Catch Up - Part 1

I'm really starting to lag again with these blog posts so apologies to any of you that have been regularly checking for updates. Anyway to cut a long story short, since my last post I've had an absolute ball of a time - I'll just post up a load of photos for you to see rather than bore you. These are from end of June only

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

A fitting end to what has been an unbelievable year!

With just a week to go until my year long species hunt ends, this is almost certainly going to be my last blog entry of the year and I'm sure it won't disappoint.

Hovering on 69 species it was inevitable that I had to go in search of something a little special for number 70, so the planning began. After doing plenty of research and consulting with a few mates, we decided there was only one option, go big or go home, we were off to Oban to target the Skate! My good mate Scott sorted us a boat and some accommodation and I was left in charge of getting a few mates to join us on what had the potential to be a trip of a lifetime, two stepped up, Ad and Ed. With the 4 of us, the trip was a go and the dates were set to suit us all (20th and 21st December 2012), all that was left to do was hope for some favorable weather.

When the day came to make the long trip up North, the excitement from us all was clear, but after 7 hours in a car, I was drained and the others seemed a little shattered as well. Having switched our charter boat from the Thurs to the Friday due to a bad forecast, the first day was spent searching out a sheltered mark on Loch Etive. After first being blown off a mark in Aird's Bay, we found a spot the seaward side of Oban that was out of the wind. It was also a spot where Scott had been told was a good area to target thornback rays, a species he was dying to catch after watching me haul them in on our previous Etive visit. Anyway, all four of
us got the rods out with a variety of baits (macky fillet/heads, sandeel, bluey and squid) and the short wait began. I was the first into a fish, a thorny of course and I could see Scott was ready to throttle me, well that was until his rod buckled over just as I was landing my fish. Legging it to strike his rod it wasn't long until his fish was up on the surface and he had a thornback of his own, happy days! Then came the surge of the doggies, I think around 25 between us but during the onslaught Ed did manage a thorny of his own leaving just Ad to land a ray. Having had enough of the doggies I packed up the bait rods and switched to lure fishing and was quite happily pulling out a good number of small pollack to around the 1.75lb mark. Myself and Scott then decided to pack it in for the day and headed off for some chips leaving Ed and Ad to fish on. No sooner than we'd left though, my phone rang and it was Ed on the end to say Ad had landed a Cuckoo Ray, a species that is high on my list and I just knew I wouldn't hear the end of it :) It wasn't until the following morning after all the taunts from Ad, we'd find out that it was just a thornback with a very cool pattern, Ad was silenced.

Ed bends into a Skate

Eds monster at 208lb

Then it came, the morning we had all been waiting for, it was charter boat time. Up at 6am, we made our way down to Crinan to meet Archie, the skipper of MV North Star and at 8am we steamed out to the mark. All rods were set up with 4lb of lead, a large boom and a 250lb mono hook length and then baited with either a whole coalie or mackeral and dropped down 450ft to the depths. The suspense was killing us and all on high alert we watched the rod tips as if our lives depended on it. Sure enough though, an hour after dropping the baits down, the first run came and it was Ed that was lucky enough to get the first shot at landing one of these giants. Around 40 minutes after the hook up we gained our first glimpse of the fish and it was huge, it also didn't like the sunlight and had one last dive for freedom, effortlessly ripping line from the spool on it's way down. After a further 10 minutes gaining the line back the fish was back up on the surface and the skipper managed to gaff it nicely and bring the fish on board. With Ed's previous best sea fish weighing 12lb, this skate absolutely destroyed his PB, weighing a huge 208lb, a fish of a lifetime and the 2nd biggest Skate taken on the boat this year, well done that man!

Ad bends into a Skate

150lb Skate caught by Ad

To makes things fair, we had all made an agreement to take it in turns to hit the runs, so after spotting a good take on one of the rods Ad was the next in the line of duty. Ad took a different approach to Ed, opting to take the strain sat down. Unfortunately for him though, this meant that he struggled to gain much line back at any speed and so was stuck in a tug of war for around an hour and twenty minutes. When it did finally surface though, it was another big fish. Again the skipper did a great job of gaffing and boating the fish so that we could get a few photos and after taking the necessary measurements the fish was confirmed at 150lb dead, the second specimen of the day and we were only just into the slack water prime period.

Scott feels the power of a Skate

Scott's 45th Species of the year!

