A mid-February Gathering - Part 2

Here it is, I've finally had chance to write part 2 after a few busy days in work.

After the previous nights success on the congers and with weather meaning a huss session was out of the question, Lee and Scott suddenly had a change of heart and decided that they too would like a bit of rod-bending eel action the following night. But we still had a whole day to fish before that could happen.

Our first port of call on day 3 was to fish a local lake for the Pike. I know Lee in particular had been looking forward to this, but unfortunately it was extremely disappointing with not a single fish landed between the 3 of us for our few hours of effort. So approaching midday we sacked off the piking once again and I asked the guys what they fancied doing. With no definitive answer coming back, I gave them a few options, to which another day on the LRF at the power station was decided favourite.

We would only have a few hours to fish before the tide had dropped to a level where fishing was not possible, but once again we were pulling out the fish one after the other. Both Lee and Scott were still desperate for a tompot blennie and Scott finally got his prize after switching tactics to a small chunk of rag, Lee however had to settle for the dozens of corkwing wrasse and shannies that plague the mark. I was having no such problems with the tompots and landed at least half a dozen of them over the course of the session, most of which were taken drop-shotting white power isome. I just can't get enough of these fish, how anyone can find catching mini's boring is beyond my explanation. Oh well, there will always be haters I guess :)

That evening, as promised, I took the lads to my favourite conger mark but it wasn't to be unfortunately. We did have one good run on my right-hand rod which I let Lee strike into, but after a short tug of war, the hook pulled free and the eel was gone. A little disappointing after such a good session the night before. Will leave this mark a good month now before I head back to hopefully tame a leviathan.

The last full day of the trip was in my eyes a little bit of a disaster. Having looked at the swell forecast for the end of the Lleyn, I had suggested that it would be a bit rough and that staying local would be a better idea. Lee and Scott had other plans though and were determined to head down to Uwchmynedd, a good hour and a half drive away from Bangor to do some deep water fishing for Pollack and wrasse. Anyway, in the end I just drove down there for Lee and Scott to see what it was like and to see the beauty of the landscape in the area. As expected, the swell height made it almost unfishable which put me in a bad mood, after all I'd just had to drive 60 miles to prove that the forecast I'd seen was correct. Whilst there though, there was no point turning round and going back, so we decided to head to a little cove where the swell was just about manageable. Still annoyed, I spent the first hour and a half watching the others from the top of the rocks. Eventually though after seeing Scott land the first Pollack of the session, I decided to join them and have a fish. It wasn't long before I was into my first of 4 small Pollack on the 3" white delta eels and Lee managed to avoid the blank with a Pollack of his own soon after. Shortly after it was time to shoot to Ty Croes for the evening, where I'd hoped to get Lee and Scott a few rays.

 The tides were far from ideal for ray fishing, but as Lee had never had a ray of any kind and Scott had only had the one thorny, it was worth a shot. As we arrived in the carpark, our evening got a little worse, it wasn't packed but we'd just seen a bloke head off with his rods down the path. I knew full well where he'd be fishing, but I had to check just incase, sure enough though my preferred ledge was once again taken. Opting to fish way to the left instead, our chances of a decent haul of rays were greatly reduced, but we were on a spot where I'd had a good number of huss in the past so it wasn't all bad. As it planned out, we did get a couple of fish, a 5.5lb thorny for myself and a doggie for Scott, which he was happy with. With those fish came the end of our last evening session together, at least we had caught what we had gone for. I'm sure next time, they will both get a few rays themselves.


The decision on where to fish for the last day was simple really, the lads just wanted to end the trip on a high and catch plenty of fish, so for the final time we'd go after the mini's. Again we hammered out corkwings and common blennies and once again to Lee's disgust, I held my own with the tompots, bagging another half dozen or so whilst the others were left bewildered as to how I was doing it lol. The one highlight for me on the final day was my first lure caught mullet of 2013, a small but very welcome thick lip which took a liking to my white isome.



After 4 long days of fishing, the time had come to say our farewells, or at least we thought it had, half way back to Bangor, Scott realised he'd misplaced his phone. Positive he'd left it on the roof of the car before we'd set off, he had to make a tough decision : leave it and get his train home or go and have a look for it and miss his train. In the end he decided it was worth having a look for but after a thorough search it was nowhere to be seen. What a downer! So in the end it was just Lee we waved goodbye to that night and Scott kipped in my spare room having booked the next train northbound at 5am the following morning.

