deadly.

Casting out a string of Hokkai feathers will also take pollack, but again it's not so much fun as spinning.

Most successful is fishing a Redgill artificial eel as follows. Tie a three way swivel to the main line by one end eye. Now clip on a small split ring to the middle eye which takes the lead. The other eye takes the hook length which should be 8-12lb clear mono. Rigged like this the lure will not often tangle with the main line, casts well and swims freely on the retrieve.

The smaller redgills size 112mm work best off the shore, again black, green/white, all red and all white.

Something else to try on the lead heads is removing the lure and replacing it with a live king ragworm. Gently lobbed out and retrieved slowly this technique is accounting for some large pollack in both Wales and Scotland.

Anglers off the rocks also report good pollack to a freelined rag allowed to wash out with the swell, though you need really deep water under the rod top for this to work well and find the bigger fish.

BOAT FISHING

MARKS AND FEATURE
Fishing for pollack Some shallow reefs are fairly smooth in contour with little in the way of pinnacles and ledges. They do carry weed growth though, and it's around the weed beds that the bulk of the pollack will stay if true rock feature is limited.

These smaller shallow reefs are smoothly contoured because tide run is limited and pollack do prefer areas where tide runs are fairly strong, so expect mainly small fish to 3lbs on this type of ground.

Deeper reefs and rough ground will have a greater run of tide over them and this increased scouring action will have torn out the softer areas of rock to form those dramatically changing seabed's with gutters, vertical walls and rising rock pinnacles so loved by pollack. The rougher and more distorted the seabed is then, the better the quantities of pollack resident.

In many parts of the country you'll find a small family of rising rock pinnacles in deep water surrounded by an otherwise clean sandy seabed. These tend to lay a distance off headlands again and in fact are part of that same headland structure, it's just that nature has decided to divorce the two at some stage. Such marks always fish well for pollack.

The wrecks will always be king, though! Pollack form massive shoals over the deep water wrecks and catches can be astounding at times.

TIDES
Offshore pollack will feed on all sizes of tides. Generally, feeding takes place over a longer period on neaps with their more constant flow of tide, but fast moving spring tides tend to concentrate the feeding periods to either side of slack water.

Shallow water reef pollack time their feeding to the two hours either side of high water on spring tides, again as the depth allows them more freedom and the slowing tide run makes for easier swimming. That said, any deeper parts will concentrate the pollack and see them feeding over low water.

Deep water reefs start to produce fish as soon as the tide starts to flood. Pollack are higher in the water at this time when swimming is easy in the light tidal flow. Bites fall away once the flow is strong which pushes the fish down behind cover at the bases of rock pinnacles and behind walls and boulders, and inside deeper trenches.

Wreck fish follow a similar pattern. The fish feed well as the flow is easing down to and increasing up from slack water. The actual slack water period can be poor, unless there are shoals of mackerel and herring above the wreck to entice the pollack up to mid water depth. Deep water rock pinnacles rising well off the seabed will have pollack shoals concentrated around their mid section and over the actual peaks either side of slack water, but once the tide run increases, the pollack drop down towards the base of the rock and form up on the downtide side where the tide is broken in force and the swimming easier.

WEATHER
Pollack don't like coloured seas after storms. They are predators hunting by feel through the lateral line first, then finishing the kill by sight, which in their case is excellent with that big eye for drawing as much of the available light in as possible at depth. They like clear water using the surface light as a base board to silhouette their prey against.

Sunny days are okay in deep water, but put fish down on the shallower reefs. Reef fishing is better on a cloudy day. Dusk and dawn also brings the reef pollack up to the surface layers. A medium swell in the sea seems to suit them, but light seas seems to take the edge off their appetites when it comes to the bigger fish.

TECHNIQUE - THE ARTIFICIAL EEL
This is the more sporting and often the most successful method to use as it seeks out the fish immaterial at which depth they are feeding. The rig is simple to construct and it's called the flying collar rig. You need a boom of at least 12" and up to 16" is not too long. The best booms are those called French booms made from stainless steel.

These are either L shaped, or some have a triangular body. The L shape is best. This is rigged by putting a small link swivel on to the connector ring on the long arm which goes to the main line, and the lead weight is attached to the short vertical leg with weak telephone wire which releases the lead when it gets snagged.

