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.

Catch up and sustainability rant!!

So 2013 has begun in a typical fashion, I tell myself every year that I'm going somewhere hot next winter here but here I am again cranking up the log burner to keep warm and reminiscing of fishy summer days gone by. I've been waiting on some scan results to determine how to fix my apparently dislocated spine so have not been able to commit to much fishing unfortunately. I had a few LRF sessions before Christmas but with run off from the rain the harbour wasn't rewarding me with much except for some pesky crabs that also seem to love those isomes!

This time last year I would have been bait collecting and trekking to Chesil. The thought has crossed my mind a few times but with my back the way it is I know a days beach casting will almost certainly result in a week of pain. So until things brighten up a bit all I can do is wait for that window of opportunity and hope I can get out with some lures in the next few weeks.

I have been wanting to write something about sustainability for sometime now and with my lack of real fishing over the past months it is always something I spend useless time dwelling on and not actually doing anything about. I guess that's the biggest problem in that it has become a worldwide issue and may now seem like an impossible to task to rectify the situation. Some countries that have already depleted their own stocks were warned of the dangers in advance. In some cases their response was to keep on taking in order to freeze everything at -50º for the years to come. How this is allowed in our days of satellite technology is beyond me but as an angler I'm fully informed about the illicit side of fishing and in no doubt that the illegal activity that occurs daily on our doorsteps is no different and in many cases, much worse on the other side of the globe.

We have been emptying our oceans for over a century now to feed our demands. It seems that ignorance has taken control and the potential for a major disaster could be just around the corner if we don't start to shape up and at the very least spread the knowledge to those who are still in the dark as to what's OK to consume and what's really really not.
Like so much other stuff some people just don't care, others don't like thinking too hard in fear of ruining dinner time, but something has to change.

The Marine Conservation Society has just removed mackerel from its 'fish to eat ' list. If this doesn't ring alarm bells to those idiots in control of things I don't know what will. My first mackerel of the year  with home grown accompaniments has become my one of my favourite times of the year, signalling  the warmer weather and of course the abundance of species that the mackerel precedes.

If you don't already know, unlike other fish mackerel do not possess a swim bladder. (An internal buoyancy aid allowing the fish to rise and fall through the water without wasting too much energy) This means that from the start of their lives its a non stop race to feed, survive and reproduce successfully without ever stopping and if they do, they die. Their lack of anything really resembling scales also sets them apart from other species. Their skin being protected by oils which prevent them from infection is a delicate structure and any abrasion to this has been proved to result in the fishes death a few days later. Mackerel caught in nets causes them to collide with each other resulting in the dead fish being washed up days later. If you handle a mackerel and decide to be kind and return it, it will almost definitely die anyway.
Something as unique in life as this is surely a phenomenon worth saving right? So, what can you do??

• Always buy fish that are caught as locally as possible and using sustainable methods such as hand-lines.
• Try more sustainable alternatives such as sardines, herring or farmed rainbow trout
• Stop eating fish for a month
• If you haven't already stop eating tuna!! 
• If you fish for them yourself only take what you need. They don't freeze well anyway and should be eaten fresh so limit yourself to one or 2 per person, per session. I know the feather chucker's will be there regardless but if that is your game try spinning instead

Personally I find it hard to buy fish from anywhere. The only time I consume it during the year is when I have been out and caught it myself. Even in my local fish monger I have become dubious of the freshness (some is obviously frozen) and more importantly of its origin. With so much illegal fishing being done in our waters it always begs the question, where does it end up. Having bared witness to illegal vans being loaded to the brim with sea bass and mullet, I know that this fish is never hard to get rid of, be it at market, restaurant or a dodgy fish monger. I'm not saying that everyone involved in these businesses is guilty and would hope that it is a minority but its being taken on a daily basis and its obvious where it is ending up. If you are buying fish in  a shop or a restaurant, always ask as to its origin. You might be fed a load of crap but never know when you might stir a conscience.

I will close on that note.. I've just realised again that my favourite species of fish is under threat!! I was shocked to see it in the news today although I shouldn't be surprised.  Just another problem in the world for some but for me its another warning that we are changing our environment to its detriment. Its down to us to realise and take action.

http://www.mcsuk.org/

I will leave this post open to edit as I will add more info at a later date. If you would like to add any comments or links please mail me at golightershorefishing@gmail.com

Fantastic-soft-plastics

WARNING… Mimicking an injured baitfish in order to trick a predator can be addictive!! 

On my quest to fish lighter, Soft Plastics have got into my head in a big way making me borderline obsessive with the vast range of styles and techniques needed to work them. With a bit of practice they can be deadly and maybe like me, change your approach to fishing all together.

