The change over

What a year it's been already! I fished right the way to the last day of the coarse fishing season landing some lovely pike on the light gear and also the odd surprise bonus-species. My hard drive is literally rammed full of photos, too many to upload without looking picture heavy so here's a few.

Wire traces and other such essentials have been stashed away until next season and the tackle bags have been rearranged in preparation for some long days on the salt. 

I've already been out for a quick LRF session to readjust from the freshwater and was happy when I began to connect with my first salt water mini-species of the year. Quite a contrast to the pike I've been nailing on a regular basis but a small early wrasse gave me a brief reminder of why they are once again going to be at the top of my target list this year. Can't wait to start hunting hunting down a new Pb in the coming months.

Lure fishing the floods

After what seems like an eternity the rivers are finally beginning to drop and with only a couple of weeks left of the coarse fishing season it was time to make the journey to one of my favourite fresh water lure-fishing venues.

After a final check on the river levels I set off this morning with an open mind. I have been fishing on a lake for the past few months which in reality has been a godsend with the floods, I've been nailing some cracking pike like the one below but after 100 or so circuits of the same venue week after week I was really looking forward to being back on the wild water of the river.

On arrival it became apparent that the river levels were still quite high, much of the footpaths were still underwater and for a moment I briefly considered getting back in the car and travelling to a different venue. Something I soon was glad that I decided against.

After a quick wade down the footpath I came across my first sunken tree and with that a small eddy which seemed like a likely holding area for any fish staying out of the main current. After a quick twitch I could see there was a good level of visibility despite the raging currents and after only a few casts I was met by some resistance resulting in my first pike of the day. 

Slightly in shock at how quickly I had landed a fish I got a quick photo and carried on down the path until I came across the next pocket of slack water. Once again I let my lure fall to the river bed and after a twitch again, bang.. another fish on.. 

I quickly realised after another few fish in quick succession that pretty much every little bit of slack water was holding one or maybe two pike that were nailing anything that drifted into their zone. I really didn't have to work too hard and literally letting my lure drop and then holding it back in the slack was resulting in a fish at almost every peg. Over the course of four or so hours I had the best session I've had for quite some time, as soon as the fish were hooking up they would instantly make a run for the main current, doubling the speed of their escape and making it easy for them to strip line off my reel at a fairly scary rate. A heavy pike on light gear is one thing but combine that with the currents from the floods and you've got some serious screaming reels action!

I tallied up 14 fish landed, lost 2 and unhooked a good teen in the water that was too tired and angry to be banked. Most fish were caught in the margins which would usually be the river bank and one I actually nailed right next to a submerged footpath. Lures of choice were the awesome Orka Shad Tails and Tiki Paddletails, two of my favourites for the freshwater!

Safe to say it was a pretty epic session, I really wouldn't have expected such a result with the rivers in that state! What I should say though is if you're thinking of giving this a bash in the coming weeks, do be ultra careful. The banks are really unsafe as I was reminded of on a few occasions when landing and returning fish. On that note I'd better go and clean up that pile of muddy tackle and clothing I dumped at the door earlier..

Tight lines and stay safe out there!!

Winter pike on lures

Getting a rod licence last year was one of the best things I did. I know it's not sea fishing and don't get me wrong; nothing will compare to chucking a lure into the infinite blue abyss but the thing is, winter is a struggle for me and this year with the help of a pike or two, dare I say it hasn't been too bad.

Last January I struggled to catch. Put that down to my novice approach to lure fishing or the fact that my target saltwater species are few and far between at that time of year, whatever it was things were tricky and starting to get a little frustrating as I remember.

This year with a few freshwater sessions under the belt so far and only one blank, it’s a nice feeling to know you’re keeping a hand in. Successfully locating, hooking and playing in the odd fish even when it is mainly for practice has definitely been a good feeling. Not to say it’s been easy, it’s the first time I've targeted winter pike on lures and have had to work pretty hard some days but have been rewarded with a few quite explosive takes that until now I wouldn't have associated with winter fishing.