Wanting to make the most of my time off, I headed out again that evening for a spot of bass fishing whilst Scott decided to stay in and get some sleep. It was not a hugely productive session but I did manage to get my target with this bass of 45cm and roughly 2lb in weight, better than a kick in the teeth.

By the time i'd woken up for work the following morning, Scott had left so it was back to the day job for the foreseeable future.

It was great to see the guys once again and all things considered, I think we did a fairly good job. I was happy at managing to put them onto a few fish and I'm sure they enjoyed it. I don't think many people can say they've caught 14 species over a long weekend in winter, so we did a good job :)

Thanks for reading,
Tight Lines,
Ross
                                                                                                                                                                        

Mid-February gathering : Part 1



Having planned for a 4-day fishing marathon about a month ago, myself and mates Lee Goddard and Scott Hutchison were all eagerly anticipating a nice relaxing break from work and some long hours on the rocks species hunting. Our chosen venue was Anglesey, which being my local area was ideal and would give me the chance to show off what North Wales has to offer in what most people refer to as the worst month of the year for fishing.

Scott was first to arrive late Thursday night but no fishing was done, instead a few pints, a takeaway and the Inbetweeners movie was looking the best option. Friday morning came round though and the first port of call was a trip pike fishing. Terry had reported to us that he'd had a number of fish that morning at the mark we were going so expectations were high, but on arrival conditions seemed against us with bright sunshine and only around 6" visibility in the water. Perhaps we should have been up earlier as we had definitely missed the best of the fishing, the only action being a small pike I'd hooked on a yellow kopyto which threw the hook at my feet, can't say I was majorly bothered :)

You have to love tompot blennies, such a cool fish!

We sacked the piking off around midday and headed to the power station for a spot of LRF. Due to the constant flow of warm water, the mini-species tend to hang around all year at this mark, so it's a good banker spot when fishing elsewhere is a struggle.
When down at the preferred spot, I first chucked in a few ladles full of chum hoping to see some mullet show up. Sure enough, they did and before long I'd hooked and landed one of the thick lip variety freelining a small piece of breadflake on a size 12 hook.
Though that turned out to be the only mullet of the day, we were both kept more than busy by the masses of Corkwing Wrasse and Shannies down below and I managed to winkle out a few tompots as well, a good way of spending a few hours :)



Scott gets 1st new species of the trip

That evening our third member arrived and was keen to get straight into some rod bending action. As neither of them had ever caught a rockling of any form, I decided to take them to a spot on the North Coast where I've had a good number of 3-beard and shore rockling, all be it usually whilst I've been fishing for eels. The tide was not ideal with what I considered to be the prime time falling at around midnight, but as they were so keen to wet a line we got there a good few hours before hand on the off chance of catching our target. I first showed Scott and Lee the most productive spots and then went a bit further down the rocks myself to see if I could tempt an eel. As it played out the first few hours were very slow with Scott managing to land the only fish, a small codling. As the prime time got nearer, the bites started coming, myself and Lee both losing Congers in quick succession and all of us missing a few rattly bites which I believed to be lobsters. Just before midnight though, Scott hit the jackpot and got his first ever rockling, a nicely patterned shore rockling. That would be it for the night, not a hectic session but we'd got what we came for so job done!

The next day I was back in work so I had to leave the guys to it for the majority of the day. When they visited me in Menai though they had nothing fishy to report, but they had caught plenty of crabs and had found that enjoyable, each to their own I guess lol. When I was finally free to go at 6, I'd had enough time to check the tides and was set on a trip conger fishing at my favourite conger mark on the island. For one reason or another though, the lads were determined to get out with the LRF gear. I did my best to convince them otherwise and pointed out that it was low water, at night in February but that just seemed to spur them on more to prove me wrong. So in the end, I dragged my mate Steve out with me, who is yet to catch an eel and I dropped Scott and Lee at Amlwch breakwater, which would be there best chance of a few fish........... they wisely took some mackerel fillets with them!
Fishing was not to bad for them, Scott turning to the bait and landing a good variety of fish including whiting, poor cod, codling and another shore rockling whilst Lee stuck it out with the lures for the majority, managing a lonely poor cod for his efforts before also switching to bait and landing a few whiting as well as a codling himself.

