New Articles - TopFisher.eu

We have updated with some nice articles this month: http://www.topfisher.eu

Plenty of writers from SAI!

Streamer fishing for Sea Trout - Jason O'Riordan - A superb snappy piece!
Suss you shore marks - Martin McGowan - Reckons you may need to visit your marks after the winter storms.
Going Abroad? - Stan Ryan - Stan has fished all around the globe. This has the making of a very helpful series for any angler thinking of travelling.
Irish Pike - Mark Houlihan - Mark has some things to get off his chest surrounding the recent Pike controversy.
The Origins of Wreck fishing - Before his retirement Brian Byrne would have been one of the most well known charter skippers for decades - A pioneer of wreck fishing!
Leadhead Breakdown - Jim Clohessy - An ex Irish angler piece for the angler just getting into fishing with soft lures
Line! - Jim Clohessy - We take it for granted!
Tried & Tested - Decent gear worth looking at.

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Can't find "The origins of wreck fishing" was interested because I have fished on Brian's boat Lagosta II many times over the years. Am I just being computer dumb or is it not there?


Yappo

Hmmmm! More the numpty on this side ...
It's up now!

Thanks for that Jim I will pass it on to my mates who fished with Brian for 4 days every year from 1991 to 2008 when he retired. We are going to fish on Lagosta II again this year with Alan Kennedy, he has very big boots to fill, but if the couple of days we had with him last year are anything to go by I am sure he will be just fine.

Yappo

Jim, great articles as always, the one on jig heads was especially informative. Thanks.

Quick question- (and obviously I'd love to hear any other opinions here) is there a "tipping point" where you can no longer work with a jig head tied directly onto your leader/ tippet and need to move onto the flying collar rig with the seperate weight? I assume depth and/or tide state have a lot to do with it.

And do you need to change your tapping/reeling action with the flying collar rig seeing as you're not in direct contact with your SP?

Sorry for slight thread hijack, mods reprimand me if necessary!

Good question!
No there is not a tipping point any more provided you have the right rod! Once you can get the lure to bottom and feel it there. I think with the flying collar rig we were fishing "touch and go" whereas now I would like to keep the lure closer to the bottom for longer, targeting cod. Pollack etc. you would still be touching down and reeling up into the water column.
When you think of it, the whole drop-shot thing really opens up for wrecking. You can now fish a lure of any size and get it to the bottom via a weight of any size.
I think the rod is important too. The modern shorter lure rod is designed to have you feeling your way and imparting action to the lure.. Designed for purpose more than the typical 12/20 that people would be wrecking.

The last day I was wrecking, I found that I used a flying collar for a while as I wasn't happy with the lure rod I had with me, it was getting beaten up by the heavier speed jigs I was playing with...so it is back to the drawing board! In the meantime I'd still fish a flying collar rig....though I tend to fish with a short hook length.

Hmm very interesting thanks for the detailed reply.
Another one then:is a speed jig the new name for a pirk??

yes I could see the terminology getting blurred
When somebody says "pirk" to me I think of 1: The typical banana pirk or 2: the chrome bar type pirk - I use a pirk with a big 8/0 on the end and would use them more at anchor for conger than any other way.
A speed jig to me is a bladed/highly profiled lure that have appeared over the last decade. Many of these have actions that are imparted on the rise or on the fall and some both. I would fish these with "assist" hooks from the top rather than a hook on the bottom allowing some forgiveness when touching down on wrecks or reefs.
Pictured below is a typical "speed jig" sometimes called "butterfly jig (shimano)" - This would be the biggest I use. I use smaller ones inshore. It is an alternative to soft plastics...

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Jim, great articles as always, the one on jig heads was especially informative. Thanks.

Quick question- (and obviously I'd love to hear any other opinions here) is there a "tipping point" where you can no longer work with a jig head tied directly onto your leader/ tippet and need to move onto the flying collar rig with the seperate weight? I assume depth and/or tide state have a lot to do with it.

And do you need to change your tapping/reeling action with the flying collar rig seeing as you're not in direct contact with your SP?

Sorry for slight thread hijack, mods reprimand me if necessary!

i have fished a 4oz jig head with a paddle tail shad in 120 meters of water no problem,
in my experience it is by far the most effective way to target pollack and coalies which may be at
various depths. I never use a "flying collar" boom as it catches a lot of tide, needs heavier
leads and tends to spin and twist, a simple pulley bead to hold the lead is better if
you want to add a heavy lead. Speed jigs are effective in the tropics for species that are
50 times as fast and aggressive as our fish, doesn't work at all here, have a look at
the specimen books and ask yourself could all these fishermen really be wrong?

Speed jigs are effective in the tropics for species that are
50 times as fast and aggressive as our fish, doesn't work at all here, have a look at
the specimen books and ask yourself could all these fishermen really be wrong?

Yeah! Pure Crap! Don't use them...send them on to me!!!

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