Safe to say I'm definitely hooked on lure fishing for pike, big or small, summer or winter. It's all good fishy fun!

New year aims and objectives

Looking back its hard to be too critical of my past years performance, but like any enthusiastic angler the mind never stops working. Whatever level you're at, there's always room for some improvement, for new skills to be added and for accomplished ones to be honed. 

It’s been almost 2 years now since I departed from the world of live bait and since my first catch on an artificial, my love for catching fish on lures grows ever stronger.

In retrospect, if there’s one thing I could have worked harder at last year, it would have been to add a few more bass to the score sheet. I suppose starting the year with the objective of nailing some big wrasse got in the way to an extent, but there was probably the odd morning where I could have sacrificed those extra couple of hours in bed, got myself up and nailed me a bar of silver or two as well. Even as I contemplate my plans for the coming year, I find myself once again obsessing about a 5lb+ Ballan, and whilst I was more than satisfied with my fish in the 3-4lb mark last year, I fully acknowledge that much of my time will again be spent wading through the kelp and looking to make contact with what I hope will be that fish of a lifetime.

Besides the lack of achievement on the bass front there were some rewards that I shouldn't forget too quickly. Some personal bests were a highlight making for some unforgettable days fishing. A Ballan wrasse close to 4lb, a mackerel of almost 40cm and a few mullet up to the 5lb mark. 

There has also been the rebirth of my freshwater fishing, awakening the memories of where it all began as a child. Re-approaching the traditional methods I once employed with my new found skills has also lead to a PB pike, once again on an unforgettable day and putting my 2-7g rod to its ultimate test so far.

So anyway, yet another year vanishes into memories and plans for the future are well under way. As my experience builds I am planning to put some work into my tackle page here on the blog. I will add some diagrams and explanations about rigging methods, rods, reels, braid, lures, terminal tackle, luggage and accessories. Where tackle has been tested over a sufficient period of time I will also add some reviews from myself and Stuart reflecting on our own personal experiences with those items.

As for my tackle selection this year, much will remain the same but after lightening the lure collection via an eBay auction or two, a much more slender selection will hopefully cover me over most situations.  My bass and wrasse lures, most of which are proven catchers remain mostly in packets accompanied by a box of jig-heads, hooks and a few metals. I also have a few general purpose boxes of 3”, 2” and 1” lures which will be used for salt and freshwater alike along with a few packets of larger paddle-tails and creatures namely for Mr pike. I'm hoping my trimmed down kit will make lure selection easier on the day and will aid me when swapping kit-bag contents in between fresh and saltwater sessions, not to mention lightening the load and giving me more room for essentials like food and water.

Anyway, enough ranting on about me and my OCD, what about some fishing?! So far I've only managed one session this year. That saw me taking advantage of a long awaited window amidst the rather dank and windy conditions that have so far dominated this year. With choppy seas and rivers still seriously flooded it was off to the lake for a couple of hours to take advantage of what had turned out to be a pretty nice, sunny afternoon.  After a trek around some of my usual spots I was happy when I quickly connected with this small but energetic pikelet.

First fish of the year caught on a 3” slit shad, one of my latest additions towards the end of 2013. Awesome little lures with a great action and at a decent price, I'm thinking the wrasse and bass are bound to like these too.

They seem pretty durable so will be my replacement for the more expensive One Up Shads which as much as I love just don’t last long enough when you add forests of kelp and a few feisty wrasse to the equation. Hopefully a scenario I will be testing out in the near future.

Anyway, that’s all for now.. Wishing you a happy new year and some great fishing for you all!! Thanks for reading as always.. 

December so far...

Just a quickie post, or lazy if you like!!.... We've been having an amazing time targeting some freshwater species (mainly pike!) with the lightweight set-ups and soft plastics. Lots of photos to share so here we go..

