Paddletail fetish and redundant plastics!!

It seems I just can’t get enough of catching wrasse on lures. It was this time last year that I decided to bite the bullet and start experimenting with lightweight lure fishing. Wrasse and pollock would never have been my intended quarry up until then but now I’m a full-time, rough-ground addict!!

After the initial surge of building a suitable lure collection, I have now established some serious favourites and it seems the majority is now relegated to the Tupperware’s and biscuit tins surrounding me in my office. If you like big-boys toys then you too are likely to have been sucked in and now have many boxes of plastics in various colours, shapes and styles. It seems more than ever that the lure market is as good at hooking fish as it is the customer and I for one have been guilty of thinking any new bit of sparkle is a must have if I'm to make the most out of my sessions. This of course isn't true and the more I learn, the less that seems to go into my bag each time I go fishing. I'm also remembering why I set out on this journey and that was predominantly to fish lighter!! 

During most sessions last year I was leaving home with everything I had acquired, including jig heads, lures (hard and soft), weights, hooks, leaders etc.. It was defeating the object of going lighter but I suppose at the time I was unsure of the right tackle for the situation and didn't want to be caught short on the rocks without the right gear. It seems now with more experience I've become better at assessing the situation beforehand and now only leave home with the bare minimum. For one it’s lighter to carry and above all, it’s easier to find what you’re looking for in your bag and organise things so it's there to hand when you need it. I've always been a bit OCD and if you’re remotely similar you‘ll know the impact that good organisation can make to a days fishing. I'm hoping as the year progresses I will find a need for the excess tackle but for now it seems that in most situations I will fish a weedless hook, soft plastic lure and maybe a small nose weight running free on the leader. Jigheads would just be a nightmare in the kelp and even over clean ground I find myself adopting texas-style rigging to limit dragging in any floating bits of weed which are everywhere at this time of the year after a good blow. 

There’s also the matter of my serious fetish for paddle-tails this year! Senkos and X-layers were becoming my favourite styles last year but now it seems I have found extra confidence with lures such as the awesome Sawamura One’ Up Shad and the Keitech Easy Shiner. 

Both have added impregnated scents but the movement as soon as the lure hits the water seems to drive some fish into a feeding frenzy. I now refer to these as Haribo for wrasse and whilst not being the cheapest lures to let them rip to shreds they do pay for themselves with the amount of fish you catch.

Anyway, enough waffle for now, time for some fishy photos. Needless to say it’s been wrasse, wrasse and more wrasse. Don’t think I’ll ever get tired of catching these beautiful fish. Well done to Stuart on nailing that fatty that ran you aground last time!! Thanks for reading!!

Wrasse on lures again!!

It’s been another great weekend exploring the local coastline and as always we've met plenty of people along the way; Most of them lovely, genuine sea-caring people but of course there’s always the odd one who seems more intent on killing everything he lands with no consideration for others or the environment around him. It's such a shame there are still some people out there giving us anglers a bad name, leaving rubbish on the beach and not to mention shoving baby school bass into carrier bags without conscience. I'm constantly trying to explain to these people how young these fish are and how we need to look after our resources for future generations. I never get much of a response and if I do its some rubbish like 'they all swallowed the hooks'! Hmm.. Really??! I know a shore fishermen has little impact on our seas in comparison to a commercial boat but I believe anyone who fishes should be made to understand the lifespan of anything they catch, observe the size limits that are put in place for a reason and treat our seas with the respect it deserves.... There, that's that off my chest!! Anyway, about those lovely people!! I can’t help but notice the vast number of anglers, like myself who are new to lure fishing but still unaware of the variety of species that can be targeted with artificial baits. Many still seem intent on catching bass and if you are fishing catch and release as you say you intend to, then why are you ignoring the great fun that can be had with hard fighting species such as wrasse.

If want to give it a go you’re best off fishing a weedless set-up like the one below bumping your lure along the bottom or simply ‘dead sticking’ your bait in a more static manner as you would with touch bait fishing.

