Wreck fishing

What is wreck fishing?
Wreck fishing is when you fish over sunken wrecks. The wrecks can be anything from boats to submarines that lay at depths from 70 to 300 feet on the seas bottom. The wrecks can be from the first / second world war or general lost at sea boats. There size varies from 20 feet to over 250 feet long.

Wrecks can be anything from just a mile offshore to 35 / 40 miles offshore, which can mean that it will take several hours steaming to get to the chosen wrecks.

There are two ways of fishing a wreck: Either by drifting over the wreck with the tide or at anchor. The style depends on the tides and depth that the wreck is at. The skipper will always let you now what type he will be fishing on booking of the boat.

How do charter boat skippers know were these wrecks are?
Well it can be a case of the skipper literally spends many years of trial and error to find them. Or there are lots of books that will list likely wrecking marks.

Skippers also use the latest electronics to help them. If you ever look in side a boats cabin you will see an array of fish finders and GPS navigation aids.

What type of fish will I catch?
The idea of wreck fishing is to go after the larger fish that hold up on the wrecks. Fish are drawn to wrecks because they offers a reef / rocky out crop like environments.

This means that fish can hold up in the wrecks as they offer shelter from the tides and a source of food.

Fish that are generally target when wreck fishing are:

Pollock
Bass
Conger
Ling
Cod
Fish sizes vary but you can catch fish from just a few pounds in weight and up to over 100lb (Conger)

Wreck fishing tackle
Quick tip - Get proper wrecking booms of about 10 - 15 inches long as they keep the flowing trace away from your mainline

Pirks - These are lead made lures with a treble hook at the bottom of the pirk . You can use them in conjunction with muppets.

Pirks - are worked by jigging them ( lifting the rod up and down )

Shads - Fish shaped lures that are worked by reeling in

Worms - Worm shaped lures that are worked by reeling in.
Grubs - Often over looked but can be kill lures and are worked by reeling in.

Quick tips
Vary the speed that you that you retrieve your lures and remember that the speed of the tide also effects the action of the lure.

On the drop down keep you finger on you spool so that you control the speed of the decent. If you do not you will only end up with a birds nest (tangle).

When you are working your lures count how many turns up you get your fish. This will save time if they are being taken say 40 turns up as you can quickly go to that depth.

Have a good supply of rigs made up as if you loose your rig on a wreck it can be quickly replaced ready for the next drift.

Rods
You will need a stand up boat rod such as a Penn Ugly stick with rods being 20lb test curve as begin the lighter work through to 50lb for the big conger and ling.

Reels

The reels you will need to be using are multipliers. The reason for this is because they can handle the weight of bringing up fish from such depth. Also they carry a lot more line.

Line
There are two choices what type of line to use

Monofilament Line
This is the standard fishing line , which as the benefits of being able to stretch a little bit . As for your line strength this can vary from 20 to 50lb and more so if in doubt just ask your skipper for advice but as a guideline 25lb will handle most wrecking situations.

The down side to monofilament line is that of the diameter of the line which will get caught in the tidal flow causing the line to bow and will result is you having to use a heaver lead weight.

If you are new to wrecking monofilament line is the best to go for.

Braid fishing line
This is a very low diameter fishing line which gives you a much great contact with what is going on . Because of it lower diameter you will be able to use less weight to fish , which is a great bounce when pull fish from depths of a hundred feet or so.

WARNING
Never use your hands to hold your line if it gets stuck on a wreck you could loose your fingers. Let out plenty of line then wrap your line round a piece of wood, ect. and then pull your line free. Skippers will always help you and have the correct piece of kit to get you free, if in doubt ask for help from the skipper

Lures
Lures are made from plastics and are design for their action in the water. Coming an a Variety of colours and even luminous
(glow in low light conditions)

As the majority of fish you will be targeting when wreck fishing are predatory fish (fish that hunt and eat other fish) the most come form of fishing are with lures.

The most common three are shads / grubs / pirks and worms