Next up to take a run was Scott. Again it looked as though it was a big fish, putting a large bend in the rod and occasionally showing its power with a strong run, to all our despair though disaster struck after a 10 minute tug of war and the hook pulled. Then things were made a little better for Scott when one of the other rods started nodding. With it being my turn for a run, I got kitted up with the reel straps and butt pad and prepared for chaos but after hitting the fish it wasn't the skate I was after. Thinking it may be a Conger, Scott was given the rod to winch the fish up from the depths. When the fish neared, the death rolls started and it was confirmed as a Conger, another fish that Scott was itching to catch. This fish was a milestone fish for him as well as it meant he had achieved his goal of 45 saltwater species in a year, congratulations mate!

There was now just myself to hit into a Skate and I have to be honest, with just an hour left before we had to steam in, I was beginning to regret not taking one of the earlier runs. But after rebaiting all the rods again, this time with very large mackerel and salmon fillet baits I had a renewed sense of optimism. Luckily for me, I did get my chance and I was soon bent into a very powerful fish. I managed to winch her off the bottom fairly quickly but after gaining 10 metres or so, the fish dived straight back down to the bottom, ripping line from the spool and leaving me feeling rather powerless. But, I didn't want to let this fish get the better of me and again hauled it from the bottom shortly after. This time, it was just a constant pump and wind action, giving the fish no slack at all.

Species 70 -  A 181lb Common Skate

After just 15 minutes of hauling the fish up, the line started kiting out from the back of the boat indicating it wasn't far from the surface and then she appeared. I had a minor panic attack when I saw that the hook was only just in the scissors, but the skipper eased my worries and did a fine job gaffing the fish before it could throw the hook. This was a huge relief and sure enough the hook popped before the fish was boated, very lucky! After taking measurements and some good pics it was time to watch her swim off, a truly magestic fish and such an amazing site. Then the skipper gave me the good news, my fish weighed a monstrous 181lb, a fish that is more than fitting for my 70th species of the year. This was to be the last action of the trip and once again it was time for that horrible drive home but my god it felt good.

The release - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGBaWCicznA

So 900 miles travelled and around £170 spent in total, I guess the question is, was it worth it?
Very simple answer - Hell Yes! So much so were already looking into booking a return trip in January.

A last big thankyou to Archie MacGilp who was an absolutely brilliant skipper, joining in with the banter and providing us with excellent advice as well as a cracking brew. I would recommend his services on board the MV North Star to anyone. This youtube video is what got us excited and I'm sure will excite you as well if your thinking about going up to Crinan for a go yourself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu6T6T4bszY

Thanks for reading and I hoped you enjoyed it,
Tight Lines,
Ross

Jersey and the red mullet mission

Having already visited the channel island of Jersey twice this year, its fair to say I can't keep myself away and this time I was on a personal mission to catch a red mullet, a species which had so far eluded me. To give myself the best chance, I'd been in contact with a mate of mine Dan Ferguson, a Jersey local and good all round angler and we'd arranged to have a long weekend of intense fishing. Please take a minute to check out Dan's blog as well :

http://dfergusonfishing.blogspot.co.uk/

Immediately on arrival, it was straight to business and thanks to Rob Dingle, we had some lovely fresh worms to use, thanks again Rob! We hit the mark on the rising tide, myself concentrating all my attention on the red mullet and sole, whilst Dan stuck out a few ray baits on a special rig I'd shown him designed for long casting. It payed off for him as well and after a doggie on his first cast, he was into this cracking blonde ray of 12lb 12oz, which smashed his shore caught PB and gained him some valuable points towards his club competition. This would only be the start of what would turn out to be a damn good weekend for Dan, I think the powers of my hat had somehow transferred to him. Anyhow, the worm baits just weren't producing for me on the night with only a few pout, doggies and a lone pollack to show for my efforts. Dan however had another blonde ray of 12lb 5oz to make a fine brace and after switching to a worm bait, he managed a pout and a sole, the first one I have seen live and a species I'm still on the hunt for.

After a couple of hours sleep it was back out again, this time targeting bass and pollock on the lures. We'd kindly been invited to go out on friend David Sullivan's boat, so would have been rude not to take him up on his offer and he'd picked a prime morning for it. The session turned out to be a good one for me with 6 bass falling to my blue savage gear sandeels, the best going 2lb 11oz, not huge but great fun all the same. David also managed a bass as well as a few pollack. Dan's luck from the previous night had deserted him though and he resorted to last minute wrasse tactics to avoid a dreaded blank.