Wrasse tend to inhabit rough ground, so if you find boulders and jungles of kelp and bladderwrack then you’re sure to find them in numbers. As I understand at this time of year like other species, wrasse move inshore in order to find a safe haven to deposit their eggs. They are highly territorial creatures and will defend their nests with serious aggression and it seems in the process they’re quite partial to turning that fight into a convenient dinnertime.

Our latest trips have found myself and Stuart intent on hunting down these rocket fuelled little beauties and we've found some pretty stunning places to do exactly that.

It’s not all fun and games and after witnessing two rock falls in the past two sessions we've become increasingly conscious of the safety element involved in reaching our chosen marks. Waders keep us away from the base of the cliffs and I can only cringe when I see families setting up picnics in exactly the same spots we habitually try to avoid.  I attempted to capture the aftermath of one of the falls, notice the cloud of dust at the side of the cliffs.

In our last evening session we managed to bag a good few fish each such as this greedy little bugger that managed to scoff a whole x-layer.

Another lure that seemed to be working well that evening was the Culprit 4" Dropshot Worm in Smoke/Black & Purple Fleck from agmdiscountfishing.co.uk. I'm sure there's going to be plenty more wrasse falling to this one!

Stuart also hooked a clonker on a Megabass Inch-Zic which we unfortunately didn't get to see as it ran him aground on some kelp and managed to escape our photoshoot. I don’t think I've seen his Lucky Craft ESG II bent like that before but it most certainly would have been his biggest wrasse to date. Safe to say he was pretty annoyed to lose it, sure you’ll nail him next time anyway mate.:)

I’ll leave on that note and hopefully next time as we scale the lures up we’ll get onto some more specimen sized fish. Thanks for reading as always and good luck nailing a lure-caught wrasse of your own!! 

Back on form!!

Well, the forecast for this weekend sure was welcome, sunshine with a north westerly breeze and slight seas. Everything looked on for a good day hitting wrasse on SP’s so we planned to get out to a mark which had showed some promise when I fished it last weekend.

We  took a long walk around the coast hopping from boulder to boulder whilst keeping clear of the very crumbly cliffs which after a good drenching were now baking in the sun, crunching and creaking and sporadically dumping down the odd rock or buckets-worth of sand and slate.

Upon reaching our mark all inhibitions faded at the sight of a kelp-strewn bay that was crying out wrasse. After setting up our texas rigs we began the wade out along the ledge which takes you about 80 yards off-shore, away from the landslides and into a good metre of water for most of the day.

After a fairly intense week it was great to be able to revert to a child-like state and upon the first nibble that’s exactly how I began to feel. Fishing light was the way forward but with our drags tightened in order to bully any fish away from them returning to their lair where they like to snag you up. 3”plastics, #1 wide gape hooks and some 5g cone weights were all we needed in our pockets in case anything did manage to snap us up. (thankfully no tackle lost this time!)

Fish started coming thick and fast and before long plenty of nice wrasse were darting out from beneath the ledges and nailing our baits. Being that we were wading quite far off-shore, photography was a challenge but nonetheless we managed to capture some of these beautiful fish for the diary. Their initial surge once hooked is awesome fun on light gear and the variety of colours they sport is unlike any other fish that I know of. I'm well and truly hooked on them!

May bank holiday catch report

Thought I’d get this quickie in before I forget. Had a really great little session last week when we decided to venture off to one of our favourite rock marks for the first time this year.

On a bit of a whim we headed off to catch the last couple of hours of the ebb. The mark fishes well at all states of the tide and with dusk approaching I was confident that the Pollock would put in an appearance with the added chance of an early bass. With quite a large swell our favoured ledge was sporadically engulfed by the sea and having forgotten the waders I opted for getting wet in order to cast out along a reef. I started off fishing a 14g Dexter wedge fitted with a single hook, searching out the nooks and crannies in search of anything on the feed. Still feeling a little rusty I was sure this was the way forward and sure enough the fish started to bite. Stuart was first in with a nice little pollock and after something tapping at my lure like a woodpecker I managed to hook into my first gar of the year.

