A little update from Jersey

The past month or so in the channel islands can be summed up by four words 'crap weather, good fishing.' We've had to cancel 12 fishing trips in the past fortnight due to strong winds, which although is bad for my savings, means I've had plenty of free time to have a good search around the island for new marks and of course catch a few fish.

One of my main targets recently has been black bream, a fish that until mid last year I had never caught. Well it's fair to say that since then, I've had more than my fair share, in fact, when we have managed to get out on the boat, we've been getting regular hauls of 60-100 bream in a 2-3hour session and not very many of these fish have been sub 1lb. You will have guessed that most of these fish have been caught by the anglers we've had on board, but when given the all clear by the skipper, I have managed to bag a few quality fish myself, the best so far going 3lb 9oz (pictured top left), another PB. Not all my bream have come from the boat though and over the past few days I managed to locate a shoal of them, well at least for an hour or so, the best two from an 8 fish haul going 1lb 14oz and 2lb 3oz (top right)

Another fish I've had a good go at are the mullet. Although I've failed miserably to even tempt a bite from the golden greys thus far, I've had a few thick lips to a rather nice 4lb 6oz whilst my mate Chris has also managed to land a new PB of 3lb 14oz. Dan who I have also been targeting the mullet with has like me had no luck with the golden greys as yet but has had some wrasse to a cracking 5lb 4oz in the process.

Species 74 - Shore Clingfish

One of the things I have been doing whilst waiting for the mullet is using my light gear. Baiting up small hooks with white rag section, I've kept myself occupied landing a number of different species that include ballan and corkwing wrasse, various goby and blenny species and best of all, my 3rd new species of 2013, a shore clingfish! Although this is no monster, it was extremely welcome, its a species I had never seen in the flesh before so it came as a real surprise.

I suppose I'd better mention the bass as well for all you silver lovers out there. It has been very tough to locate them of late but I have had a couple, nothing big but it sure puts a smile on my face when I feel that lure stop and watch the rod arch over. I have also picked up a few Pollack in the process and even a few wrasse to around the 3lb mark. My mates Dan and Ben on the other hand had a couple of nice fish during one of our sessions that both went around the 5lb mark, one just under, one just over.

The last thing I'll mention is a little video I put together. It was done as a little bit of fun and follows me LRF rockpool fishing for Giant Gobies, there is even a little bit of underwater footage thrown in there that was shot using my gopro. Here is a link to the video though, I hope you like it!

Giant Goby Video - Click this text

Well, that's all for now, the next few weeks I'll be hoping for that golden grey mullet and also some tope and smoothhounds!
Thanks for reading,
Tight Lines,
Ross

April in Jersey (At long last)

Well I've been getting a bit behind with my posts of late, a lack of internet access and a busy working schedule being the main reasons for this. Eventually though, I've sorted myself some Wi-Fi and its time to do some catching up.


So..... April!
As many of you will know, during the first week of April, I made a switch to the channel islands to spend the summer working on a charter boat as a deck hand. However, with the first booking of the year not being until the 14th April, I was supposed to spend the first week settling in to Jersey life, learning the ropess on the boat and finding myself some digs. In reality though, it was essentially a week for exploring and finding marks that I'd be fishing later in the year, whilst doing a bit of fishing in the process of course. My catches during this period were fairly decent, with plenty of wrasse, garfish, turbot and mini species falling to my light gear tactics.

The time soon came though for my first day on the boat.

PB smashing Turbot - 8lb 4oz

My first Brill - 6lb dead

PB Whiting - 2lb 15oz

Monster 4lb 9oz Whiting

15lb 8oz Blonde - Andreas

Up and out by 7.30am, I met with the skipper to sort out the gear for our first party of anglers, a German trio that had come to the channel islands for 5 days to catch one thing, Turbot. This really excited me as I'd never fished for turbot off a boat and my PB was a measly 10oz. Anyway, over the 5 day period we got out on all but 1 day and its fair to say we did pretty damn good. Here are a few photo's of the catch.




New PB Pollack - 11lb 12oz

As for the rest of April, let's just say it was a fun time to be on the boat. We had a real mix of people from all over Europe and fished many different tactics over different types of ground for a wide variety of species. The highlight of April for me though came on my birthday, a wrecking trip with Tom, Brian, Chris and Peter, a group of anglers that joined together each year from different areas of the country to fish in Jersey. I had never done wreck fishing before, so again I was not sure what to expect, although my hopes were high for at least one decent fish...... if of course the guys would allow me to wet a line.


New PB Ling - !5lb 14oz

For the first few hours it was relatively quiet with just a few Pollack coming aboard to just under the 10lb mark and during this period I was unable to fish as I had rigs to make for later. As the tide eased though, the lads gave me the all clear to have a fish and I was quickly setting up to join them. After a number of fruitless drifts on live eel, I decided to make the switch to artificials, a rhubarb and custard sidewinder being the lure of choice. Two drifts later I got smashed, rod bending over double and an immediate adrenaline surge. After a really good fight, the fish was up on the surface with the skipper doing the honours with the net. It was a massive new PB Pollack of 11lb 12oz, well and truly chuffed, but it was to get better. Having changed tactics to bumping half a mackerel along the bottom, I was soon back into another heavy fish. We knew it could of been one of a few things so when it revealed itself as a nice ling, again my face lit up. At 15lb 14oz, it was again a massive new PB, beating my previous best by over 12lbs. With that I stopped fishing and returned to my duties as deck-hand, cant say I minded to much though.

