Pollack and Chips

The fresh easterly breeze that had persisted the last couple of days had died away to leave a perfect calm evening. 

I arrived soon after low water. There was a lady watching from a car as I unloaded my kit.

"Are you fishing for trout in the lake?" she asked.

"No, pollack from the rocks." 

"Oh the tide's all wrong for that, it's too shallow."

"I'll give it a try anyway, the water's deeper at the end of the bay."

Her husband came back from walking the dog.

"After trout?"

"No, pollack."

"The tide's all wrong for that ..."

As I walked round the bay, there was a lady collecting seaweed to put on her garden.

"Are you after trout ...?"

Not filled with confidence, I reached the rocks. There was indeed plenty of depth, though I could see the kelp rising from the bottom through the crystal clear water. 

I don't keep that many fish, but today I was on a mission. I needed a pollack around 3 - 4lbs as a meal for the two of us plus house guest the following evening. As I've had pollack to around 7lbs from this mark before, it seemed eminently possible. I set up a bubblegum pink redgill on a long fluoro trace, with a 2oz lead on the dropper.

First cast ... nothing. Second cast ... was that a pluck? Third cast ... bang ... pollack on, but only about a pound. Over the next half hour it was nearly a pollack a chuck, but all small.