Stuart managed another pollock and a gar too I think. It was getting dark quickly and as the sunlight faded I changed lure to a softie and accustomed myself to the dark for the last hour. I’d forgotten what it was like chucking lures in the dark but as my night vision came on I remembered how much I loved it. After chucking metal for the last hour it was nice to be flicking out and twitching some plastic. I had opted for a 3.75” Ecogear BTS shad on a 7g Decoy violence jig head. This was instantly getting attention and before long I landed this lovely little pollock.

Short but sweet; it was great to be back on the rocks and even better to be catching again. Mission next time; bass!!

First signs of life

After seeming like it would never arrive the warmer weather has finally decided to make an appearance. The sea temperature is 9.4°C today and more seasonal reports of plaice, mackerel and the odd bass are pleasing to hear after such a long winter.

Quick to respond to the change in seasons I have ventured out a few times recently. If for nothing else I have been chomping at the bit just to get a rod in my hand and get back to grips with the tackle I will be using for most of my fishing this year.  Alongside my Major Craft Crostage CRS-802PE I will be using a Quantum smoke SL25PTI loaded with 10lb Yamatoyo SW Super PE. I am back to using Guru Dragline 8lb mono as a leader after getting tired of my Sufix fluorocarbon randomly falling apart on me.

I will also be doing a lot more wading this year as my introductory experiences in the salt have been unbelievable to say the least.  Feeling at one with the water whilst submerged to the waist on an incoming tide is exciting enough and with scenery like this what more could you want..

On the technical side I will need to divide my concentration between the fishing and the safety side of things. Some waves look pretty menacing coming in at eye level and casting whilst keeping footing is something I will have to get used to. And then there will be landing the fish. In at the deep end with that one!!

Wrasse have still been reluctant to take lures but we have felt the odd nip here and there and can’t wait to get catching some soon. I plan to try for some LRF style this week in the same manner I began in last year.   Pollock should also start to put in their dawn/dusk appearances. Persevering the other evening resulted in this little chap. Small and solitary but a welcome knock on the rod nonetheless.

Lastly I would just like to thank Stuart for an entertaining day on the rocks last week. Two of the most spectacular tumbles I have ever witnessed. If only I had the camera handy that would have been some serious You've Been Framed material. Sorry mate I had to mention it!! hope you’re feeling better:) Remember.. Safety first when rock fishing!! 

Cabin fever = more tweaking.!

Well, I would apologise about the lack of posts but 2013 has been a complete shocker so far. I've held off writing anything as I'd hoped to have logged a few catch reports by now but alas the weather gods are not on our side and conditions for catching anything decent have been far from perfect.

Similar to the local sea birds I find myself sitting about waiting for the signs of change that indicate the beginning of our new season. Looking at my photos from last year I was picking asparagus from my garden at around this time and shortly after was catching my first mackerel of the year. It's obvious things are slightly lagging this time around; my asparagus is still below the ground and the sea temperatures still a few degrees below that of which we'd expect for this time of year...

With this extended period of hibernation my mind is constantly reviewing my past season and predominantly trying to work out which areas of my practice have been successful and which parts might require some tweaking. The whole process of 'Going Lighter' has been great fun but at the same time I've been conscious that at times things may have gotten a bit out of hand and maybe the set up I was using was too light for the job intended. 

I'm the first person to admit that with all the hype I did jump into this lure fishing lark feet first. With a spinal injury causing me some serious grief the prospect of being able to fish without the need of 2 rods, shelter, tripod and weights was the initial attraction for me. I planned to experiment with tackle as light as I deemed possible and work my way up to a point that was still fun but at the same time sensible. 

As a teenager fishing exclusively in freshwater I learnt to fine-tune my tackle specifically to the species I was fishing for. Matching rods, reels and line weights to the optimum size of species was the best way to get the most out of my sessions and a technical element that I enjoyed immensely. After graduating to beach fishing some 20 years later where multiplier reels are loaded with 20lb mono filament and 50lb shock leader I was keen to involve more of my skills from my coarse angling days and start again to think more about the optimum tackle that was needed to target the species I was fishing for.