In the meantime, myself and Steve headed over to my mark, nicely sheltered from the wind and almost spot on tide wise, I was very confident of a few eels. I was right to be confident as well, for at the end of the night, I had landed a brace of eels, one of which already had a trace down its throat and a scorpion fish, also dropping a third eel, whilst Steve had dropped what was surely his first Conger ever and landed a cursed doggie. Not a bad night all round!

So with two days down, we'd notched up a total of 10 species but there was more to come!
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for part 2,
Tight Lines All,
Ross

Striking gold on the Lleyn

For a few weeks now, myself and mate Lee Goddard have been contemplating meeting up for a days fishing. After dismissing pike fishing due to unfavourable conditions, the suggestion was made to go hunting big Pollack at one of my more successful marks on the Lleyn. Meeting Lee in Pwllheli for 7.30ish we were soon on our way to the mark with some high hopes of a productive session. The weather was spot on, couldn't have asked for a nicer day, a huge contrast to the last time we'd fished together, in which I avoided a blank by resorting to catching sand-gobies, desperate times lol. Anyway, as we finally stepped onto the mark it was time to get the ball rolling, or not as it seemed, for after 40 minutes of chucking the lures around, neither of us had managed a touch. The Pollack can be very finicky at this mark and often feed at random intervals throughout the tide, so I decided to have a small break and watch as Lee kept going. As fortune would have it, it was as soon as I opened my mouth and blurted the words 'maybe they're just not on yet,' that Lee's rod suddenly bent over and the first Pollack of the day was landed.

Not wanting to miss out in case this just happened to be happy hour, I jumped up and got my lure in the water quick time. That cast, bang, that's my blank avoided and my first Pollack of the year. A couple of casts later, another one, only a tiddler but always welcome. After landing half a dozen or so, we both decided to have a change of tactic. If there was any bigger ones down there, we were gonna search them out with some much more manly and heftier lures. Wasn't to be though, didn't matter what was thrown on, the fish had lost interest, maybe another lull in their feeding. Reverting back to my previously successful deep spinning rig, I was soon banging them out again like no-ones business, even managing to get another short video done. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiDLaYZrMg0&feature=youtu.be One after the other, they seemed to just throw themselves on the hook, whilst Lee watched on in slight disbelief.

Lee instead opted to continue with the larger lures for a while before eventually deciding enough was enough and changing method. This time he had an ace up his sleeve and started using a Jika rig to see if there was any willing customers lurking on the bottom. Not long after starting with the method, he soon found himself into a powerful fish, well at least for 5 seconds as it unfortunately chucked the hook a moment after the hook-up. This would kick start an hour of misery for Lee, as rig after rig kept getting snagged up with no gear coming back, it was getting expensive for him. As his frustration grew, I just couldn't resist adding fuel to the fire by giving him a rolling commentary on my tally, it's funny when he gets angry lol. He soon cheered up though, when after a gargantuan effort, he finally hooked another fish on the Jika and this one wasn't coming off. Not exactly sure what it was, the thought's leaned towards ballan and this was confirmed as it hit the surface, quite possibly the first lure caught wrasse in North Wales this year, a top result. This one had a lovely tiger like pattern with vivid green spots on both its dorsal and caudal fins, a real stunning fish.

Now tired of Pollack, I spent my last half hour chasing blennies round a rockpool, catching 3 of them in the process, before I snagged a rock out of my reach and lost the lure, this was a sign to pack up. So session over, I could gladly say it was a far better outcome than the previous time we'd fished together, my finishing tally being 26 Pollack and 3 blennies. Lee had struggled with the Pollack landing just 3, but did manage a well earned ballan wrasse that he will say was worth 20 Pollack, so we both left more than happy.

Hope you enjoyed reading and until next time,
Tight Lines All,
Ross

A cracking day on the lures in December

It seems to be very quiet on the bass front at the moment in North Wales, very few people I've spoken to have caught anything at all on the plugs in the last few weeks. That in mind I thought I'd make the most of this one day gap in the weather and get out with the LRF gear. I tried fishing at 2 marks, both of which produced plenty of fish. The first mark I stopped at was thick with small pollack, I think I landed around 20 of them in an hour or so, most being taken on the VX35 vibe-baits and a few taken on the new white power isome which also tempted a solitary poor cod. 

