A welcome break!

Had another 2 day break from work recently and as you'd expect, I made the most of my time off with a bit.... ok a lot of fishing. Here's what went down

The first day kicked off with a 6am alarm, waking me with just enough time to get to Holyhead for a charter boat trip I'd booked with mate Steve on-board MyWay with Gethyn. Due to the time of year, we didn't deceive ourselves with high expectations, but we were both secretly hopeful of a bit of rod bending action from the spurs out in Holyhead deeps. After a hour or so steaming out to the mark, the first drops saw the majority of us on the boat pick up a doggie or two, that was all of us except the skipper of course, who decided to show us all how it was done with a spurdog of around 7-8lb. After the great start though, it turned out to be a slow day. There were a few more decent fish landed including another spurdog of around 12lbs, a thorny and a decent huss for my mate Steve. My best fish of the day was a nice whiting of over a pound, probably a new PB, but this one was lucky and went free, most likely to be eaten by a huss in the near future lol......you can see from the photo that something had already had a go at it. In all though, it was a great day out on the water and couldn't have asked for nicer weather. If there's one thing I took away from this trip though, its that Geth really knows his stuff when it comes to boat angling, when targeting spurs fish the baits just off the bottom to avoid the doggy plague! Will hopefully be out with Geth again before I head South for 7 months!

As we steamed back, I was still well in the mood to fish and decided that I wanted to challenge myself, in the end coming to the conclusion that I was gonna target a tadpole fish. Having only caught one before, I didn't really have much to go off, but after a quick check of my old blog posts from last year, I saw that I'd had my last one in very similar conditions exactly one year and two days previous, how convenient :)

Fishing with my mate magic, we braved the cold and headed to the ranges with a couple of rods each. My aim for the night was to land a few new species for the year, namely tadpole fish and rockling, although I'd also be using had my heavier duty set up for congers. I chose to use a very simple 1-up, 1-down running ledger rig with rag tipped with macky for bait and a few lumi beads just for that added attraction in the depths. To say the fishing was good would be lying, but after an hour or so, I finally got some action in the form of my first rockling of 2013, a small one of the shore variety. It was a good 2 hours before I'd see any more action but sure enough, almost dead on low tide I noticed a small tap on the rod tip. I lifted my rod off the tripod and felt the line for any more bites. It wasn't long before the tap turned into a decent knock so I lifted into the fish. Knowing it was something small, I immediately got a little excited, but nowhere near as excited as I was when I saw that I had successfully caught the fish I had been targeting, A TADPOLE FISH! My happiness was easy to see and magic was amazed that I had landed one of these, having talked about them none stop since we'd arrived. I think this was the first one he'd seen and he was in agreement that they are cool fish, although another friend of mine, having seen the pics, has funnily referred to it as...... the most miserable looking fish he'd ever seen lol.

On a real high and despite the lack of further action, I decided to pack down my conger rod, leaving just my rockling rig out. It was sods law though that the next fish I'd land (which turned out to be the last) was of course a conger, which luckily had been hooked perfectly in the top lip. Getting magic to steer it onto the rocks for me, I soon had it in my grasp, the first landed conger I'd landed on this particular mark, having hooked and lost a few really good fish previously. With no more action for a further hour we decided enough was enough and off home we went. Not a particularly hectic session but ticked off all three of my nights targets, so definitely can't complain.



The following day, a new target was made, this time to do a little LRF'ing for scorpion fish and blennies. Magic was again keen to come along for a fish and had never tried this method of fishing before, so it was great to see him catch a few fish and a new species. Although the fishing was again hard work, we did pull out a handful of scorpion fish between us, with magic getting the pick of the bunch with this fella taken on red power isome. I am particularly proud of this photo as well, really want one like this myself now.

Anyway, that's all for now,
Thanks for reading and 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

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 :)

The missing link to gareths report : tricky mark success

 28/04/2012

Gareth has done a cracking write up of the events before and after my dodgy secret mark, so I won't bother repeating those parts of the session. Here's the bit in between though!

We arrived at the mark around midday and it was looking good, the 17mph winds were off our backs at my mark so we could get a bit of

much needed shelter. I explained to Gareth that it was a bit sketchy to get down to but perhaps on reflection, that was a little bit of an understatement. However after Gareth had successfully climbed down and up the othe side I thought he'd be ok. That was until we reached the final descent. It was obvious that he wasn't comfortable in the situation, so he rightly decided to turn back and head for one of his marks close by. I had said I would come back with him, but after 5

