Speed

[Minstrelblue]

I've been on a couple of 4 hr reef fishing trips and although I've not blanked it's been a close shave and Im wondering what is the ideal speed of retrieve as I thought I was retrieving slowly but I was told it was still too fast. I admit I did hook up under instruction to slow down and I was barely moving the reel and worried I'd snag the reef.

 

[groundswell]

I've been on a couple of 4 hr reef fishing trips and although I've not blanked it's been a close shave and Im wondering what is the ideal speed of retrieve as I thought I was retrieving slowly but I was told it was still too fast. I admit I did hook up under instruction to slow down and I was barely moving the reel and worried I'd snag the reef.

Be a good lad and put some flesh on the bones please as in species bait or lure time of year you know the script, it will save having to consult mystic meg and what reel are you using ?

 

[The Third Earl]

Neil, were you drifting or under anchor ? if you are drifting as I would expect , then the boat is actually under way using wind and tide , and that does give movement to the lure , I wind in >> very << slowly in that scenario.You can just slowly raise and lower the rod top without actually winding in at all. The takes are ferocious when slow jigging .

We take mostly Pollack when fishing off Padsta, but up here its mostly Cod or sometimes Ling .

Dave .

 

[Minstrelblue]

Yes I'm no expert just a holiday charter and was mostly pollack indeed, we were just drifting , we were all slowly cranking but only occasional hits. In 4 hours only half a dozen fish came over, I hadn't considered the drift speed variable plus the retrieve makes for a fast retrieve but then only realized it when I was too slow and lost the tackle on the reef, It wasn't clear how high the reef was, lots of variables to consider but when I did drop the speed to almost a crawl I got a decent fish. It's a tricky thing to master I feel

 

[Topwater]

It definitely takes a bit of practice. A good crew should be leading the novices and the skipper vocal about when the wreck is coming up on each drift etc

 

[Wolf]

I would vary the speed,2 or 3 slow turns followed by 3 or 4 fast turns .

 

[Angrybear]

Try different speeds, if there was a hard & fast rule it would be too easy, the type & weight of the lure also matters,
sometimes you need to just bounce the lead off the bottom with the rod tip without winding at all, sometimes a slow retrieve 3-4 seconds for one turn of the handle, or as above vary the speed, watch the other anglers, if they catch copy them, if they don't maybe try a different speed.
As said above a good skipper will tell you when the reefs going to come up & when it drops off again

 

[GPSguru]

I've been on a couple of 4 hr reef fishing trips and although I've not blanked it's been a close shave and Im wondering what is the ideal speed of retrieve as I thought I was retrieving slowly but I was told it was still too fast. I admit I did hook up under instruction to slow down and I was barely moving the reel and worried I'd snag the reef.

There is no real answer to this question.

If the fish are there, and a fish wants the lure, then it will take it at any speed. On many occasions I have had large Pollock take a lure as I was fast retrieving ready to go around for another drift.

However, traditionally, most folk use a slowish retrieve, and it gives the lure more time over the wreck or reef.

More important is 'matching the hatch', ideally your lure needs to mimic what the fish are feeding on, apart from Bass and Wrasse, where the annoyance factor / predator instinct seems to make them attack the lure.