Over recent years, pirk fishing has given some ground both to bait and to other lure tactics, even along the Yorkshire coast where once it reigned supreme. Exactly why this should be so is down to a range of factors, probably, at least in part, conspiring together. Because it is so physically effort intensive, pirking works best where concentrations of fish are high. Problems with fish numbers recently in the North Sea certainly hasn't helped in that respect, and a switch back to bait fishing by quite a number of people was probably inevitable. A move to uptiding closer to shore, particularly over the winter months has also lifted bait fishing back onto the agenda. The development of other types of lures has been a factor too, such as shads, even out over the wrecks, but more especially as inshore pollack marks are coming in for more attention than ever before.me went on, other materials and design adjustments played their part, and the rest as they say is history.

All of this said, where cod are present in good numbers and of good size in and around small holding areas, there remains no more efficient way of hitting them hard than with a pirk. You only have to go to places like Norway where cod numbers are still at dream levels to see how true this is. But even there, as elsewhere where pirks are used, there is more to pirk fishing than many people appreciate. Gone are the days of sending down pieces of lead filled chrome tube and bagging up. If you want to get the best out of any pirk fishing opportunity, you really need to grit your teeth, spend some money, and risk the losses. Over North Sea wrecks in particular where work rates and pirk losses can be high, it really can be no pain no gain if you want to come away with a result, especially when the wrecks being fished and some of the open ground marks are lying in deep water.

Deep water in the UK is usually between 200 and 300 feet. Cod fishing in northern Norway we were pirking in over 600 feet. At any of these depths, unless you load your reel with braid, you are not going to know much about what is happening down at the business end. With mono you wont miss out on much either because in all probability, nothing much will be happening anyway. The 6 feet or so rise and fall of the rod tip when working a pirk can be more than wiped out if you use a line that has stretch. Even if mono had as little as 1% stretch, which even the lowest stretch mono line can't offer, in 600 feet of water, 6 feet of lift can be canceled out. With 2 percent stretch the lift is gone in 300 feet, and so on. The weight of the pirk probably wouldn't be enough to take out all the stretch. But at 10% stretch, which is not excessive, it would affect pirk action, on top of which you can't feel your lure bumping bottom, which is crucial. Add to this the effect of water resistance affecting the angle of the line, and non stretch low diameter braid becomes even more of a must.

What we did in Norway was attach about 30 feet of heavy mono to the end of the braid to act as a rubbing strip in case a fish ended up going under the boat. Braid may well have many positive qualities for pirk fishing, but its abrasion resistance compared to mono is extremely poor. So you need to protect it. Then on the end of the mono, we used a quality quick release clip so that pirks could be changed without fuss, either because they were too heavy or not heavy enough as tidal or surface wind conditions altered, or simply for a change of shape or colour if one particular pattern seemed to be doing better than the rest. With the latter point in mind, and this goes for all types of lures including redgills, jellies and shads, it is good policy for everyone to kick off the trip with a different size or colour, then switch as patterns develop over the day. In particularly deep water, or when light availability is poor due either to the weather or the angle of the sun in the sky, there isn't much light penetration down to where the fish are feeding. But still colour can make a difference as has been demonstrated on endless occasions with redgills over deep water wrecks.

Complimenting the braid is the rod and reel. Make the right choice of lure, but the wrong choice of hand tackle and you could still go home with less fish. Braid is a very unforgiving material when it comes to handling fish. The problem with pirk fishing is that fish attack these lures in a way that often leaves them very lightly hooked either in or around the outside of the mouth, and particularly in the early stages of the encounter, they are non too happy about this. When a big fish decides to make a run for the bottom, none stretch braid unfortunately has the potential to rip light hook holds free. Monofilament with its inherent stretch would handle this situation much better, except that the situation would be less inclined to happen in the first place for the reasons already given. So to put some 'give' back into the outfit, you need a rod with a relatively soft tip action, though still with plenty of back bone for when the pressure needs to be turned on. Two excellent pirking rods I have used are the Shimano Exage 2030 or 3050, and the ABU Suveran 50 pound class Pro Boat braid rod. A reel with a smooth carefully pre-set drag brings a further layer of cushioning into the equation.

Ask me what I think is the best pirk on the market and without hesitation I would say the traditional Norway pattern. It's curved, three sided shape gives it an amazingly attractive fluttering action, though to some degree, this can be its downfall too. The chrome versions I find work best, as flashes of available light are pulsed out by the three sharply angled sides. The big drawback with this particular lure is its drop rate. Its irregular weight distribution and shape cause it to shoot off in all directions when its on its way down. Great when its at the bottom. But at times a pain in the backside trying to get it there, particularly on a fast drift which is going to reduce its time spent in the feeding zone before the line angle forces you to reel up and re-drop. When this happens too frequently, it can be a good move to switch to a different pirk. Not just any pirk mind you. To a specifically designed fast drop pattern. These are not as good overall as the Norway pattern. But more time spent at the bottom before line angle forces a re-drop can often give them an edge, and a considerable edge at that if wind and tide conspire together, or if a fish holding target is small such as a wreck.

The fast drops I have came in the same range of colours as the non chrome Norway patterns. So if one particular lure was doing the business on the day, you knew which fast drop to replace it with when change time came around. The difference in shape is plain for all to see. Fast drops don't have the angled sides. They are also more streamlined and straight. But they still catch fish. And that catch rate can be improved still further if the anglers on board work a down tide (up drift) casting routine. This works by the chap closest to the wheelhouse on the down tide side of the boat casting his pirk as far as possible and allowing it to free fall as fast as possible without causing an overrun. He then moves along one peg allowing someone else in to do the same. This continues in a rotation until the drift is over allowing everyone to make a cast from the prime position before shuffling along. The benefit is that by the time the lure reaches bottom with the boat drifting towards rather than away from it, because you cast in the direction of the drift, instead of having an angle in the line, you should be straight over the top of the lure. Even in deep water this is useful, as anything that removes any measure of potential for line angle will give more effective fishing time. And by the time line angle is starting to show, it could well be your turn to cast again if the rotation system is being worked correctly.

Taking this one step further, I was once given an amazing demonstration of how pirk casting can be used over shallow lying open ground, in part for the same reason why uptiding works when fishing bait. Arguably, even on the drift there is going to be some measure of scare area caused by the boat. The pirks we are talking about here were small, probably no more than 8 to 12 ounces, and painted in bright colours to make them more attractive. Colour will play a greater role in shallower water as water depth and lack of light at depth progressively filter the brighter colours out. Again, the lures were cast down the line of drift with this chap using a large fixed spool reel to maximize the distance. But they were not worked up and down in the normal pirking manner due to the lack of water depth. He was using a slow sink and draw, lift and drop technique retrieving line just marginally faster that the drift rate of the boat. It can be a risky technique in terms of tackle losses. But if you make them yourself the cost should not be that great. This technique works well where fish are not too thick on the ground. This chap probably had as many cod as everyone else on the boat put together, the reason being that as he was fishing down the line of drift, his was the first offering any available fish would see long before the drop down lures and baits covered them.

SEE THE VIDEO VAULT – Deep water pirk fishing