Rigged like this the boom can spin on the descent without the main line getting twisted up and storing memory. Rig the triangular bodied type with a swivel at the top again and the weak link at the base. The modern tube type with the squeezed on swivel and lead link with the main line passing through the tubes centre are less desirable as they can twist the line in a tide run. The hook length needs to be 10' over slack water, but then lengthen it to as much as 18' when the tide is running hard. The breaking strain should be 15lb to 20lbs and from clear coloured mono.

The fishing technique is simple. Drop the eel in to the tide until the hook length has pulled tight away from the boom. Now allow the flying collar and lure to descend at a controlled speed to minimise the chance of the lure tangling with the main line.

Feel for the weight touching the seabed or wreck, and immediately lift the rod upwards and reel in a few feet of line to avoids snags. Now retrieve the eel at a steady pace counting the revolutions of the reel handle. If you haven't had a take by the fortieth turn, drop back and begin again.

Pollack eat a Redgill gently at first. You'll feel pluck and the line, then the rod tip goes hard, followed by a drag down pull as the pollack turns and crash dives. When you feel those initial plucks, keep going at that same rate of retrieve for a successful hook up.

Never strike a pollack as this can rip the Redgill and hook clean out of the mouth and form an insecure hook hold.

Pollack make strong dives for the sanctuary of the seabed and wreck, but allow them to take line under sensible pressure. They will tend to stop fighting above mid depth as their swim bladders blow through the bends.

EXPERIMENT WITH DIFFERENT ARTIFICIAL EELS
If you fail to get bites, try a smaller or larger artificial eel. Pollack usually eat either 112mm or 172mm eels. Occasionally, they want the larger 210m size.

Colours are also important. Black, blood red, white and green/white are best, but silly colours like florescent orange and yellow have their day.

Blacks and reds are good in clear water, but try the lighter tones if the sea carries a little colour.

Also worth trying is adding a Booby rattle bead about 24" in front of the eel. The rhythmic clicking of the rattle bead will often draw otherwise disinterested pollack in to the lure.

To avoid loosing too many redgills, arm them with lightweight blued Aberdeen's. These are soft enough to pull straight when snagged, but strong enough to land fish to double figures. Stick with tougher hooks though, when wrecking for big pollack.

HIT THEM WITH A LEAD HEAD
This is an alternative way to fish an artificial lure, usually a Mr Twister type worm, or a twin tailed grub.

The lead heads weigh anything from 1oz to 3oz for reef fishing, but can weigh 10ozs when fishing over wrecks.

Lead heads can be fished exactly like the flying collar rig. Go down to the seabed, then retrieve at a steady rate. This takes plenty of pollack, but some modification of this straight upwards retrieve can find you bigger pollack.

What often happens is that the biggest pollack are laying underneath the main shoals of smaller fish. By the time an artificial is being retrieved upwards it's in the area of the smaller fish and has missed the large ladies below.

Allow the lead head to fall and touch the seabed. Now let line spill from the reel letting say 30yds or so go as the boat drifts. Now put the reel in gear and very slowly start to retrieve the lead head.

What happens is that the lead head works along the seabed in a shallow rising angle, but getting steeper all the time. This gives it a greater amount of time in the big fish zone resulting in more big fish being hooked. If you miss out, the lure has still to be retrieved through the main shoal so you'll actually catch just as many fish like this, rather than less.

The same colours and sizing applies and this technique works over both wrecks and reef ground, but losses can obviously be high.

ALTERNATIVES
Pirk fishing takes pollack, so to will Hokkai feathers and the Mustad all red and black feathers. Killer rigs using pirks with muppets and redgills above also works as it does for cod, but is very much hook and haul fishing and not as much fun as the individual artificials.

TACKLE
For the flying collar technique and the big lead heads over deep water reefs and wrecks, go for an uptider with the supple tip to protect the line, an ABU 7000C sized multiplier loaded with 15 to 18lb line. A standard 20lb class rod is okay, but lacks the action due to the shorter length.

For working artificial eels with lighter leads, choose a light uptider aimed at the 2-6oz market armed with the 7000C and 15lb main line. Go down to 12lb if you feel confident.

In areas of light tide runs, try a carp rod, small fixed spool reel, 6-8lb line and lead heads between 1oz and 2oz. Even smaller 4lb pollack really go on this outfit.

For numbers, use two muppets on short hook lengths above a chrome pirk on 30 or 50 class tackle.