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

An opportunist session in Dorset

As the 1st November rolled around, myself and Lee were in the car and on our way down to Poole to catch the ferry, Scott was set to meet us in Jersey after flying over the previous day. Six hours after leaving North Wales we were at the port and both very excited, at least until the dreaded text came through just an hour before we were set to sail to inform us the ferry was cancelled. So after evaluating our options and having a good moan, we decided to  make the most of our day and get the LRF gear out. First stop was Poole harbour where both myself and Lee bashed out a few gobies each, Lee adding two new species to his yearly list with rock goby and black goby. The wind then decided to pick up a little making controlling the light gear much harder. The result was a short drive to Weymouth where we hoped for a few more new species. We made our

way to the breakwater at the mouth of the port, fishing the seaward side to avoid the wind as best as possible. There were plenty of fish taking a liking to our Isome and Gulp but after failing to connect, we both downsized the jigheads. The impact was instant and before long I was hauling out fish after fish, the majority being small pout. Thrown in the mix though were a number of corkwings, a scorpion fish, a few poor cod, a tompot blenny and this slightly better ballan wrasse of around 3/4lb. Lee was struggling to hook anything but eventually managed to winkle out a few corkwings before after a good wait, he finally landed a pouting, his 3rd new species of the trip. The bitter wind finally got the better of us after 3 hours fishing so we left Weymouth to once again visit Poole ferry terminal where we would spend the night attempting to sleep in my car, unsuccessfully.

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

Fantastic Pembroke Part 2 : Lure fishing adventures

Day 2 on my visit to Pembroke started with a trip to one of Ben's plugging marks. He'd only fished it on one previous occasion and had winkled out a few bass, so with the lovely weather we both thought we were in with a good chance. We arrived shortly before the midday high water and were greeted by a number of fish hitting the surface, some of them being fairly hefty. We guessed they were sea trout and maybe even salmon with some of the smaller fish jumping a good 3-4ft clear of the water. Full of excitement we both clipped on surface lures, myself opting for a free-bee I was given to test, the
Seaspin Pro-Q 120 in flashing plate whilst Ben opted for a range of poppers including the ever faithful chugbug. The lure I was

 using had a fantastic walk the dog action and after 10 minutes or so I

 had my first rise, the fish unfortunately not committing to the take. A few casts later though and I was in business. After a short fight I got it a couple of metres from the rocks only to see the fish spit the lure, was this going to be one of those days. I continued with the Pro -Q 120 and it did pay off eventually when a bass of around 1.75lb was safely landed, photographed and released (top right). The surface action went quiet for me, but Ben was getting a few rises, finally managing a hook up but as with my first fish it threw the lure a few metres from the rocks. I did manage an action photo though before the fish escaped (right). The sea trout were now leaping freely so instead of targeting the bass I

 clipped on the trusty toby and began working it with some pace trying to induce a take, that failed lol. Then it was the turn of the dexter wedge. With the dexter being a little heavier I was able to cast far further and work a much greater area. Just as I'd switched lure, a couple of Bens mates joined us, one of them being Rob who I met last time I visited. I had a quick chat and chucked my lure out in the proccess. 5 turns of the handle and a solid take, it was as if the fish could sense their arrival lol. It was giving a great acount for itself taking me round a rock in front of me and continually pulling my line with some lovely strong lunging runs. It did not want to be landed, but after tightening the drag a little I started gaining a bit more line back, eventually getting the fish close enough for Ben to grab it. It was not the beast I was hoping for but a fine conditioned silver bar of just over the 3lb mark ( above left) It had a huge mouth for its size and a gut to match. We all continued to plug away for a further half hour before calling it quits and returning back to the car.

Mini-bashing on the LRF gear

With some great success on the mini species front on bait at another close by mark, we decided to give the mark a go with some LRF tactics. I lent Ben some size 12 jigheads and Ben lent me the Power Isome. We were in to fish as soon as the lures hit bottom, with me catching around 15 rock gobies and half a dozen black gobies (left) which is a new one for the TLF species hunt. Ben was having much the same but he'd opted to try bait first, getting gobies and the odd wrasse and pollock. Seeing the number of fish I was catching though he soon changed and managed a number of rock gobies himself (a new species for his species tally - up right). We stayed for around 2 hours in total calling it quits when the local kids decided that the spot we were fishing was a good one for jumping in off. Not to mention the idiot jetskiers that thought it was clever to drive straight through some other anglers lines. A fun session was had though and we left rather chuffed.

Hope you enjoyed the read,
Tight Lines,
Ross

Wrass-tastic mini's session

 North East Angesey 13/05/2012

With the horrible winds blowing from the South West, my ideal species bashing mark was unfishable. Undeterred though I headed to find some shelter up near Amlwch and found a cracking little spot. I arrived there a few hours after low water and was hoping for some more species to tick off the list. I started off with LRF tactics, fishing a small piece of power isome (rag immitation) on a size 10 jighead and used in conjunction with a 0.5oz lead. The first fish of the day came after just 2 casts, a little pollock. I caught around 8 pollock before switching to more conventional mini-tactics. Now armed with a 3-hook flapper of rag baited size 12 sabikis it was wrasse time. I lost count of the amount of ballans and corkwings I caught, probably close to 20 of each in the end, but nothing of any decent size, will have a go with hardbacks soon to target the better ones. It was coming to high water and I still hadn't landed anything new so I moved a few hundred yards to another nice looking spot. The usual small ballans were there in force as well but after a while they turned off and I started to get a few more interesting fish. First off was a couple of small LS scorpion fish and then a few casts later, my 2nd rock cook of the year, which was a right fatty for its length. I kept at it, pulling in almost a fish a chuck for a good 90 mins and finally I got one of the species I was after, a gold-sinny wrasse (species 34) I could go home rather happy now but knowing there were at least a handful of species down there I was yet to catch, I continued. Only one more species came out and

 unfortunately it was one I'd already ticked off, a rock-goby. Though it was caught on unbaited sabikis, s new one on lures :) Last time the camera decided to pack in before I could get a photo so heres some proof of this one.So after 4 hours or so of mini-bashing I left the rocks a very content fisherman, with 7 species for the day and one new one for the tally. Just cuckoo wrasse to tick off now then from the wrasse family, unless I can somehow blag a baillons from Jersey later in the year, not holding out for that one though. The next report will hopefully involve a few smoothhounds from a boat trip we have planned for the 16th, weather permitting of course but I have faith in Gethyn to get us some fish regardless as long as its not called off, fingers crossed.

Hope you enjoyed reading,

Tight Lines,

Ross