Lure fishing, especially the LRF side of things seems to create a lot of attention when you’re out and about. Whether it’s a passer-by or another angler, I've met a lot of inquisitive people out there, some which are excited by artificial bait techniques, others that are not so convinced. Whatever the weather I'm always keen to chat especially to other anglers and lure fishermen alike. Apart from rods and reels the main things that people seem to ask is which lures are the best to get when starting out and obviously what techniques to employ to get them to work properly. Being quite new to the sport I don’t like to advise too specifically about what they should buy but I can share what I have learnt so far and what’s worked for me. Besides, I'm starting to see how much personal preference there is out there with lures and what works for one angler isn't necessarily going to work for the next. Weedless, weightless and jig heads well that’s a whole other post. For the moment I'm just going to share a few of the lures that I've done well with so far.

Size wise I think one key for me was starting out ultra light and working my way up. Fishing in the shallows with baby sandeel imitations was an enlightening and informative process that helped me get to grips with SP’s. Such a visual experience at close quarters was in no way prep for bassing in a big swell but certain principles would help pave the road towards a better understanding. With the exception to X-layers I've only recently tried more 4 and 5” patterns and that’s as the colder weather has arrived and fishing’s become less productive. I think in general its been the 2-3” baits that have done it for me this year proving as I already knew that you don’t need a massive bait to catch a decent fish.

Ecogear Power Shirasu

Literally the first SP I fished with. They came as part of the Ecogear pocket in Merabu set which is a great little box to get anyone started with LRF. Pictured are the 2" pearl variety, they have a multi-contoured body with a thin tail and a ball at the end. Fished on a small jighead (1g#6ish) these little babies really ignited the fire for me. Twitches followed by a pause seemed to make these invaluable over my local sandy ground accounting for lots of baby pollack and the odd bass.

Delalande Skeleton

I haven't heard so much about these lures apart from my own experiences. Again these came as part of a little box set, this time the Delalande Macadam Chest. Big, interchangeable eyes, a  ribbed, vibrating body and more vibes from the big paddle tail.. Sink and draw or straight retrieve at any given depth make these lures easy to fish with amazing results. 3g heads made this an enticing lure to fish sub surface, bass just couldn't help but to rise up and hoover them in. 

Lunker City Fin-S Fish

When I first started looking into SP's it seemed everyone was talking about Slug-go's. Also from Lunker City the Fin-S Fish is one of my favourite SP's. Pictured in black glitter 2.5".  There were days when this lure just wasn't allowed to sink and would get smashed to bits on the drop accounting for dozens of fish in quick succession. So realistic as a baitfish imitation, if it wasn't getting chased by a predator other baitfish were trying to make friends!!

Megabass X-Layer

If you've done your research then you just can't have missed these. So much hype I had to get some to see if it was all true.. Pictured in Ayu this is my last one left, after 3 or 4 catches on weedless set-ups they do get shredded. Ribs for vibration, built in rattles and a killer aniseed scent make for my favourite lure so far. Fished weedless or on a jig head they can be bumped along the bottom or twitched in the top layer of the water. These produced fish for me on days when things got tough and helped me to learn that lure fishing does work in the dark! Love em!

I’m not sure why but I haven’t really felt the want to experiment with hard lures yet. I can’t deny that more recently I have seen a few occasions where a hard, surface or sub-surface lure maybe have been more appropriate for the conditions I was faced with. I suppose the fact that I’m mentioning them now means I will no doubt add some to my collection in the near future and it will be interesting to see how much difference it makes to my lure fishing. At about 10-20 quid a pop (and the rest!!) it’ll be hard when I know how much new soft stuff I could get but the thing I’m worried about most is losing the finesse. Maybe cranking the hard stuff won’t be as exciting for me as the darting, twitching and fluttering you can create with SP’s. I suppose if they produce the goods for me then I won’t be complaining it’s just from where I’m stood right now they don’t look like as much fun. I know they don’t all rely on straight retrieve and I’ve seen the reports with the Komomo’s and Patchinko’s hanging out of a bass’s mouth I just haven’t felt the need let alone had the cash to spend so far so remain uneducated. I do know however that when I do try it will be with single hooks and not 2 or 3 trebles. That for certain will detract from the finesse I enjoy with SP’s not to mention my views towards care of your catch. It’s a unbelievable feeling as you lift into a bass on a weedless hook and simplicity to remove. Anyway I haven’t even tried the hard stuff yet and feel I’ve said too much, my first inexperienced rant maybe? I remain open to options!!

Our adventure...2012, in a nutshell!

Right, this is probably going to be a bit all over the place for a while. I've got a lot to get off my chest so for the moment I'm planning to just waffle and get the organisation part done at a later date. Sounds about right for me, organisation was never a strong point... Anyway..