The second mark I fished was a different ball game all together. Instead of being packed with a single species it was very diverse, which was great for me as a species man. The first 4 fish landed were different species including corkwing wrasse, shanny, tompot blenny and rock goby. After that I did get quite a lot of corkwings and shannies but surprisingly no ballans which are usually plentiful at this mark. 

Whilst all this was going on I couldn't help but notice the odd silver flash under water, immediately presuming they were bass. It wasn't until a fish followed my white isome up to the surface I realised they were actually mullet. Switching to a smaller jighead and using an isome section around an inch long, I began working the lure mid water, getting small knocks on almost every cast and then watching a group of mullet trail my lure until it was right up against the rocks before shooting off again. After persisting for 20 minutes or so, I finally managed to get a positive take and landed my first mullet of the session, a small but very welcome thick lip. As the light started fading, the fish came on big style and I started hauling in small mullet every other cast, all of them thick lips until, I got so confident of catching, I made a short video on my camera. P.s It was like a bar of soap to hold, was going everywhere as you will see.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2koLf5tNOU&list=HL1355869618&feature=mh_lolz

Sure enough, I was lucky enough to get footage of what was my first ever lure caught golden grey, by the end of the session I'd had 4 of them :-D Eventually though, the light disappeared and with it went the mullet and the session. I can honestly say that for this time of year, I couldn't have expected anything like that, it was a real cracker of a day and I enjoyed every minute of it despite it still being cold, I just wish it could have lasted longer.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the write up,

Tight Lines,

Ross

Scottish Raid part 3 : Flattie hunting in the harbours

Day 2 on my adventures with Schogsky and Hutch saw me and Scott heading for Dunbar harbour with Jake set to join us later on. Now both Scott and Jake have caught flatties on the lures already this year, so it was great of them to put me on a mark where they knew I had a great chance of catching some on the lures myself. After pulling up in the car park, Scott showed me round the mark and pointed out the hotspots so all was looking good. A size 16 hook armed with isome was the chosen rig and adding a few splitshots above the hook ensured it was tight on the bottom. Scott was soon showing me how its done getting off the mark with a LSScorpion and then showing me how easy it is to get amongst the flatties with a couple of flounder and plaice. It really was stuffed full of little flatties though and at any one time you could have had double figure amounts of them chasing the isome along the mud, quite a sight. I did finally manage one for myself, a small flounder which was shortly followed by a little plaice, 2 more for the lure caught tally, a great

 way to begin the day. As the tide rose the better fish started to move in and Scott landed a few better ones whilst I was aimlessly trying to catch something tiny, which I thought may have been something different. Unfortunately I didn't manage to tempt it so we'll never find out. Then came Jake into the harbour with an intent of getting himself a plaice for his species count. He didn't have to wait long either and after a single flounder he got what he was after. As usually is the case as well, this wouldn't be his only one and I think he went on to land quite a large number of them as well as more flounder. With the bottom now out of visibility we all started trying a few different areas. I found a nice little spot between some weed and dropped down to see if anything was around. Sure enough a small looking fish took interest and after a few missed lunges at my lure, it took aim and pounced on my jigging isome. On bringing it up it was clear it was a scorpion fish but it looked a little different so I called Scott over for a proper identification. He was more certain about what it was and said without doubt it was a short spined which is my 1st ever after the previous one I thought I'd caught turned out to be a long spined. Looking back at the pictures though it is fairly obvious, but at least this capture puts beyond any doubt that I

 have now got a short spined. We all then decided to move into the old harbour where the guys had told me the larger flounders lurk and also a good number of blennies and coalies. With exception to the large flounders though we got plenty of the other species. I lost count of the number of coalies Jake landed and Scott was also pulling in a good number of coalies with blennies thrown in. I must have been doing something different though as I could not for the life of me hook the coalies, the blennies however came in good numbers. As the time rolled on we had a quick look over the back wall of the harbour, but conditions put us off trying there so it was time for a move. Jake had to shoot, so it was back to just me and Scott with St Abbs being our mark of choice. I'd love to say we cleaned up there but it was quite the opposite, for unknown reasons the fish just weren't there and following an hour and a halfs effort we left without a single fish to our names. It is a lovely looking place though and I'd love to have another go when the fish have returned. Well that was it for Day 2 and it was time to head back to Edinburgh and plan our next days fishing.

