Year after year, the Atlantic Coast from New England through New Jersey attracts droves of anglers chasing glamorous species like striped bass, tuna, and flounder. By Christmas, however, opportunities with these fish have largely dwindled. In decades past, cod would have picked up where they left off, but thanks to overfishing that has spawned highly restrictive recreational seasons and bag limits, winter cod games have all but dried up. Pollock, however, are there to save the day.
While these might be obscure saltwater fish, they have plenty of cold-braving devotees, one of which is my good friend Jim Fee, the editor of Cape Cod-based On The Water magazine. He’ll be the first to tell you that pollock squash the widely held notion that in winter there’s really not much worth fishing for in the Northern Atlantic. So, if you’re looking for a salty adventure this off-season or want to try something different, here’s what you need to know about these cousins of the cod that aren’t short on rod-bending muscle.
Listen to this week’s episode of the Quick Strike Podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Get Off the Ground
Popular winter targets like ling, cod, and haddock — which fall in the “groundfish” category — all have one thing in common. Catching them requires dropping baits down to the bottom. In fact, it can be difficult to target one particular species. More often, boats are simply “mixed bag” fishing, and you get what you get. But pollock buck that trend because the way they feed and set up allows you to fish much more actively.
“Pollock are known in New England as Boston bluefish,” says Fee. “That’s because they have a big, forked tail, they’re predatory, and they hang out much higher in the water column than other winter saltwater targets. They behave much more like bluefish, and with cod regulations becoming very restrictive, the appeal of pollock has risen because there are still lots of them out there and they fight really hard.”
Historically, pollock were so prolific in the Northeast that they were available in the surf in places like Martha’s Vineyard off the coast of Cape Cod and Montauk on the tip of Long Island in New York. Though the surf bite is (sadly) a thing of the past, fishing for them offshore is still consistent enough to support a winter party boat fishery, which is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to get at them. There are many boats throughout the Northeast that run pollock trips, though Fee says the Yankee Fleet out of Gloucester, Massachusetts, is one of the best.
Pollock are hunters, which is part of the reason anglers miss a lot of opportunities to catch them. If you’re fishing an offshore reef, wreck, or rock pile, you’re likely fishing right in the structure, but pollock won’t be there. They’ll be hovering above it, which is why jigging is the most effective way to fool them. There is, however, a bit more nuance to the tactic than might be required to jig striped bass, bluefish, or black seabass.
“Most guys use these long, Norwegian metal jigs that were originally created for fishing the deep fjords in northern Europe,” Fee says. “They can weigh up to 16 ounces and they have a curve to them. The idea is when you lift then drop one, it sort of scoots out to one side. But the jig is mostly just a delivery system for two or three teasers riding above it on the leader.”
Related: The Best Saltwater Fishing Rods
Those teasers are usually simple flies tied with synthetic hair in dark colors, and they represent small herring, which are a primary food source of the pollock. The jigging technique is known as “squidding,” which sounds fancy but is really rather simple. Drop the metal and teasers to the bottom, reel up a few cranks and pause, reel a few more cranks, pause, and so on. The idea is to keep the rig moving up in the water column until it reaches the level where the most pollock are holding.
Super-Sized Action
According to Fee, on a good party boat trip, pollock will come over the rails so quickly that the mates will start filleting them right away and not stop until lines in. This can leave you with a pile of fish at the end of the day. But while pollock might be a relative of the highly coveted cod, there are some things to know before dropping it in the freezer or popping it in the oven.
“With cod you have this big, flaky fillet and there are so many things you can do with it,” says Fee. “But pollock is a little bit softer than cod so it doesn’t last as long fresh and doesn’t freeze as nicely. That said, it’s still a very tasty fish and what I do with it most often is make fish sandwiches.”
Fee isn’t the only one. McDonald’s uses it as well. Their classic Fillet-O-Fish has long been made with Pacific pollock, which are closely related to Atlantic pollock. Substituting pollock for crab in classic crab cake recipes is also very popular, as freezing pre-fried cakes can also prolong the shelf life better than freezing whole fillets.
Read the full article here
