Jersey adventures part 2 with the LRF guys

First of all, the LRF guys team shot

Awake at 3.30am after around 90 minutes sleep, we were finally boarding and things were looking up. The predicted swell soon became apparent and the boat was moving around quite a lot. Whilst I tried to get my head down Lee disappeared to the toilet, I wouldn't see him again until 3 hours later. It's fair to say that he hadn't enjoyed his ferry ride along with 85% of the passengers on the boat. Fortunately, I am very good on boats so retained the contents of my stomach for the duration. It was a relief for everyone though when we arrived in Jersey for part 2 of my Jersey adventures.

As is customary now on my visits to the island, first stop was MrFish to see Mick and Bob who were also joined by Lee Birch and Mike Hayes this time around. We had a good chat about all things fishy and were also joined by Steve Mullins who kindly offered to help me on my hunt for a red mullet. After a good hour, myself and Lee decided to go and meet up with Scott at the hostel. The 3 amigos now together we thought up a game plan for the remaining hours of the day and got the rods ready for action. I had told Lee about the abundance of Giant gobies found in the rock pools all over the island so the first thing on our list was to get him one. I took them to a mark on the North coast I'd caught tonnes of them at on my previous trip including the beast and it wasn't to long before I found the first giant of the day. Scott was soon getting a few as well whilst I switched my attentions to the tiddlers in the pools hoping some of them would be two spot gobies. Switching to one of Scott's size 26 hooks I soon found out that they were in fact a mix of tiny rock and giant gobies. Lee then called Scott over to have a gander at one he'd landed and it was confirmed that he had his first giant goby and already his 4th new species of the trip. (The other fellas will add some photos)

Mission accomplished, the next effort saw us fishing for the rays which both Scott and Lee had never caught before. I'd made up a load of rigs in anticipation and chucking out sandeel and squid wraps (my favourite ray bait) we were soon getting bites from the doggie population which seem to plague everywhere nowadays. Scott however did get our target landing an Undulate ray of around 3lb. Even better was to come though for Scott all be it through some good luck. Whilst he had been reeling in his ray he'd caught his other line, pulling it right into the rocks. After photographing the ray he noticed his other rod knocking away and proceeded to bring in his first ever topknot and his 2nd new species of the night. Myself and Lee had to make do with dogfish and Pout though, I hate dogfish!

Our second day saw us hit St Helier harbour where we had hoped for another hoard of species. We did have plenty of fish throughout the session, the main culprits being the mass of black and rock gobies. In between the hoards of gobies though we did winkle out a few corkwings and a single ballan wrasse but it failed to produced anything exciting. At around 12ish, we headed over to MrFish once again to meet up with another LRF nut, Andy Marquis who had made the trip over from Guernsey to have a fish with us as well as to pick up his rather nice new red rod. Lee was suffering from the previous days boat trip and decided to give the next session a miss so whilst he got some kip, I went off to dig some lug leaving Scott and Andy to have a session on the rocks nearby. An hour later I went over to see how the guys were doing and still fishless, Scott tempted me to get out my LRF gear once more by showing me a pool with a few 2-spot gobies in, a species I'm yet to catch. 30 stressful mins later, defeat was admitted and even the size 26 hooks seemed to big lol Scott did get a single sand goby, but that was it. The evening saw us part ways, myself heading off with my smelly stuff in hope of a red mullet whilst Andy, Scott and the now recovered Lee headed out in search of a Scad. I'll leave the lads to tell there part of it but I failed to get a red mullet, catching a number of rockling and pout instead. My highlight was this double header of rockling, one a 3-beard, the other a shore rockling.

Day 3 : After the disappointing previous day, the Sunday was a day I was looking forward to, mostly due to the fact we'd be having an afternoon session with Steve Mullins. During the morning we headed to the North West coast to get out of the wind and hopefully hit into some wrasse and bass. It was very hard work again with Lee managing a single wrasse on a stick bait and myself hitting into a few small bass on my newly acquired mad shads mounted on a Xorus jighead. As is usually the case though after calling Scott and Lee over, the fish had disappeared. Then the time came to meet Steve on the beach to get some lug and try once again for the reds. We were also joined by Roger Mortimore, who I thoroughly enjoyed chatting to and listening to all his fishing stories, including his recent Oman adventure, very jealous. After digging plenty of worm we headed off to a few of Steve's marks, where despite our best efforts it wasn't to be on the red mullet front. The second mark he put us on did produce a steady flow of doggies and pout though which Lee and Scott were all to happy to catch. A huge thankyou to Steve though for his time and effort, sometimes it's just not to be and when the fish aren't playing nice there's not a lot you can do. With Roj keen to join us again the following morning though, it left me with one final chance to get my target.