Thanks for reading,
Tight Lines,
Ross

The day of the mini giants

It was my last night in the South West and I had managed to arrange a session with Dave Campbell and another lure angler Matthew Pickup. Before I met them at 4pm though, I decided to head to a mark local to my granddads in Kingsbridge with the LRF gear in hope of a lure caught rockling. After looking around the various gullies and pools, all I could catch sight of was blennies and the occasional larger looking fish hiding in the small undercut rock ledges. Using tactics I'd learned from Jake Schogler during the Cornigh lure festival, I started to dunk my rod down into the gullies with around an inch of line between the rod tip and the jighead that was rigged with small red isome. Once the rod tip was in the cracks I would use my fingers on the line to make the lure jiggle up and down and create an irresistable movement to the minis. It was often split seconds in the cracks before I was slowly releasing line and striking into what innevitably was a blennie or some sort of goby. Eventually though I managed a few giant gobies, topped by a monster at over 20cm, a new PB. Spotting another larger looking mini in a gully, I again dropped down the lure and let it swing under a small boulder. The initial bite was instant so I left it to take the lure properly before lifting into it It was pulling rather well for a small fish so I presumed it was another large giant goby but when I pulled it out of its hole I was more than happy to see it was a very large blennie. On the measure it went and it was PB number 2 of the session at 17cm beating my previous best by 1cm lol, in blennie terms though thats a big difference.

I chad only been out an hour and had now managed 2 PB's so was well chuffed but it wasn't the last of the day. After getting a whole load of giant gobies, 9 in total, I watched a scorpion fish take my isome. When it came to the surface I new it was an ok sized one and I've yet to catch a really good sized one. In fact
it was PB number 3 of the day. Only 17cm but as mentioned I had never  really had any half decent sized scorpions and this one was particularly chunky. I got a nice close up with the isome and then decided it was time to go and meet the others for a go at the bass. We got to our chosen mark shorty after 4pm and fished it right the way through to just before last light. So as not to drag the report on too much, I can say that it wasn't the most productive session with myself landing just a single wrasse on the SP's and Dave and Matt getting a similar result with a number of wrasse and Dave getting a number of launce on surface lures. No bass showed at all which was a slight disappointment but the conditions were really against us so it was nice just to catch anything.

Thanks for reading,
Tight Lines,
Ross

The Cornish Lure Festival :D

What a fantastic event and what luck we had with the weather (apart from Friday night of course) First of all a huge congratulations to Craig on taking the bass section with an awesome fish of over 10lb and 74cm, a worthy winner and also a big well done to the runners up. Big congratulations also to Josh for taking the species prize with an incredible 14 and again to the runners up. I narrowly missed out on a placed finish by 1 species, next time maybe :)
Before I get into the report though I'd best not forget to mention a few people for helping me along the way and joining me on a few sessions. Those people are Rodd, Steve, Jake and Scott as well as Ryan and friends who I met whilst bass fishing and many others I had a chat with over the course of the weekend, it really was a quality festival and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Friday - After signing in at Plymouth just after midday I was off on my travels into Cornwall for the first time and full of hope. I had a few marks penciled in to try for both bass and for the species so I had a rough plan of action. At my first stop I met a bloke in the car-park that told me he had caught a bass of over 9lb the week previous and pointed out a few spots in the area that were worth trying, a promising start. I started off with the LRF gear targeting wrasse in the gulleys and started getting a few taps, eventually managing a hook up on my teaser. To my surprise though it wasn't a wrasse as I had expected but a small mullet, what a way to start my trip. After this the nibbles stopped, so I turned my attentions to the bass. In front of me was a lovely weedy reef, so I clipped on my seaspin proQ 120 and began working the surface just the other side of it. I must have been non-stop casting for around half an hour with not a sign of a fish but the lure was working nicely, so I couldn't bring myself to change (bad habit) Persistence did pay off though and a rise came, the fish missing the lure at first pickings so I began twitching it faster as I always try and do after the initial rise and as usual, the fish had another go again missing..... it didn't come back a third time though,  a change of venue was in order. I took the advice the bloke I'd chatted to and headed just the other side of Looe. I got down to the mark and was distracted again by a number of deep pools and gullies, so minis were my target.