Back on dry land for 12ish, it was time for Dan's 24 hour club competition and he had his game plan sorted. We first hit a wrasse mark where we'd meet Dan's mate Ritchie and his missus Hannah. Not much was caught with myself getting a small ballan on the SP's and Hannah showing us lads how to do it with a nice wrasse of 3lb+. Dan continued to be out of luck but I kept telling him that it was all building up to be a productive evening session for him...... wouldn't you have guessed it, that's exactly what happened. Fishing a conger mark of Dan's in the evening produced a cracking pollack for him, which doubled his previous shore caught PB, dropping the scales to 7lb 12oz, a real beauty and again some brilliant points towards his club comp. As if that wasn't enough he then landed a conger of 20lb 8oz on the following cast before things went quiet for the night, just one more strap conger being landed and myself narrowly avoiding a blank with the rat of the sea, mr dogfish.

The third day of the Jersey trip came round all to fast. Again just a couple of hours sleep before we again headed out to try and get a wrasse big enough to weigh in for the comp. Dan did manage a few to around the 3lb mark but unfortunately none large enough to meet the qualifying weight. I spent an hour or so venturing further afield with my plugging rod which produced a single schoolie before returning and having a bash at the wrasse myself. In no time it was 11 o'clock and we were off to the weigh in. There was a few really good fish brought to the scales, notably some lovely mullet over 5lbs, a double figure undulate ray, a good rockling and of course red mullet and sole, one of which had been landed by mate Rob Dingle. The plan was then hatched for another shot at the red's and we were joined by Rob for the evening. After a few hours digging worm we headed off once more full of hope. Dan once again landed sole, two of them this time  whilst I had finally got my first new species of the trip, but not the one I was after, it was in fact a 5-bearded rockling (Species 66 of 2012) We also managed a number of pout and doggies but nothing of decent size.

Me looking rather tired with my mullet

Dan also looking tired

It was now the final full day of fishing on my Jersey trip and for the first time, the wind had picked up bringing with it a nice bit of swell. During the morning we found shelter in the harbour and focused our attentions on the mullet, using bread as both a groundbait and hook bait. Dan was first into the fish landing a thick lip of around the 1.5lb mark. After switching to ledger tactics, I was soon hitting into the fish as well, first losing one on the surface and then going on to land two mullet in quick succession. Then they disappeared so we started chucking a few SP's around. Both of us got a few wrasse with Dan getting the pick of the bunch, this fish pictured was roughly 3lbs.

After yet another hours digging we decided we both needed a short rest so off to the pub we went. A pint has rarely tasted so good and it was definitely well deserved. It was over all to soon though and back out we went for one last go at the red mullet. A different mark this time and with a nice swell rolling in, the thoughts were that the bottom would be getting nicely stirred up and fingers crossed, the reds would have moved in to feed. I'd made a few new rigs up for the occasion designed so that all baits would be hard on the bottom and this time i'd blinged up the snoods with luminous beads, a little thing i'd noticed Dan had been using when he'd got his sole. It started much like the other night sessions with pout and dogfish turning up, so after a few hours we had a little chill. Rods went out and we sat back to watch a bit of facejacker on Dan's phone. Half way through the Brian Badonde part my baitrunner started going so I jumped up and hit the run. The fish must have been swimming straight towards me as I couldn't feel anything until close in when it suddenly decided to go the other way and put up a spirited fight. I didn't want to presume anything but I was getting a little excited as this was possibly the fish I'd  been after.

Gritting my teeth I clambered down to the edge of the rocks and lifted it out of the water. There it was, mission over, my first red mullet and a fish I'd put a lot of time and effort into catching, success was sweet. In the heat of the moment and in the spirit of Brian Badonde I just had to scream out 'BBBEESSSSS!' Mine would not be the only one landed either as shortly after mine, Dan pulled one out as well, a good fish at 1lb 11oz and some more valuable points for his club comp and also caught a small bass. I did think I had a second red mullet as well before the session was out, but it was in fact a pollack of around 2lb. With that, the session and my fishing in Jersey came to an end, yet another brilliant trip.