So, after completely punishing my 2-7g Sakura Shinjin I quickly realised my general purpose rod was going to need a bit more backbone and began experimenting with a medium/fast action 5-28g rod. Not as much fun to begin with but the more I was using it the more I began to understand my limits and felt comfortable with the attributes this set up was offering me. I also had finally learnt what the letters LRF stood for, LIGHT-rock-fishing... dumb dumb...

I was still very keen on my 2000 sized reel and loaded my spare spool up with 10lb Yamatoyo SW Super PE braid and an 8lb leader. Now!! Everything about this set up seems great to me and as I didn't manage a lure-caught fish much over 3lb last year I'm wondering how it will fare when I do hook up with something larger this year??

So - I'm mainly reconsidering my line weight now; I think a change up in braid might need to happen again. My current rod will take braid up to 16lb and I'm wondering how much difference I will notice in this as opposed to my current 10lb breaking strain. It’s not that I plan to hunt down double figure bass but if one does snatch my lure I would rather land it safely and efficiently rather than it snapping me up and swimming off with lure, hook and line stuck in its mouth. Also with the types of ground I end up fishing on occasions, sometimes it’s the combination of jagged rocks plus the fish’s power that will denote the strength of line I will need to use.

I had also considered, having jumped in at the deep end with Poly Ethylene (PE) braids if I shouldn't try the older rounder varieties such as Spectra or Dyneema fibres as I have no comparison. From what I have seen from my friends using them, they look like they might take a bit more abuse than the PE stuff; question again is how much will this inhibit my fun and sensitivity when I'm twitching my favourite SP's??

Anyhow, one thing is for sure that I need to get out the bloody house, stop thinking too hard and get on with some fishing... I think then my speculation will stop and I can get on with what I enjoy the most, catching fish!!

Next post will be a catch report!! It’s imminent!!

Which Rod?

Straight and simple without waffling on, here are a few things you'll need to consider before buying a modern lure fishing rod...

Length

You will firstly need to consider where you will be fishing. I have found that longer rods (9-10ft) can have the advantage when fishing shallow and gradual-gradient beaches. Here you may need to cast further and having the rod tip higher will create a better angle in order to retrieve and feel bites. Shorter rods 6-7ft can be great fun when fishing from piers, harbour walls or a rock mark where you are not casting too far or jigging beneath your feet straight into deeper water. 8ft seems to be the safe all-rounder that most anglers opt for so if you plan to do a mix of the above I would suggest this to be a good starting point.

Actions

Lures of different mass, material and weight will demand a rod that will work in unison to give you the best possible sensitivity and command on your lure and whilst playing a fish. Actions describe the way the rod will bend and range from fast to slow. A fast action rod will start to bend in the top 1/8th of the rod tapering down to a stiffer butt section. This allows for ultra sensitivity when twitching soft plastics and lighter hard lures and is generally a safe bet when starting out if you can afford one. Medium, regular or moderate action will start to bend from the middle of the rod and a slow action from the butt. 

Casting weight

Most rods on the UK market range somewhere between 0.5 and 50g. Light or LRF rods usually cast up to about 7g. If you are planning on fishing for bass this will certainly not be enough. It might sound like it'll do but most 3 or 4" stick baits weigh 7g to start with, add on a 3g jig head and you're already casting 10g which is too much. Anything from 0.5-7g rods are more suitable for 1-2" baits on small jig-heads up to 3g. Just remember plastic has weight too.

If you want a decent all rounder you can buy rods that will cast anything from 3-28g. If you're coming from a beach fishing perspective you'll know that an ounce is not much on the beach-caster, on a lure rod it’s quite a bit. Anything heavier than 30g I've not had any experience with so can't comment on that.

Put it all together

If you're still with me and not too confused, you can start to short-list a few rods that will serve you through your apprenticeship. As I said somewhere amidst the waffle I promised to omit, an 8ft 5-28g (or there about) fast action rod would be my recommendation for an experienced angler new to salt-water lure fishing.

I'll put this post on the tackle page and add some information on reels, terminal tackle and anything else I can think of in the near future. Please feel free to send me a mail or comment if there is anything you would like to add.