First drop I had my second species in the form of a blenny before finding a lovely deep hole where I could see a few fish swimming around. I dropped down a chunk of isome on a fine metal shirasu jig-head and immediately a blennie took interest, from nowhere though a larger fish shot across the pool engulfing my lure with ease. I struck straight away and the fish was hooked. I thought I'd got a rockling at first but as I pulled it up I realised what it was, a giant goby (species 45), my first ever and a fish that was high on my 'to catch list' :) well chuffed! The only other fish I had on the first day was a small sea scorpion. Whilst at this mark though I bumped into a number of LRF'ers including Josh, Toby, Scott and Jake. So day 1 down, 4 species landed, not brilliant but I was underway.

Saturday - The second day dawned and it was another species day with some bassing planned for the evening rising tide. I started like alot of fellow LRF'ers at Mevagissey. I was first there at around 6am and the previous nights lash down had heavily coloured the water in the harbour. Luckily though the outside was gin clear and flat, perfect for the mini's. Before I targeted them though I had a few chucks off the front, casting across the murky water and retrieving it back into the clear stuff. The pollock were jumping on my tiny x-layer almost every chuck and after having around a dozen of them I managed to get a mackerel to tick off as well. I then moved to the back dropping down the margins for the wrasse and sure enough after being frustrated for a while by small taps, a fish was hooked, a  little corkwing taking my tally to 7.

At around 9 a few more people started to appear. First to join me were Rodd and Steve fresh from a morning on the bass. It was the first time I'd met them both but they were both more than happy to share a few of their marks with me and kindly offered to show me a spot later in the day where I could hopefully get my first bass of the festival. A very friendly gesture that was just what I needed, after all when your chasing fish in unknown areas, what better way to find them than to get advice from people who know the area. Thanks again guys if you read this. It was down to business again though with the mini's and shortly after I'd started fishing again we were joined by Scott and Jake. I'll be completely honest and say that if it wasn't for these two I probably would never have taken up LRF, it was their reports that made me want to try it out and now I'm hooked on it. Plus they are both fountains of knowledge in the smaller species department and I've learnt alot from watching them and listening to their little tips. With the breakwater now getting a little busier I had a little move along towards the point. Changing again to the shirasu head and isome the first few drops produced a couple of scorpion fish. It wasnt long though before the tiny rattles came back and when I hooked up after a long annoying wait to strike I was into my 8th species, a pout. The next drop more rattles and this time it was another new one and one I definitely hadn't expected, a dragonette (species 46) The

mini bashing continued until around 12.30 finishing with 5 dragonettes, a similar number of pout and a few other things, but nothing else new. I had arranged to follow Rodd and Steve to the mark but having pulled out I had a call from my brother and completely missed them leaving. After I'd put the phone down I was a little confused, where had they gone? Anyway after returning to Scott and Jake, Scott managed to get a location up on his phone and I had a road name to go for. A short drive saw me arrive at where I thought the beach was but turned out I'd gone to the wrong one. After walking aimlessly for around 30mins, I found myself back at the car and trying to remember the name of the road I needed to find. It popped back into my head and somehow I managed to locate them all be it about an hour later than planned. Again both Rodd and Steve were very helpful in guiding me around the mark and pointing out certain spots to go. I started chucking a few hard plastics about, everything from my patch's to feedshallows but all working the top few feet of water. After having no luck for half an hour I switched to try for a ballan at one of the spots I'd been shown. I tried a few different lures but as soon as the x-layer went on I had an instant hook up.  
giving me plenty of stick I tried my best to keep it up but inevitably it took me to ground. Without panicking I let some line off to give the fish slack. I waited for around a minute before I felt some movement again. With a quick wind down and strike upwards the fish came free and now I was in the driving seat. It went well though and took it's toll on my lure clip which had to be changed, but I got the fish in so that a few mug shots could be taken. I then made the trek to the far end of the mark to fish over some weedy ground that just looked extemely bassy. I was joined down the other end after a while by Steve and Mike. I saw no action at all on my surface lures but Steve, after seeing a few fish in front of him, had a few half hearted takes unfortunately without a hook up. Mike who was a bit further along was pulling wrasse in with no problem and after myself and Steve had decided to move on, we walked back past Mike just after he'd had a lovely fish of over 3lb. As we walked back we had a few chucks here and there to no avail so in the end, I decided enough was enough and headed off on an hours drive to try for the bass once more at the mark I'd missed one on the first day. As I neared the mark I noticed a group of lure fisherman on a particular spot. I pulled up and watched for 5 minutes in which time I saw them land a couple of bass. Needless to say I was geared up and running down to the mark in no time and after a quick chat and realising one of the lads was Ryan Timberlake from the forum. I looked over to see what lures they were using and the savage gear eels seemed to be working for all of them, so on mine went, 2nd cast, bang, Bass on! Pictured and measured at a wee 42cm it was my 11th species on what had been a great day. I stayed for around an hour, landing 6 bass in total on 5 different lures