Thanks for taking a look.. More to come in the next week fingers crossed! Tight lines.. 

Megawrasse One Up' Xlayer Shad

As cold, uninviting and dark as our winter afternoons become there's always some light at the end of the tunnel making the most of what's left of our sport-fishing year. Yes, fingers get cold, the bites begin to slow and more than ever you find yourself hunting around in the bag for that special lure that's going to be the game-changer of the day. My last couple of sessions on the salt have found me doing exactly that and it feels great when you finally tie on that winner and the action starts to happen. One soft plastic that had worked its way to the bottom of my box of 3-4" lures was one which was only dismissed partly due to its Frankenstein method of creation following a surgical evening  involving some expensive shredded soft plastics that had met their demise during some midsummer wrassing sessions. The lures in question were two of my favourite softies, the Sawamura One Up' Shad and the awesome Megabass X-layer with the magic ayu-green belly, both of which had had weedless hooks ripped from their bodies, chunks bitten from their tails and rattles ripped from within as hungry wrasse had set about their attempted disembowelment. As the year developed and the pocket dwindled I learnt my lesson and cheaper or more robust lures were set aside to fulfil the job in hand. Reluctant to part with my expensive wrassing leftovers I had trimmed and set them aside and when sorting through a box one evening I had decided to experiment with some melting together of random sections to create some new recycled soft plastics. One of my experiments looked like this..

The Megawrasse One Up' X-layer Shad

Anyway, perched on an outcrop and after working my way through a handful of 3" softies to no avail I finally rigged one up on a 7g Decoy Bachi jig head. After no bites for an hour my tasty little creation instantly provoked a response when two hungry garfish, one after another decided they were making it their lunch. Too much of a mouthful for either of them they both managed to shake the hook but nonetheless my One Up' Slayer had heated things up. Shortly after, I had another take; this time much more fierce and after a serious tug-of-war my jig head was spat back with the X layer half still intact and the One Up' tail presumably still in the mouth of a rather large and angry wrasse. The soft tail and join was obviously a downfall of my creation but after all they were leftovers, and luckily I had made 2. At these points during a day's lure fishing I'm still uncertain if it's my game-changing lure that has suddenly made the difference or if, the more likely scenario in my opinion; feeding time has commenced and the fish decide to go nuts. Anyway, after a few more knocks on the Mega One Up' Mk 2 I managed to land a few fish including pollock and this lovely Ballan.

As the tide began to push and conditions changed for the worse I was pushed back along the ledge and scaled down to have some last minute fun with the LRF gear and some Power Isome.

Another following session was less productive with a couple of wrasse favouring the awesome 2" Fin-S Fish in black glitter and a solitary but determined young pollock.

Finally and as things seemed to be slowing down on the salt I had a few hours roaming the riverbank yesterday in hope that the clarity had improved after the awful conditions in the past few weeks. The water was still on the muddy side and after my attempts at the perch and chub on small soft plastics proved fruitless, I was again flicking through my bag in hope of finding a lure that would provoke a response. After a good couple of hours with only a chubby or trouty knock on a small grub I decided to have a go for a pike and got about cuing up a Wave 4" Tiki Paddletail Shad in rainbow trout on a size 3/0 5g jig head. Not having used these lures before I was instantly impressed with the action and combined with the jighead it made a pretty good job of imitating a distressed or injured roach or trout which was exactly what I needed in the conditions at hand. I managed 3 jack pike on my walk back along the ground I had just covered all of which nailed the Wave paddletail with intent and didn't want to let go. This was the largest which put up a great scrap on light gear.

Wave Tiki Paddletail Shads were from AGM which I think were end of the line jobs. The Big Bite 4" Shad looks identical if you're up for giving them a try. 

I'm hoping to get out in the coming week so fingers crossed there'll be another report to come soon.. In the mean time, thanks for reading and good luck if you're getting out there too..