The coalfish is a fish of the cold North Atlantic, most plentiful from the northern North Sea up to Norway and Iceland and found further south on deeper offshore ground. Its back is greenish black, its belly silver, and its lateral line runs straight and pale along the flank. That line is the quickest way to tell it from a pollack, whose line curves up over the pectoral fin and whose lower jaw juts out. Coalfish move in shoals and chase sandeels, sprats and small fish above wrecks and reefs. Hooked on a lure they keep diving, and they eat well: the raw fillet looks greyer than cod but turns white in the pan.
On Reelzy the fish is listed by one Plymouth boat, Fishing with Andy. Andy runs full days in the western Channel, leaving at about 07:15 and back around 17:00, for up to 8 anglers, and you can buy a single place on a shared trip or take the whole boat. The boat jigs, spins with lures, drifts and bottom fishes over wrecks, banks and rough ground, which is the water coalfish come from. They are a fish you may meet on that day, not the one it is sold on: the boat's last catch report, in November 2025, had six novice anglers on hire tackle catching bass, pollock and black bream on a reef and a nearby wreck.
If a coalfish is what you want, ask Andy whether the day will reach the deeper wrecks and what has come off them lately. Over a wreck the skipper sets a drift and you drop a metal jig or a soft lure on a long trace to the bottom, then wind it steadily back up, and shoal fish take it on the way. Our wreck fishing page has the other fish of this kind of ground.
Questions and answers
Short answers to what people ask before they book. Anything else, ask the captain in chat.
How do I tell a coalfish from a pollack?
Look at the lateral line. On a coalfish it is straight and pale against a dark green-black back. On a pollack it curves up over the pectoral fin, the back is bronze or olive, and the lower jaw sticks out further than the upper.
Can I fish for coalfish from Plymouth on a shared trip?
Yes. Fishing with Andy sells single places on its full-day trips as well as the whole boat, for up to 8 anglers. Coalfish turn up on the wrecks and rough ground the boat fishes but are not a guaranteed target, so ask what has been caught recently.