I can't thank Dan enough for his time and effort over the 4 days but left him with a few crates of stella for his troubles. It's great to fish with someone roughly my age that is just as enthusiastic about the sport as I am and it certainly will be great to return to Jersey next year, can't wait. Was great to meet and fish with a few new faces over there as well, Rob and Ritchie for example. Was also good to see the MrFish crew again, Mick, Bob, Mike and Lee. Always great to have a chat with you guys. Until next time though, take it easy and keep catching,

Thanks for reading,
Tight Lines,
Ross

2 days charter fishing at the Weymouth species competition

As a shore angler, my experience of boat fishing is very limited, having only fished from a boat a handful of times in the last decade. It really takes me back to the time when I used to go out on my grandads boat, targeting flatfish in the kingsbridge estuary and is a form of fishing I ought to do more often when you consider I have a kayak.
Anyway, the time came on the Wednesday to make my 6 hour journey from North Wales down to the South Coast and unfortunately the forecast was not looking to friendly. The Thursday predicted 25mph E's and the Friday predicting 30mph NE's. After spending the Weds night gaining my bearings around Weymouth the morning of Day 1 came round, I was well prepared having made up around 50 different rigs to cater for any form of fishing we would be doing. The rigs I had made up were a variety that I had been advised to make by one of the skippers down in Weymouth, Lyle Stantiford and also by England International Colin Searles, both of whom I'd been put onto by Gethyn. I should also mention that Gethyn had very kindly allowed me to borrow a few of his rods for the comp for which I am very grateful.

Day 1 : I had been drawn on Meridian Express skippered by Pat Carlin for the first day along with 8 top boat anglers, including England International and European boat angling champion 2011 Ray Barron. To say I was a little out of my league is an understatement but at the end of the day I was there to enjoy myself and pick up some tips from some of the best. The sea was choppy as expected and it took my stomach a while to settle but after an hour or so I was feeling much better. The fishing started over a wreck where all of us managed a good number of pout with the odd poor cod thrown in as well. We did a few drifts and then headed out to a mark where we would anchor up. The better anglers on the boat were catching fairly regularly and I was keeping an eye on what they were doing all the time. Steve and Ray were outfishing everyone else on the boat by a good margin, pulling in doggies, a few rays and the odd smoothhound. I meanwhile was getting the odd doggie but struggling to get into a rythym. With 5 minutes left at anchor, I started getting a couple of small finicky taps. I gave some slack and left it to develop. Before I knew it the skipper was calling for all lines to be brought in. Winding down the slack, there was definitely something still playing with my bait so I struck. It was solid, feeling like I'd got a snag until whatever was on the end decided it didn't like being hooked. The rod bent over nicely and the drag started going a little. The skipper called his prediction straight away 'Conger.' By now everyone else was out of the water so I made my way to the front of the boat to play it properly. It was such a powerful fish I just had to pull when I could and eventually the fish started coming up in the water. Surfacing  few metres from the boat, it was as the skipper had rightly called a conger and a good sized one at that. The rules of the comp stated that the skipper must only touch the leader for it to count so I was relieved when he took hold of my snood. For obvious safety reasons though the fish was unhooked in the water. At a skippers estimate of 35lb+ it smashes my current PB conger by just shy of 10lb's so a great result. We had one last stop just off the harbour walls where I managed to land my only new species of the comp. Species 63 : Jeffreys Goby. Due to the condtions and the fierce competition I wasn't able to get any photos but here is a photo of a jeffreys goby I found on the net so you can see what one looks like. At the end of day one it was Ray Barron who had triumphed on our boat with Steve coming a close second. I was more than happy to take 4th place and was already looking forward to day 2.

Day 2 : The morning was a lot colder than the previous day and the sea was a lot rougher as well. This time round I had been drawn on charter boat Flamer IV skippered by Colin Penny, a boat that I had been looking at online before I made the trip down. It was set to be another tough days fishing but with the tips I'd been given by Ray and the other on day 1, I was feeling a lot more confident. This time we started at anchor fishing for rays, dogs and smoothies. The dogfish were out in force and a lot of the anglers on the boat were bagging up to reach there limit. I was really struggling having been drawn at the cabin end again but finally got my first fish of the day in the form of a small thornback ray, a handy fish to tick off. I then after a good hour of trying managed to get my first doggie and in honesty it was a little bit of a relief. The others were getting the odd different species as well with a few small smoothies and a couple of whiting coming up. My next fish however was again far more substantial. The skipper once again moved me to the front of the boat where I could get a good spot to pull it in. It surfaced after a good fight and revealed itself as a lovely undulate ray. The leader was touched so it counted in the comp but unfortunately as the skipper was pulling the remaining few feet of line to the net, the snood gave way, so once again I couldn't get a photo :( The skippers estimate was around 14lb+, smashing my PB of 8lb 3oz and finally giving me a ray of double figures, very happy indeed. The call then came in to say we were allowed to fish in Portland harbour, a species meccah. This was my time to shine. Almost instantly we were all into pout, poor cod and wrasse but occasionally something interesting would come up. Firstly a baillions wrasse, shortly follwed by a butterfly blenny and then one of the guys had a fish I'm dying to catch, a red band fish. (Here are a few pics of what they look like) Really stunning fish and bit gutted I didn't get one myself but thats the way it goes sometimes. As day 2 came to an end, I had a much better total score, beating my day 1 total by nearly 30 points. Just goes to show the difference a few small differences in the rigs can make. All that was left was the raffle and presentations. I new I hadn't won anything but I did have a good chat with Colin which was very useful. 3 way beads are the way forward for my new rigs ;)