of him assuring me he'd be fine getting back, I continued down the final drop to the mark. Thinking that Gareth would be ok, I started fishing with a small soft plastic and after a few chucks I had a little ballan wrasse of about half a pound. After another 20 mins I decided to switch tactics and use a home made 2-hook flapper armed with size 4 hooks, a few luminous beads and lovely fresh wriggly rag as bait. I was getting a wrasse a chuck for 20 minutes, nothing of any size but alot of fun. Then I had a tiny rattle and brought up a little LS scorpion fish. Back on the ballans then for a few chucks before species 3 came up, a little corkwing. I stayed happily pulling out these wrasse for another 45 minutes and finishing with around 15 ballans, 4 corkwings and 2 scorpion fish before I thought I best go and join Gareth now at his spot. I packed the gear up and climbed my way back over the tops. As I peered over the crest of the hill though, I was shocked to see Gareth stood about 2/3 of the way up the other side. I must admit, at this point I felt a tad guilty and when I reached him I apologised profusely for not coming back sooner. He was fine about it though and said it was his own fault for convincing me he'd be ok. Nevertheless we now had to get up to the top with Gareth way out of his comfort zone. He was adamant that he was going to swim round but I had to stop him doing that, the current is deceivingly strong round this spot and the last thing I wanted after leading him down there, was for him to go disappearing out to sea. So after 10 minutes of calming his nerves, I gave a samaritin like speech (Gareths words, not mine) to boost his confidence in the climb and showed him a number of ways in which he could go about it. It was really a case of mind over matter and after another short calming nerves period he went for it and sure enough had no problem whatsoever. Once up top, I again apologised for putting him in that situation. For anyone that wanders why some marks are kept secret, then here is your answer. Being a confident climber myself, I don't appreciate how difficult it is for others to get to some of these marks I fish and I'd hate to put anyone in that position again. Also Gareth rightly pointed out after his ordeal that if I had of broadcast this mark to everyone, then no doubt people would try and reach it thinking, 'ye, i'll be fine' and someone would end up getting badly injured.

As you know from Gareths's report we then had another couple of hours wrasse and mini bashing at his spot which was alot of fun and produced a fair few fish. 

I went back in the evening to see if I could get a conger, but only managed half a dozen small pollock, a solitary poor cod and this beasty shore rockling which just about makes the record list weighing 270g (roughly 9.5oz) and measuring just shy of 30cm. All fish came on my scratching rig to rag/macky baits.

Cheers for reading,

Tight Lines,

Ross

South Devon Part 1

 

Challaborough & Gara Rock Area

Myself and my younger brother Sam headed to Challaborough to catch the low tide on our first day in South Devon. We got there for around 6am just as first light began to show and worked our lures off the rocks to the right of the beach. It was very flat unlike the last time we were here and the water was gin-clear. After spending an hour there with no luck we moved around to the right to fish off a few rocky outcrops and channels. This picture (right) being the furthest we went round. Again we spent a few hours trying various spots with all different depths covered with the lures to no avail. My brother carried on fishing the channels in hope of his first 2012 bass whilst I admitted defeat and got the LRF gear out for a bit of fun. I had a good haul of minis including this shanny and tompot blenny below. All the fish were caught on a 1g size 12 jighead fished with red Power Isome. Irresistable to these little monsters.

 I also caught a few scorpion fish but I'm not sure if one of them is a short spined. I had 3/4 of them and this one was a little different but I'm not an expert with scorpion fish so if anyone can tell from these pictures please let me know. The bottom picture is definitely a long spined but I'm not so sure with the top one.

 

Gara Rock Area

The next day we decided to try for a few wrasse around Gara Rock. Heading out to hit the tide half way up we were greeted by lovely sunshine and some favourable conditions. We picked a rocky ledge about 400 yards right of the beach towards the estuary and started lure chucking. After 30mins of nothing my brother changed over to a Savage gear sandeel with a sink and draw method. 1st cast and bang, he was in. Gave him a cracking scrap on his new AFAW rod and eventually landed weighed in at 2lb 13oz and measured 40cm. A good start! This was to be the start of an epic few hours. I soon changed over to my LRF gear and chucked out a 3" sawamura one-up shad. After a few casts I was in to my first fish. Not a biggie at around 1lb but alot of fun on a rod that casts 0-5g. We continued to bang out the SP's bringing in a constant flow of wrasse between 3/4lb and 2lb until Sam got another at around the 2.5lb mark. After a few hours, the tide reached high and we were starting to get wet feet from the slight swell that was covering the rcoks we were stood on. My best fish of the afternoon came shortly after high at 3lb dead. Again on the sawamura one-up shad. It took me a while to land as I only had 6lb fluoro leader and this fish was bullying me into the snags. Its my best wrasse of the year so far and measured 42cm, picture below. Other lures we caught on

were Reins rock vibe shads, fiiish black minnows and x-layers in 2 sizes and colours. We finished the day with 14 wrasse, all ballans I may add. 9 for myself, 5 for Sam. Alot of fun on the lures when these bass are proving difficult to catch.

Hope you enjoyed the read,

Tight Lines,

Ross