As I mentioned before it was earlier on this summer that I decided to give SW lure fishing a bash. Away went the bass rods and multipliers and off I went with an old spinning rod, reel and an Ecogear Pocket-in lure kit I had acquired online. The set-up was a bit 'Blue Peter' to say the least but I wanted to make sure this style of fishing was up my street before I jumped in feet first and traded all my bait gear in for a  proper lure set-up. I headed off to a local mark with my good friend and fishing buddy Stuart Nazer. I met Stu when I first arrived in Poole and being equally as nuts for fishing as myself we had ended up being full time fishing companions and he was fully on board to get out and try something new.  We both fished 2gram jig heads with 1.5” grass minnows and within minutes a tiny Pollock had rushed out from beneath my feet and snatched my lure resulting in a big grin and an even bigger one when Stu did the same thing minutes later.. We fished for a couple of hours repeating the process as we moved from mark to mark managing to catch endless little Pollock and wrasse. My last chuck into the dark before we got back to the car produced my first little bass on LRF softies... Bonus....  and mission accomplished!!

It was an awesome introduction night that won’t be forgotten, the next step was to get tackled up properly and do it again.

By the following week my head was bursting with information about LRF, HRF and soft plastic lures. I really should have waited a bit longer but after selling a couple of beach-casters I purchased a Sakura Shinjin 702l 2-7g rod and a Sakura Alpax 2000 reel from Basslures.co.uk. 

I wanted to start as light as possible and an LRF (Light Rock Fishing) set-up looked at the time the way to go. Not ideal for landing big fish as I was due to find out, but it was right for the small range of light plastics I had begun with.  I also bought another little box of lures from Delalande which had been recommended to me as the next step up from the 1-2” lures I already had. Great little kits offering you a range of styles and colours giving you a chance to find your favourites before you go and buy them separately.

So all good, with just the braid to sort a friend at my local tackle shop had offered me an old spool of 6lb to get me started. Along with some 4lb mono for leaders I was set to see how far I could push things before it all got a little too silly...

As is with fishing I pretty much never shut up about it and the general feedback from anyone I knew in the area varied from good luck to you’re totally bonkers... Not to mention the funny looks I was getting from the other bait fishermen rocking up to my usual marks with a little rucksack and a 7’ stick that would probably blow away if I wasn't holding on to it!!

One of the first sessions where I got to test the Sakura we were lucky enough to be able to target some mackerel that were going nuts at close range. A few chucks with one of the new Delanlande lures and I was into my first LRF Mackie.. Oh my god, all hell was breaking loose with my little rod bending and pumping as the fish went berserk trying to shake the hook...  After controlling my fits of laughter dinner was on the beach and we continued following the fish landing a few more mackerel and a small bonus bass for me. Awesome sport on light-tackle... Its what I’d wanted to achieve and things seemed to be progressing nicely.. Cue the first time I realised I was going to need a different rod.. Seeing what hell the Mackie and bass had created I was still keen to push things but by now pretty dubious as to how things would fare...

Sometime the next week I was walking along the beach with my rod when I spotted some large swirls at the end of a slipway on the incoming tide. Lots of bait fish were trapped and something big was feeding on them, I managed a few chucks quite close to them and they didn't seem too bothered and then bang, fish on...  Totally not ready for it my drag was set a bit tight and after a leap from the water it shot off at pace snapping my 6lb braid and almost the rod..  Either mullet or bass it was a jaw-dropping moment, no smiles this time just shame and embarrassment.. I had to face the facts that I’d got the wrong rod..

The next couple of weeks saw some similar events whilst rock fishing on the Purbeck's  I was managing to handle pollock up to about 3lb but lost 2 decent bass that rose up to snatch my lure then zip off down the ledge snapping my braid or leader. My set-up just lacked the balls that I needed in that sort of situation. Stu on the other hand, still with his older heavier rod was landing the fish he was hooking. With a new set-up in his mind too and after watching me bumbling around in all sorts of trouble with my rod it was easy for him to make his mind up on his.  He got himself an 8’6 Lucky Craft ESG 3-27g and I pumped for a still shorter 8’ Major Craft Crostage 5-28g..  A few more tweaks saw our collection of Soft plastics take a little boost and we both changed up to heavier PE braids. Some 10lb Yamatoyo SW PE for me and 12lb Sunline Super PE for Stu. I think this was the point where everything clicked together, we both saw our catch rates improve and finally the tackle was meeting our demands. The PE braids were super fine and smooth enabling you to feel the slightest knock on-the-drop and our rods had enough backbone to fight a decent bass if we managed to locate some. 

Unfortunately not having planned to record our successes, we did a lot more fishing than photography but here's some photos of when we did have a phone or camera handy... It's definitely in the ruccie for next time!!