Sea anglers mostly use heavy caliber gear. However, supporters of delicate float fishing can successfully hunt garfish and sea trout. Fish fillets are the most effective natural bait.
Soon I will start visiting different ports on a regular basis. After all, summer is approaching, a to, for such a fan of fishing from the pier, as I, is the best stimulus to start the sea season. The summer months are the best time for fishing with a float from the moles of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.
For the sake of accuracy I will add, that I always start the season in early July, so at the moment, when the mackerel are already feeding, also on the coasts. It is true that garfish ready for spawning appear en masse off the coast in May, however, I only catch these fish in late summer, when they begin their journey towards the open sea. In May, there is too much garfish near the coast, and in addition, only some of them use a fishing rod.
It is only at the beginning of July that I reach for the bait in the freezer for the first time and slowly begin to deplete the stock of herring and bagpipes that I had accumulated before.. I am also browsing my fishing clothes. Land rats fishing from the pier sometimes dress very funny, but extremely practical. Excessive sun exposure and strong winds should never be underestimated.
Then I assemble the fishing rod. In this respect, however, I differ from the others. I believe, that most of the anglers fishing from the pier, even the regularly successful ones, uses too heavy equipment.
Better results on fragile equipment.
Stiff pike rods with an action that allows you to throw even a quarter-kilogram roach, fishing line in diameter 0,40 mm, huge floats and so big weights, as in carp kits – it's hardware, that the average sea angler catches on. Plus large eel hooks, in which, instead of long and thin strips of fish flesh waving in the water, Huge fillets cut from almost all herring "hang". It doesn't surprise me, that many of the club mates usually do not have very good results. Coming to the pier, After all, we should focus on finesse fishing only for sports fish, and not to imagine, that we fish among the enormous number of snags above a shipwreck resting on the bottom of the English Channel.
Last summer, I did an experiment. I have shared with my fellow anglers my permanent spot on my favorite pier, place, in which I caught a lot of fish practically every day, and I started fishing there myself, where colleagues, heavy-caliber supporters, who, incidentally, took my position eagerly, Things hadn't been going very well lately. I even gave them one frozen herring, which, however, did little to help them.
For crude equipment, even if it is of good quality, it is hard to expect good results, and yet the place, where they were fishing was extremely attractive to me.
On the zander stick.
So we take a stick in length 3,30-3,70 m, light and flexible, let's say a modern zander rod. We fish with a line with a diameter of 0,23 do 0,27 mm (it does not have to be thicker at all). However, I advise against the use of colored or fluorescent lines, because they are very effective in scaring away suspicious marine fish.
The in-line float should be so “heavy”, as soon as necessary and as "light", as soon as possible. When you are fishing from the pier towards the port, a float with a displacement of four to eight grams is sufficient. From the side of the open sea, floats with displacement are perfect 10-12 g. When we fish from the pier, usually there is no need to make long casts. Garbage and mackerel take well even near the stilts or near the plinth of the pier. Provided, however, that they don't feel the resistance of the float. So it must be a very slim model! Forget it, Please, about your old ones, blind floats, which only weaken the line at the point of clamping the lead pellets that hold them in place. Besides, casting the rod will be much easier, then what, when we fish from the pier and the strong wind blows or there are many people watching us, it is not without significance.
Attracting fillet strips.
Focusing on catching mackerel, we give the bait at a depth of 2 do 4 meters. If we use a floating float, this is not the slightest problem. To catch a garfish, I advise you to set the ground to a depth 75 centimeters, at most 1,5 meters. Only at the very end of summer we can expect good bites at a depth of two meters. If flatfish take us from time to time, means, that we have too much ground. When fishing from a pier with a float, the herring fillets are the most effective bait. Very important is, so that the fillet is not too large. Pieces of meat are best cut, when the herring is not fully thawed yet (even very thin fillets can be cut, extremely attractively waving in the water). My advice is to fish with hooks with a short shank and a slightly bent inwards blade. Such hooks are also perfect for fishing with salmon eggs and protein balls.
Hunting Tobias.
We only pierce the lure with the hook once, at most twice, this allows the fish fillet to move freely in the water. The point of the hook should protrude a little from the bait. The perfect fillets for gently fishing with a float in salt water are four centimeters long, about one centimeter wide, besides, they definitely narrow on the lower one, thinner end. Tiny dead fish, for example, five, seven-centimeter long sprats or horse mackerel, they are also a good bait (Stick the hook into the base of the fish's tail). The most effective, however, are the little tobias.
In summer, mackerel and garfish are the most popular choice for a set with a floating float, while in winter mainly sea trout. The best bait for sea trout are the Tobias, which are reliable in any situation.
During periods of significant cooling of the seawater, the sea trout likes to periodically enter rivers. sometimes they are also concentrated in ports. In a word, they are looking for slightly warmer water. And right there, fishing from the mole, we should look for great salmonids.