Day 4 (the final one) - I have to say, with just the one day left and still no new species on my list, I was starting to get a little frustrated, but I was going to put in all my effort to this one last attempt. We all met with Roj at 8.30am and after a quick coffee and breakfast bap we headed off to a deep rock mark. Scott and Lee fished lure only whilst myself and Roj targeted the reds with some of the left over lug. The weather was awful, raining for the majority of the morning and hailing as well. Roj was first in with a small bream and then we both had dogfish to add to the mix. With all hopes of a red gone, I saw a small tap on my rod tip and immediately thought bream. I let it develop and eventually hit it connecting to something small. On the way in I picked up some weed but when I finally saw the fish surface and I had it on the rocks, I realised I'd got something a little special. It was my first ever Baillons Wrasse, a cracking looking fish and this one I believe is a specimen. My 64th species of the year, very happy chappy! At this point we departed from Roj, who had to shoot to work and decided to have another bash in St Helier harbour. Apart from a small dragonette I had on a huge bait it was yet again a 

goby fest with Scott getting loads of the little blighters on his LRF gear. I did try my best again to tempt a few 2 spot gobies I'd seen but once again, they were just to small for my hooks. 

With only a few hours remaining we decided to have one last bash at a North coast breakwater. Lee tried his best to bag a topknot whilst Scott and I raided the rock pools with the LRF tactics whilst Dan Ferguson who had come to join us watched on in disgust. When we got a few unfamiliar lookng gobies though we got excited. They may have only been a few cm's in length but were fairly confident that we both ticked of another new species. This time it was a painted goby. The blue tinge to the first dorsal was a giveaway feature as well as the clear markings on its flank and the number of rays in both its dorsal fins. Here are a few pictures I took. From these you can clearly see the distinctive markings and colours on the fish. 

 Both myself and Scott tempted these little stunners on a size 26 hook and a slither of Power Isome. So another species ticked off, 65 and counting. With that done we had to leave for the ferry, saying our goodbye's to Scott and leaving him in the very useful hands of Dan who was gonna take him to one of his marks in the search of a ray or conger. Read Scott's report for the details.

Thanks alot for reading and thanks once again to all those who helped us in any way, it's always a pleasure to come to Jersey and I'm planning another trip before the year is out. Jersey adventure part 2 is over, but part 3 is soon to come.

Tight Lines,
Ross

Back with a bang

Having returned from Ireland after fishing some really tough conditions, it felt really good to be back on the North Wales coastline for a few days. As it was only a short return I really crammed in my sessions and fished hard for 3 days. Unsurprisingly when putting in that sort of effort I was expectant of a few nice surprises. With the TLF species hunt now getting tight at the top, it was time to break out the LRF tackle once again in hope of adding a few more fish on lures. Amlwch was the venue of choice and after some very disappointing sessions there this year, I had my fingers crossed that the mini's had moved into the area properly. It usually takes seconds for a bite when fishing the margins here so it's fairly obvious whether the fish are there or not early in the session, luckily for me this time they were :) First up was the ever present rock-goby which took my sabiki teaser. Then the fun started, with a bite a chuck for around an hour. After a number of small ballans and corkwings, I finally got through to a gold-sinny and my first new lure caught fish of the day. It was not going to be the only new one though. It really was exciting fishing and
although the other fellas on the breaky thought my mini fishing was silly, I couldn't see them catching anything but doggies so I wasn't to bothered and continued racking up the daily species tally with a smile on my face. The next fish was a nice surprise and came in the form of my first Amlwch dragonette which again went for the teaser. Surprisingly not a new lure caught species though due to my Cornish lure adventures at Mevagissey where I had 6 of them. Then there was another period of ballans again with a couple of pollock and a single coalie thrown in. After 20 or so minutes and nothing new I had a move from the end to the ladder on the inside of the breaky. First drop I had species 8 for the day, a blennie followed next cast by another of the blennie species, a tompot. Again more wrasse followed for 10 minutes before I finally got what I'd come for and species 49
 of the year, this beauty on the right, a leopard spotted goby which took the larger shirasu jig head and isome. That put me into double figures for the daily species tally and it wasn't ending just yet, although my stay on Amlwch breakwater was over.

I then switched spots to Sewer pipe in the Ravens Point area in hope of a cuckoo wrasse. I had watched one caught there a few weeks previous so new they were there and my fingers were crossed. The fish were there in good numbers with plenty of ballans jumping on the lures as soon as it touched bottom. I did think it would be a case of wading through them and after a good 20 fish I got the 11th species for the day, a small poor cod. At this point I had my usual shoulder pains so I had a short rest and watched a few guys on ravens pull in a few fish, including a fat tub gurnard. I couldn't resist a few more drops though before calling it a day and it proved to be a good shout. My 12th and last species for the day, a rock cook, again on the isome loaded sabiki. So after a good 6 hours fishing I had another 3 species to add to my lure caught tally and one

 new one for my overall tally. What a result!

Hope you enjoyed 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 :)