That pretty much sums up April,
Hope you enjoyed reading,
Tight Lines,
Ross

Fun in Jersey on the lures : Part 1

After a cracking week in Jersey in 2011 it would have been stupid for us not to return this year and what a trip it turned out to be. Once again Mick at MrFish was brilliant to us, putting us on the fish from the off and even going out of his way to take a few of us out on the rib on a hunt for a Scad. Another massive shout out has to go to Daniel Ferguson, who came out with us on a number of sessions and was more than willing to share a few of his marks and help me on my hunt for 60 species, top lad :)

Anyway, as there was 4 of us this time round (myself, younger bro Sam, and my uni mates Jon and Ed) and I was the only driver, I had to revolve the fishing sessions around everyone, so although there was a good few sessions lure fishing the majority of our fishing was done using bait, which for obvious reasons will not be involved in this report or part 2. If you do want to have a read of my full report (both lure and bait fishing) it will be on my blog for reading soon. To the fishing......

We arrived in Jersey on 13th August full of optimism, but first thing on the list was a trip to see Mick to pick up a few bits and bobs and a new LRF rod (Sakura Shukan Neo - cracking rod if anyone is looking at one). After a good chat we left the shop and headed straight to the campsite at Rozel to set up base camp. Rushing to get the tents up, we were soon back in the car and heading out to a mark where me and Sam had had some brilliant wrasse fishing on the SP's last year. For Jon and Ed this was there first Jersey trip and having filled there heads with stories of great fishing, the excitement on there faces when they layed eyes on the mark was priceless. It seemed to take no time at all to get the gear out and down onto the rocks and on just his first cast Jon had his SP mauled by a wrasse, a very promising start. Now in truth, we were at this spot to get everyone off the mark and it did produce the goods just as expected, with everyone opening there Jersey accounts with wrasse to just over a couple of pounds. 

On our third day we once again headed out with the lures hopeful for a bass or two and a few macky on the LRF gear. The ground was shallow and reefy and looked ideal for bass, but after a few hours of trying we had to admit defeat and started patrolling the pools and gulleys closer by in search of some mini's on the LRF gear. We walked around for a while searching out the deeper pools and after spotting a few fish I was first off the mark with a giant goby, although this one didn't live up to its name at around 14cm. I had a few more smaller ones before after a while scouting a pool, I saw a more substantial sized one popping its head out of a small cave. I stuck the rod tip in, using my fingers to jiggle the line and work the lure and sure enough the fish pounced on it almost instantly. I won't lie and say it fought like a beast but it did put a nice bend in the rod nevertheless and was an equal size to my previous PB at 21cm but was much more thick set than my other one. Having seen that I was having some success, Ed and Jon joined me in the pools leaving just Sam to work the reef. It wasn't too long either before the pair of them, after a little instruction, managed to land their first ever giant 

goby's. Between the three of us we were landing a good number of these, but it was my keen eye that was filtering out the better fish. After much searching, I spotted a much better fish in a large pool hiding under one of the larger boulders. After luring out a number of its smaller co-inhabitants the big fella came into view at the edge of its hiding hole and it looked huge, its head the size of a snooker ball. I dropped the isome right beside him and he took it, dived straight back into his hole and started thrashing. Unable to see what lay under the boulder I let him take a few inches of line before setting the hook and letting all hell break loose. This time I did have a fight on my hands but as I felt the 4lb fluoro leader grating on the underside of this boulder, the outcome was innevitable....... Yes that's right, I'd been snapped off by a goby! I was not going to let this fish get the better of me though so after re-tying a slightly stronger 6lb leader on I again worked the pool, now joined by both Jon and Ed. We took another dozen or so of his mates but the beast was nowhere to be seen now and beginning to frustrate me. Sam now thoroughly accepting defeat on the bass front decided enough was enough and came to join the hunt for the goby's. Giving the beasts pool a rest, I lent sam my rod and headed off with him to try and get him his first giant goby. Sam wasted no time in picking a nice pool and after showing him the ropes, he was soon banging the gobies out along with his first LS scorpion fish which soon 

brightened his spirits. After giving the pool a good hour to rest, I went back to find my nemesis, again joined by Ed who was trying to poach him from me. Ed did hook him as well but just as I had, he left it too long and was taken to ground and had to accept the tackle loss. We must have taken around 20 giant gobies from this pool but none had compared to the beast and I wasn't giving up. A last ditch attempt saw my rod tip stuck into the darkness under the boulder.... dangerous? stupid? I think so but I was not letting him mock me and I soon felt a nice pull. I left my bail arm off, pulled the tip out and struck into the fish. The tip stayed put as I pulled the rod round and I knew I had the beast again. This time I had the advantage and he was soon in the open and powerless to stop himself being brought to the shallows where I could get my hands on him. He was rather large at 23.5cm and a new PB, a cracking 'mini' species. 

That concludes part 1, 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 :)