Tips for Boat Comps

Hi lads,

I'm fishing my first boat comp this week-end and am looking for tips or tactics to ensure I get the most from the experience.
Fishing out of Belmullet so the ground will be mixed but mainly rocky reefs, I don't know if we'll be over any wrecks, might also be over sand for flatties.
Target specics are most likely Pollack, Gurnard, Wrasse and after that I'm not sure, maybe Cod, Ray.
I have some of the Shamrock Kilmore killer rigs which should do for Pollock and maybe some others. For Wrasse I'll bring some rag.
Few questions:
Apart from Mackeral and Rag, what other bait should I bring?
I'm going to make up some 2 and 3 hook rigs, what hook size ranges should I have, thinking of 1's to 2/0 in standard 2 or 3 hook flapper rigs, is this ok?

Any tips or tactics advise greatly appreciated.

Thanks, James.

i posted this last year

if you are on the reefs and you are drifting the predominant species should be pollack, wrasse (ballan & cookoo), ling cod pouting and coalies with the possibility of a few other species popping up

1. for pollack if you are using a french boom on its own put approx 10 ft of line on it with a blood loop at 5ft tie on a hook plain 2/0 and another one at the end, there are 3 bait you can use , rag, jelly worms or my favorite the belly strip of mackerel, what to do is bait up lower your line to the bottom and reel back up to the top slowly, the pollack will hit you on the way up , a point to note to make this more effective, is to count every turn on the reel you take normally the pollack will hit you at 6 to 14 winds off the bottom, so that the next time you go down you can be ready for your next take. THE TRICK IS KEEP REELING AND NEVER STRIKE

2.COALIES CAN BE CAUGHT using the same process other wise they will take the conventional hawk-eye's

3,when fishing for the wrasse the ballans like rag and crab (recent reports say not 2 many ballans around ) again a conventional rig with size 1 hooks is perfect if you have spreaders, if you use yellow beads on your snoods this can be very effective

4, the cookoos will also take the rag but they also like thin strips of mackerel (be careful not to put thick pieces on nice and thin does the trick.

5, ling & cod generally will take a luminous rig baited with mackerel an alternative is to fish 2 hooks up and above that put on your french boom with approx 2 to 3 ft of line with a Muppet or a blade tipped off with decent bait of mackerel.

6 the pouting will come as your fishing for the wrasse but there favorite co lour is pink (they love it) either fish bait or rag will catch these

7 , if yous anchor up the possibility of ling and conger is good for the conger just fish hard on the bottom with a pirk an a 6/0 hook with a decent bait of mackerel if no pirk you can revert back yo your french boom with it as close to the weight as possible put on a short snood of heavy mono and and mackerel as bait. 2 options open to you from here 2 ft up your trace you can put on a Muppet and fish for ling or double up on the snood off the french boom similar to that i explained for the pollack but only make it 3 & 1/2 ft long one hook at the end and another approx 18 inches from the boom


if any of that doesn't make sense or my way of putting it across is confusing reply to this post and i will try to do my best for you

1. start with a 3 hook rig first when a few pollack come in change over to the gilling, after you get a few go back to your 3 up and keep on alternating until you find your own system that keeps you on fish all the time

didnt mean to write an essay just wanted to cover the basics

regards and tight lines

mick barry

That's brillant, thanks Mick. I'm going through it slowly as there's so much info there, that'll certainly get me going.

I don't know if there's much mackeral around this area this year but last year it was very difficult to get through them for pollack, any tips on how NOT to catch mackeral?

heavier weigth to get past them quicker

use larger hooks

put on a chunk of mackerel with the hook only in the flesh lightly to mask the hook , the purpose of this is when your rig is descending your hooks are covered when you hit the bottom and start working your gear hopefully the chunk will fall of and you can fish on

i have used a particular rig a few times to try catch mackerel and to no success, normally before a comp you get 10 to 15 Min's of jigging, while using this rig i have caught more species than it did mackerel, so what i took out of it was if the mackerel come on strong i can change to this rig to avoid them whilst knowing it will work on the bottom for me

the rig was shamrocks rainbow warrior

regards

mick

Thanks again, appreciate the help. James.