Reef Fishing On The Weymouth Charter Boat Meerkat

Reef Fishing

Note .. Tackle is available for Reef Fishing

Lets Go Reef Fishing...

There are many variables to take into consideration when embarking on a reef fishing trip,

The time of year will dictate what species are available in your chosen sea area, for instance, It would be a futile exercise to tackle up for Whiting in July at Weymouth when we only get them during the Winter period,

Similarly it would be a waste of time trying to catch Tope during the Winter,

Other factors to consider are the type of ground to be fished i.e. Reef or Sandbank, Sandbanks will hold a population of flatfish which could include Plaice, Turbot, Brill, Dabs, Flounder etc. so you would need to make up a rig that ensured your bait was hard on the seabed, a paternoster rig made up to catch (for instance) Black Bream would be useless on a Sandbank,

Reefs can be quite varied in there make up, from large rocky pinnacles to relatively flat slate ground, Pollack and Bass will be found haunting the rocky pinnacles of a deep water reef whilst Congers and Ling are at home in the base of the pinnacles and also on the flatter marks,

Fishing on the drift or fishing at anchor, depth of water, tidal flow, flood or ebb tide, wind speed and direction, water temperature all need to be taken into consideration,

So where do we start?

Firstly dependant on the time of year I would recommend that you target a specific species and then adjust your tackle to suit the prevailing conditions,

I would personally set my sights on Bass, Whiting & Cod for my Winter targets and Bass, Black Bream and Turbot/Brill for my Summer targets,

Make sure you have sufficient tackle with you to be able to adapt when your skipper decides to move to another mark, or, if you are trying to catch Black Bream and are getting pestered by Pouting then you could change tactics and make up a Conger Eel rig using a Pouting as bait,

Tackle

Rigs can be divided into two categories,

Rigs that present a bait on the seabed and those that present a bait off the seabed,

Of those that present a bait on the seabed the most popular must be the Running Ledger rig

The running ledger rig has many permutations from simple one hook rigs as shown in the diagram to multi hook wishbone rigs (used when drifting for Plaice) but its effect is always to keep the bait hard onto or very close to the seabed,

The Paternoster rig on the other hand is designed to keep a bait off the seabed,

this can be very effective when targeting such species as Black Bream, Pollack, Bass and Mackerel to name but a few,
Species that find there food by smell will be most attracted to a bait presented on the Running Ledger rig and conversely species that hunt for food by sight will be more attracted to the Paternoster rig,
Of those that present a bait off the seabed the most popular is the Paternoster rig,

There are a bewildering array of commercially tied Paternoster rigs available from your local tackle shops ranging from humble Mackerel feathers to some exquisitely tied competitions rigs from specialist manufacturers,

If you are planning to tie your own rigs then I would recommend that you spend a couple of hours sitting at home in the comfort of your favourite armchair to carry out the task, spend a few extra pence on good quality gear and keep everything as neat as possible,

In the case of Paternoster rigs one golden rule should be adhered to and that is "Make sure that when the rig is suspended vertically, The hooks cannot touch each other"; "the lead" or the "main line connecting swivel",
If when you test them, you find that they do touch then shorten the hook snoods until they don't,
If you fail to adhere to this rule your gear will end up constantly tangled and catching nothing!

Keeping your rigs as neat and simple as possible serves two purposes,
Firstly, they will be less likely to tangle or break under strain,
Secondly, they will create less drag to the tide and subsequently will require less lead to maintain bottom contact,

If you are planning to buy some Paternoster rigs,
Here are a few examples including my own personal favourite the "Blitzer" rig manufactured by tackle giants Shakespeare Tackle Co.


The Blitzer	Flasher's	Red Variant	Hockai's

“Tight Lines”

Support

We welcome novice anglers onboard our state of the art Catamaran 'Meerkat'
We have plenty of experience in helping beginners in the sport of deep sea angling,
If you have never tried your hand at deep sea angling and want to give a go, just give us a call, we will show you the ropes...

Development

They say that Angling is not an exact science and in recent years some exciting new products have come onto the market that has certainly enhanced the sea angling experience,
Onboard the 'Meerkat' We have a policy of ensuring that we use the most modern equipment and tackle available to us,

Strategy

Our Strategy is a simple one,
To ensure that we offer our customers the best angling possible and the best overall experience of their day with us,
We hope that if we are successful in our strategy that many of you will return in the future...

Come Fishing on the