Haddock

Hi , I'm thinking of trying for haddock but have no idea of how to catch them, any one got any ideas as in bait,rigs types of ground etc?

My brother stunned us all on a boat trip in Clew Bay many years ago by actively targeting haddock and bringing a fine selection of fish to the boat whilst we kept bringing in Pollack and the occasional Cod. He used a long flowing trace, 3-4 metres, terminating in a 1/0 with a full ragworm on the end and kept it tight on the bottom. Worked pretty much every drop to our astonishment. Skipper was equally stunned. It was in 50 metres of water over mixed ground with a lot of sand. All the fish that came up were light in colour...

The only person I know to have claimed to take them off the shore did so from marks I have failed to find on Erris Head in Belmullet. He was distance casting onto sandy ground and used small baits on relatively small hooks on a cascade set up (to allow for distance). I won't mention his name but he's got some exceptional sea angling titles to his name so I do believe him (hence the trips).

They have downward pointing mouths, quite small, bit like a whiting, so you really need to nail the baits into the sea floor.

HTH

Thanks bud,I'll give them a shot soon ,last year the gillnetters where getting a lot of them, I'll target that area not much else going at the moment , fished a wreck and a good reef on saturday for nothing,place is well netted aswell with 3 40 footers working the area , and they're getting very little.

haddock move into my local bay during certain months of the year (usually in the Summer), so this is theoretically the only time that they will be caught as it seems it is the only time that they are around.
most will be caught from a boat in deeper water just off-shore; very few, if any, are caught from the shore. they are easily caught, they will take feathers, muppets and I have caught them on any and all baits.
so it isn't the tactics (i.e. terminal tackle and what baits to be using) that is of concern IMHO, it when and where to target them
maybe they are around in other parts of the country at different times of the year though, im not so sure. Would be interested to find out though
Just my 2 cents...

My plan of attack:
3 hook flowing rig with beads and bling's and a size 1 hook
Baits would be mackerel, razor, lug or a razor/ lug cocktail.
Fishing in water deeper than 140', stone, shale and soft ground are best.
The slower the drift the better. If you find whiting in numbers the haddock are not far away.
They are a good hard hitting fish and are aggressive all the way to the top so don't be in a hurry to get it up.
Have a net ready to land it if it falls off at the top of the water it will be back down before you can blink.

If you do get a few gut them straight away the can start to smell.

As for the netters getting them it is often the case where these nets are out for a day or two so the could be catching fish that a migrating from one feeding area to another.