before leaving the guys to it.

Sunday - It's a long report already so I'll cut Sunday short. I had no new species which was slightly disappointing but again I had fun fishing with Jake and Scott and a few other lads. The only other thing that must be mentioned is how jammy Jake is. After strongly making out he is so unlucky in raffles, you just knew that he was gonna win something but oh no, he didn't just win a prize, he was the first ticket drawn out and so managed to blag a new rod lol. I think I might try that trick next time lol.

Anyway, that is my Cornish Lure Festival report,
I hope you enjoyed the read and stuck it out despite me prolonging it somewhat.
Again a massive congratulations to all the winners, top angling guys!

Tight Lines,
Ross

P.s I almost forgot, Rodd makes a damn good home made curry. If he offers you some take it :)

Devon Part 2: Persistence pays off!

04/04/2012

This morning was a tale of 2 lure nuts (nutters) and 2 PB's, although miles apart in every way.

After helping the grandad with some gardening we set out for round 2. Arriving an hour before low water it was encouraging to see that there was a nice swell sweeping the rocks, just the thing we had been waiting for. We had chosen very different tactics, myself opting for mini bashing in the rockpools whilst my brother continued in his die-hard attempt for a bass with the SP's. The mini-bashing started well with a number of blennies and scorpion fish going crazy for the power isome. After I'd had around 10 fish I moved a bit further round and noticed a good sized blenny perched on top of some weed. Dropping the isome down it wasn't long before its irresistable wavy motion had the blenny chasing it all over the place. A quick jig upwards and it nailed me. After giving a little tussle it was on the bank and it was a good little fish. Measured 16cm beating my PB by 2cm and had a belly on it to match.

I had another move but before I had chance to drop the lure in I heard a shout. Sure enough it was the brother and he obviously wanted me over in a hurry. I dropped the gear and hastily made my way to where he'd been fishing. Walking round the corner I could see him struggling and his rod had a very nice bend in it. 'I'm in!' he shouted and it was no less than he deserved after 4 days worth of effort. He had made his way onto a ledge that was now underwater so I stood in anticipation, camera at the ready waiting for him to get it in. He was obviously getting a bit of stick from the fish but after a few minutes it was near the edge and he was crouched down to gill it. 'It's a gooden' he said and when he pulled it up from the swell I looked on in jelousy, it certainly was a gooden. Nervously making his way back he mis-judged his steps and took a little swim in a deep gully in the process but he managed to get himself back on his feet with the fish still firmly in his grasp thankfully. Sams face was a picture and he was shaking like a leaf whilst I was taking some mug shots for him, partly from the shock of the freezing water but I think mainly from his fish lol. On the scales it went though and at 5lb 1oz it was his new PB by 11oz. It measured 66cm! Cracking fish for early in the year but had it not have been so lean it would definitely have been a good pound heavier; if only he'd registered for the Team Bass competition like I'd told him to a month ago lol. You can also see the size of that paddle on the photo below, no wonder it gave him such a good fight.
After this I had no option but to change to similar tactics but after an hour of lure chucking the tide had pushed us too far back to fish the spots we wanted to. I gave the LRF a final 20 mins before we called it a day and went home so that Sam could warm up a bit after his swim. It's a shame the conditions had limited our success this week but we'll be back soon for another go without a doubt and I think for this time of year we gave it a good go and did fairly well.

On a last note, I'd like to say thanks to all that gave us any advice for our trip and if your ever in North Wales and need some guidance, I'll do my best to return the favour.

Cheers and Tight Lines,
Ross