My mom just came back from a 3 week trip to Ireland and being the tackle enthusiast that I am, I asked her to pick up some fishing for me. I was looking for a conoflex rod but eh... ;) j/k.

Well she came back and she got me two fishing things. The first thing is called a "Large Hokkai" It's like three giant teasers on 6/0 hooks. Pretty interesting stuff. I think that could score some bass.

The other thing she got me is called a Pollack and Coalfish rig. It's a plastic diamond and there is a snap on the bottom part for a weight. Then there is a metal boom coming off there. You tie a mono trace to a hook and then a jelly worm is threaded on there. The jelly worms are just like our rubber worms. Pretty cool stuff.

I took a pic of the stuff. I don't know if it'll catch anything. Maybe fluke or something.

My mom also told me the fish to catch over there is salmon. You have to pay to fish for them.

It's pretty cool.

The cod/pollack rig looks like it might take some fluke. Who knows, maybe even a weakfish. But looks more like a take on some of our cod rigs.

Can you post a pic of the first diamond-haped rig you mentioned?

Europe, especially the Great Britan area, does have some odd (by our standards) looking rigs. When I was in London some years ago I picked up a bunch of lures at a shop that looked like they would do well for bass and blues. Some kind of spinning (rotating) lure they said was used for salmon. Looked great in the water, but even snappers wouldn't touch it. :)

ps- I remember the first time I tried to describe saltwater flyfishing to a Brit. She looked at me like I had 3 heads!! ;)

They are still bitter about the war ;) She was probably confused because their beaches are so shallow over there and it would be hard to cast a fly that far out.

Here is the best picture I could take of it.

That plastic diamond has a snap on the bottom. Your line ties to the diamond itself and a weight snaps to the bottom. Then the there is a wire metal boom coming off the end. This is where your mono trace ties on and your hook goes to the end of the trace. I don't know if it'll work. It'll be fun to tinker with foreign methods. This is the Pollack and Coalfish rig. I'm thinking this rig will do well with the winter flounder. A way to set a tiny bit of night crawler or sandworm away from the weight.

The other rig is for salmon I think. They look like little trout eating salmon eggs. Maybe they'll trick a bass or a fluke. I'm thinking I should seperate them and use each one as a teaser.

Oops, forgot the picture. ;p

Well I just checked Veal's mailorder. The first rig is called a "Mackeral Hokkai rig. Sorta like a sabiki rig on steroids. That's cool. I think for it to be effective, I have to split the lures up for them to be effective. They are too close. Like a daisy chain.

Your diamond rig might work for flounder but I don't think it will be revolutionary. Too much hardware. The other rig may work for fluke, may even be a "secret" rig for the George's Banks trips but I don't think it will take too many bass. Then again, who knows.

They're heavy into cod across the pond. They also have some type of fish they call a "bass". Looks more like a really big trout (it's not a trout, just looks like it). They fish these huge live sand eels they call Sea Lances for them in similar fashion to how we use eels for stripers (caught with some type of Sabaki rig). I don't think they have a lot of ocean shore fishing in the British isles. Maybe some pier fishing but nothing we'd consider surf casting. They do take a lot of trips to the caribbean and Secyelles (sp?) for fishing, especially bonefish.

Last fall, one cold November night in a spot near FI inlet a guy came down with 2 youngsters he said were distant cousins from Scottland. He wanted to show them what a striper looked like up front. While he fihed the kids ran up and down the beach in the dark. Finally, the guy hooked one and called to the kids. In wonder they looked on as he slide a bass about 40" onto the beach. He said "This is why we come out here on cold nights!". The kids were totaly aw-struck! I'm sure from their POV it was an amazing feet they'll be talking about for years to come.