The 'Portland Rig' this rig is used by the commercial rod & line Bass fishermen and has proven to be the most efficient rig to use.

The materials needed to make up the Portland Rig are:

3 good quality barrel type line swivels (small size)

2 small beads

18lb clear (not white!) mono line

25lb clear mono line

Good quality 3/0 or 4/0  Aberdeen pattern hooks (for live sandeels) or,

Plastic lure (Storm Shad, Sidewinder Lure or similar)

The picture shows the simplicity of this rig and why it is so efficient, especially when you compare this rig to say a standard running ledger rig or even a flying collar rig,

There is the absolute minimum of resistance to the tide and the rig is less visible to the wary Bass, Coupled with the fact that the cost of the materials needed to tie it up is only a fraction of other less efficient rigs,

Three things to remember when tying your own,

1. Don't make the hook length too short

    (6' minimum and up to 20' at times).

2. Don't make the lead link or the sliding length too long

    (lead link 4") (sliding length about 12"-15" long).

3. Use a ball or pear shaped lead, avoid leads with flat sections.

    (Flat sided leads "Kite" in the tide causing tangles)

Bait & Tactics

The number one bait for this style of fishing is without question, Live Sand Eel closely followed by Live Joey Mackerel, at certain times of the year when Sand Eels are not available, Shads, Jelly Worms, Eddystone Eels and even Hockais can be very productive however the latter will often account for the smaller fish which must be returned to grow and hopefully breed,

Okay, so now you have tied up your Portland Rig, how do you fish it?

Simple, lower it to the seabed in a controlled manner (to avoid tangles, but fast enough so that you feel the 'tap') when you feel the lead tap the bottom, lock off the reel, every few seconds drop your rod tip and if you don't feel it 'tap' then let out a little more line,

Caution. if you feel your lead tapping continuously, Wind back in a little otherwise you will snag the bottom and snap off. Some anglers like to tap the bottom and then do a slow retrieve of about 10 turns of the reel handle before dropping back to the bottom again and repeating the procedure, this is a good way of ensuring your gear is always in close proximity to the seabed and you are less likely to snag up whilst fishing this method,

also, the Bass may not be feeding hard on the bottom so deploying this method will often find the level at which the fish are feeding.

When you get a hit from a Bass, lift the rod tip sharply to set the hook, its worth mentioning at this point that most of the time the hook is only lodged in the mouth of the Bass and when we eventually slip the landing net under him the hook will fall out when the line goes slack! Armed with that snippet of information it becomes obvious that you cannot allow the fish to have slack line, nor can you bully him,

The golden rule is set your reel drag correctly so that it will slip when necessary and use a soft tipped rod so that you can keep a nice slow bend in it at all times, keep watching that rod tip and if it starts to straighten wind faster,

Anglers often get fooled into thinking they have been smashed up when there line goes slack only to find that the Bass has swam towards them carrying the weight of there tackle with him, when I tell them to quickly wind in, to there amazement they discover he is still on and connected!

Wreck Fishing

Drift fishing is exactly what it sounds like, drifting over a wreck and trying to catch fish

One of the best rigs for this style of fishing is the flying collar rig May to October

 

This illustration shows a standard flying collar rig with live bait or a Sidewinder attached.

The method is to lower the rig carefully (so as not to tangle) to the seabed when the boat is uptide of the wreck, as the boat drifts toward the wreck you should wind in on the reel at a nice constant rate avoiding any jerky motion and more importantly counting as you go, when you have turned the reel handle say, 25 turns, Stop and lower the rig back down to the seabed, continue doing this until your skipper tells you to wind in so that he can drive back uptide to start a new drift,

If you feel a fish plucking at the lure DO NOT STOP WINDING just carry on as if nothing had happened, when the fish takes the lure properly it will instinctively dive for the wreck and in doing so will hook itself, At this point you should lift the rod tip and let the tip of the rod absorb the shock from the fish shaking its head, and, let the reel drag do its job by slipping when the fish does one of its crash dives, Take your time, enjoy the fight and, hopefully, victory will be yours, If you were counting then you will now have a good idea at what depth the fish are feeding and on the next drift will be ready for them,
There are several variations that you can try on this rig, you can try a faster or slower retrieve rate, you could try winding in only 10 turns before dropping back or, try winding in 50 turns,

You could try different coloured lures, a longer leader length (or shorter), a heavier or lighter lead, or even try two lures on the same leader the permutations are endless.

http://www.weymouth-angling.co.uk/wreck_fishing.htm