Dear Mr.Sei, please do not take my hook!

[Fishstinks]

Hi guys, I am new here on the forum, and hope you don't mind me posting in English, as my Norsk knowledge is limited to the names of fish!

I have been bitten by the shore fishing bug, and am attempting to learn how to do it the right way. I hope to develop my interest into a nice new hobby, but I realize there is so much to learn. Right now I am using both metal lures of different sizes that catch quite a bit of fish, and baited rigs that so far have failed to catch any dinner whatsoever. I would love to learn more about coastal bait, as obviously I am doing something very wrong.

I have been on four fishing trips so far (Sotra, Øygarden, Austevoll, Os), and all of these trips produced exclusively lyr or sei, ranging from 300 gram to 1.5 kg. The baby ones I let go back to the sea to grow up a little, and the bigger ones are brought home.

My main question might appear silly, but nevertheless here goes. How do I avoid catching lyr and sei, or better put, how do I catch anything else??? My family finds their taste to be off-putting at best, so we end up processing all of our catch into dinner for dogs. I have read that Norwegian coast boasts of 300 varieties of fish, but the other 298 varieties must dislike me a lot.

I would really appreciate any input into this situation. The next time Mr.Sei takes my hook again and I see his black back coming up from the water, I will be tempted to throw in the white flag.

[Jon-Eirik Brobak]

What kind of bait do u use?

What size hooks do u use?

[Fishstinks]

For lures, when using them, these are from 25 to 60 gram.

For rigs, I've tried hooks from 1/0 to 4/0, and some I made with 7/0. They always come back empty (unless they get stuck on the bottom...LOL), which makes me think I suck terribly at this kind of fishing.

For bait, I have tried mackerel filets, frozen shrimp, and some of the soft plastic stuff that looks like shrimp and worms. I've tried 4 or 5 different rig setups.

Yesterday evening we were at Austevoll. My partner got 5 or 6 lyr in the first hour using metal lures, while my wonderful stinky mackerel filet was left absolutely untouched...

Endret June 1, 2011 av Fishstinks

[Jon-Eirik Brobak]

if u are fishing with lures u pretty much only catch sei and lyr, but if u try fishing the lure on the bottom, u should be able to catch some cod as well.. i dont know the places u are fishing in, so i cant help u that much.

also, try smaler hooks when baitfishing, this could produce some more fish, try to find places with sand on the bottom, there could be some flounder there.

but what ever u do, dont throw in the white flag and give up! i had 16 trips on a row this year whitout any fish, but now its been one of the best seasons ive ever experienced! just hang in there, and try to fint some new places..

http://kart.gulesider.no/ <-- press "sjøkart" and try to find some places here as well..

[Ølgylt]

hello

Mr Sei & Lyr cannot be avoided, only evaded. Try another spot if it teemes with them. Or if possibly try to fish deeper.

Your baited rigs will produce fish after a while, just keep trying, read seacharts to find places where you go below 30 meter, preferably even deeper.

Surfacefishing will yield mostly sei, lyr, makrell, and horngjel. Fun for a while, but not too long.

[Fishstinks]

Thank you very much for your advice and encouragement!

To summarize, you guys say to find deeper water, use smaller hook size, leave lures at home as this is what invites Mr.Sei, trust in bait, ...and get me some extra patience.

Jon-Eirik, I loved the link you posted, it is much better and faster than the one I have been using (http://www.ngu.no/kart/arealisNGU), but how do you read these charts? For example, what does a pink wavy line mean? A dashed gray line? Is there difference between depth reading written in blue and in gray?

I include a picture that shows symbols I am unsure about:

Endret June 1, 2011 av Fishstinks

[Rønsingen]

The pink wavy line is normally a pipeline or a electric cable, so doesn't affect your fishing. unless you are fishing from a boat and thinking about using an anker.

The dashed gray line is to say that its shallow and not recommended to go there by boat.

The blue depth are together whit a depth line and tells what depth the line shows. The grey numbers tells what the depth is at the exact point. Sometimes its tops or holes, other times its nothing special, but it give you an idea of the structure between the mane lines.

When it comes to the dark coloured areas that is to show a place that can get dry when the tide is at its lowest. When the tide is low this areas can be good for collecting baits, like muscles, ragworms, luggworms etc.

If you want something completely different than coalfish and pollock you should try to fish for flatfish. Then you are looking for flatt bottom, between 2-40m, whit sand, hard mudd, mixed between them and rocks etc. Fish whit 4-2/0 hooks and shrimps, muscles or raggworms. Fish the bait close or on the bottom. You can move the bait a bitt every 1-5min and hope for the right fish to take the bait

How do you cook the coalfish and pollock? since you don`t like them... its very good fish if made the right way

[Fishstinks]

Thank you for a detailed explanation of the symbols!

I only dream of catching a flatty. Have read here on the forum that flounder likes sandy bottom, but it is difficult to find it around here - it's all rocks, rocks, rocks. Someone said there was a great area in Os, a little beach at the bay, and last week we gave it a try. On arrival we were greeted by a destroyed little beach and a huge construction site in its place. Went across the bay to a different spot and got no flatties, but an enormous number of coalies...

Cooking! Another passion of mine. I'll admit I have not tried too many ways of cooking my two newly found fish friends, in fact I have only cooked these species three times. First time, I baked them in a tray in olive oil, with light dusting of paprika. Second time, I put them into individual aluminum foil pockets with again olive oil and sprigs of rosemary. Last time, I rubbed the fillets with salt, freshly ground black pepper and dried thyme, and fried them in butter. It is still a bit too cold to enjoy our outside grill, but maybe they'll taste better when grilled?

To my great shame, I tend to be very picky with food. I found, no matter the cooking method, that this fish tends to be too lean and flavorless for my liking. The spices add their own layer of flavor, but the fish itself tastes a bit too bland and featureless...it was almost like eating paper. Coalfish tastes more "fishy" than the pollack, but either of them leaves me craving a good steak.

BTW, I see you are in Radøy. We are about to move to Lindås, so we are going to be neighbors.

Endret June 1, 2011 av Fishstinks

[løk]

For flatty: location, location, location.

For cooking: sei & lyr can handle a great deal of herbs and spice. Slay (do not filet), stuff & salt, wrap in aluminum-foil and gril.

As for small/unwanted fish taking the bait ... errrr. That happens. A bit of shrimp-scale at the edge of the hook will avoid some of them? And adjust size of bait and hook? It's also a location matter, some places it seems they cannot be avoided what-so-ever. (but eh, speaking for myself only: lyr is a fun fish for light equipment. It is often to be found near shore, or it (if it's a wise and old lyr) playfully follows bait or lure in "safe distance". Very curious fish!)

[Fishstinks]

Thank you! I figured from the previous replies that one of my undoubtedly many mistakes is staying in relatively shallow waters, 5-10 meters or so. Part of it is because we fail to find good deep marks, and another part is fear of losing tackle. It seems every time I let it sink all the way, it is not coming back! This past month Bergen Aktiv must have made a very good profit on my uncanny ability to feed my rigs to the sea gods!