What is the best method to fish at a jetty or pier on day and night.
A jetty or pier normally extended out certain distance into the sea from the shoreline. This mean fishing from here you will have access to deeper water. Indirectly, this structure will attracted small bait fish to hang around for food and also to stay away from fast or strong current flow during a spring tide. With school of bait fish around, it will also attract predator fish or giant fish to look for easy food. So fishing on a jetty for a angler mean can get fresh live bait and also chances of hooking up big fish. Fishing on a jetty also mean you have to look at how the current flow. Certain part of the jetty the current could be too strong for your tackle set. If you cast down your bait and your sinker can’t hold bottom due to strong current, best is change your position to a place where the current is on coming or flowing away from you. Else you may find your sinker get carried by the strong current and eventually get snag.
How to jig for bait fish ?
Tackle needed: A small telescopic rod 5-6ft lenght. A small spinning 1000-2000 size. Load with 10-15lbs mono or braided line. Small size 0.5-1g sinker. A packet of green n white thread tamban rig.
After setting up the tackle, check which way the water current flow. Choose to fish on the side that you will face into the on coming current. Lower your rig down until the tamban rig top swivel reach the water surface. Start jigging by moving the rig up n down slowly. If result no good, drop the rig deeper. Try out until you find the bite. Gave a jerk on your rod tip upward if you feel a bite. This will set the hook and you can wind back the line. Sometime you may need to jig more vigorously in order to attract it to bite. It all depend on that day current flow and sea condition. So its a matter of trying it out which way best. You can keep this bait fish a live by putting them in a pail of sea water taken from there. They can stay alive for at least ten minute if not injured. Type of bait fish for day fishing are Tamban, kunning, selar, kambong or ketket. Some of them got season. So don’t expect to get all types. As for night, only night herring is available. You can use the tamban hook rig to jig for it.
A bedok jetty tamban rig
Light telescopic rod for bait jigging.
A box of fresh tamban.
A pail of night herring as bait.
2. How to fish during a day trip ?
Fishing on a day trip start by jigging of live bait fishes. Keep them alive in a pail of fresh sea water. There are several methods for day fishing.
- Use a cable car rig with a live herring. This will target surface predator fish and is the most successful rate for day time.
- Bottom fishing: Either you can use a hand line and hookup a live bait on a single long snood bottom feeder rig then lower down just below the jetty or use a set of tackles as you will find more thrill when there is a hook up. You also can use a two hook one up one down short snood bottom feeder rig and use prawn meat or squid as bait.
- Float fishing: For this method, you need to choose a spot where the water current flow away from you. Just tie a float with a 2ft. long snood and hookup a live bait. Lower it down to the water surface. Let the current flow carried your live bait to a distance you like and just set the drag if you are using a set of tackle. Note: For this method, if the current change direction, you need to move to the opposite side.
Catch on a day trip by a cable car rig with live bait.
3.How to fish during a night trip ?
Night fishing at a jetty mostly are bottom fishing. Either you use a long snood bottom feeder rig or a short snood one. Best bait is squid or bait fish for biggie and cut squid or prawn meat for palm size fish. Live prawn is good but just need to lower down below the jetty. By casting out you may risk of it dropping out or may be kill by the impact when hit the water.
Catch on a night trip with a bottom feeder rig.
4. How to bring up a big fish at a jetty when hook ?
If you are targeting biggie at a jetty, you need to bring a long scoop net or a rope gaff. Another way is a landing net with a long rope. If not then you had to steer the catch all the way back to the entrance of the jetty and land it by the beach.
This above picture show how to gaff a big 50kg Stingray below the jetty. There are 4 rope gaffs here. The centre one is the main gaff. Near to the head of the fish is two small fishing hook gaff. At the tail of the fish is another small fishing hook gaff. We only got one big gaff at that time. So the rest are borrow from anglers around there at that time which is small. The fish is very big and heavy, so we use four gaff to spread out the weight so that we can had four person pulling it up at the same time.
Or A landing net. Easy to bring along on a trip. You just need to lower this net round frame on the water surface then use your rod to guide the fish inside and just pull the net up.
Shoreangler 