So at the end of the 2 days, I'd managed to smash two of my PB's, catch 1 new species and pick up tips from some of the best boat anglers in the country. I'd say that it was a well worthwhile trip.

Thanks for reading,
Tight Lines,
Ross

Possibly the best fight I've ever had on my plugging rod :D

As promised here is the report from yesterdays fantastic wrasse bashing session. The day started when I picked Stevie G up at 1ish to go get some crabs. We had an hour routing round and got enough peeler for our session, so we headed up to the North coast expecting big things. Arriving on the mark shortly after mid-water, we both set up with a 1-up rotten bottom rig with a size 1/0 sakuma hook and crab for bait. Steve wandered over to some ledges on our right, whilst I climbed down to sea level to drop straight down into the deeper gully. Almost as soon as I'd hit bottom on my first drop I had a typical wrasse bite, one tap and then a slow arching of the rod. Striking into the fish it took off on a small run and unfortunately managed to throw the hook. Promising signs though! Second cast was to produce a shock though. Again I dropped down into the gully fishing as tight to the side as possible. Another bite came fairly soon and at first I presumed it was another wrasse. I waited until the right moment and hit it.........fish on. There was a considerable force on the other end though and it was going mental. My plugging rod was arched over double and I could do nothing but be patient and take my opportunities to gain line when they came. Thinking I was into a possibly PB breaking wrasse I got extremely excited. The fish was not tiring and even in mid-water it continued to surge back down to the snags. At this point I started realising that it may not be a wrasse, as from experience the big wrasse tend to almost give up once you've got them up in the water. As the fish neared the surface, I caught a first sight of it and I must admit I thought I'd got a ling. One last dive confirmed its true identity though, it was a conger of all things on half a peeler. I always take a net with me wrassing, so landing the fish was not to bad once it was on the surface. I shouted over to Steve to come and see the fish, not telling him what it was until he caught sight of it for himself. Steve's words were as follows 'You are a spawny t**t' lol. Took a few pics and released the fish asap. That was probably the best fight of my life, what an epic battle. 6 minutes tug-of war with 10lb leader and size 1/0 hook took it's toll though and I soon replaced the rig with some heavier line just incase of a repeat hook up. Shortly after, I was back into some of the big ballans that frequent this area as well as a couple of nice pollock which couldn't
resist half a juicy peeler. This fish on the left  my biggest of the day at a tad under 4lb. It was one of around a dozen 3lb+ fish landed between myself and Steve in around a 4 hour period. I just love the colour variations between wrasse, no two fish are ever the same and the belly on this fish although sagging, had a lovely bright orange spotted pattern on it. Stevie G's best fish of the day came around mid-way though the session. After he had hooked and lost a few monsters that had taken him to ground he started getting the hang of it and was
 pulling in a steady flow of 2-3lbers with this fish on the left being his best

 of the day at a tad over 3lb. He was getting some interesting little taps though and eventually got a hook up to this corkwing (right) which we had to inspect for a while due to some odd markings on the tail and the belly. We thought for a second he may have had a rarer species of wrasse but after a short discussion we decided it was just a corkwing lol.    Steve then had a short period of fluff chucking which resulted in a dozen or so macky, plenty for his next few breakfasts atleast :) We left at around 7.30ish in hope of catching the second half of the Spain v Portugal game which wasn't worth getting back for in the end.
Another enjoyable day with my knots taking a real testing from the savage beasts below. Thanks for reading

Tight Lines,
Ross