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

A mid-February Gathering - Part 2

Here it is, I've finally had chance to write part 2 after a few busy days in work.

After the previous nights success on the congers and with weather meaning a huss session was out of the question, Lee and Scott suddenly had a change of heart and decided that they too would like a bit of rod-bending eel action the following night. But we still had a whole day to fish before that could happen.

Our first port of call on day 3 was to fish a local lake for the Pike. I know Lee in particular had been looking forward to this, but unfortunately it was extremely disappointing with not a single fish landed between the 3 of us for our few hours of effort. So approaching midday we sacked off the piking once again and I asked the guys what they fancied doing. With no definitive answer coming back, I gave them a few options, to which another day on the LRF at the power station was decided favourite.

We would only have a few hours to fish before the tide had dropped to a level where fishing was not possible, but once again we were pulling out the fish one after the other. Both Lee and Scott were still desperate for a tompot blennie and Scott finally got his prize after switching tactics to a small chunk of rag, Lee however had to settle for the dozens of corkwing wrasse and shannies that plague the mark. I was having no such problems with the tompots and landed at least half a dozen of them over the course of the session, most of which were taken drop-shotting white power isome. I just can't get enough of these fish, how anyone can find catching mini's boring is beyond my explanation. Oh well, there will always be haters I guess :)

That evening, as promised, I took the lads to my favourite conger mark but it wasn't to be unfortunately. We did have one good run on my right-hand rod which I let Lee strike into, but after a short tug of war, the hook pulled free and the eel was gone. A little disappointing after such a good session the night before. Will leave this mark a good month now before I head back to hopefully tame a leviathan.

The last full day of the trip was in my eyes a little bit of a disaster. Having looked at the swell forecast for the end of the Lleyn, I had suggested that it would be a bit rough and that staying local would be a better idea. Lee and Scott had other plans though and were determined to head down to Uwchmynedd, a good hour and a half drive away from Bangor to do some deep water fishing for Pollack and wrasse. Anyway, in the end I just drove down there for Lee and Scott to see what it was like and to see the beauty of the landscape in the area. As expected, the swell height made it almost unfishable which put me in a bad mood, after all I'd just had to drive 60 miles to prove that the forecast I'd seen was correct. Whilst there though, there was no point turning round and going back, so we decided to head to a little cove where the swell was just about manageable. Still annoyed, I spent the first hour and a half watching the others from the top of the rocks. Eventually though after seeing Scott land the first Pollack of the session, I decided to join them and have a fish. It wasn't long before I was into my first of 4 small Pollack on the 3" white delta eels and Lee managed to avoid the blank with a Pollack of his own soon after. Shortly after it was time to shoot to Ty Croes for the evening, where I'd hoped to get Lee and Scott a few rays.

 The tides were far from ideal for ray fishing, but as Lee had never had a ray of any kind and Scott had only had the one thorny, it was worth a shot. As we arrived in the carpark, our evening got a little worse, it wasn't packed but we'd just seen a bloke head off with his rods down the path. I knew full well where he'd be fishing, but I had to check just incase, sure enough though my preferred ledge was once again taken. Opting to fish way to the left instead, our chances of a decent haul of rays were greatly reduced, but we were on a spot where I'd had a good number of huss in the past so it wasn't all bad. As it planned out, we did get a couple of fish, a 5.5lb thorny for myself and a doggie for Scott, which he was happy with. With those fish came the end of our last evening session together, at least we had caught what we had gone for. I'm sure next time, they will both get a few rays themselves.


The decision on where to fish for the last day was simple really, the lads just wanted to end the trip on a high and catch plenty of fish, so for the final time we'd go after the mini's. Again we hammered out corkwings and common blennies and once again to Lee's disgust, I held my own with the tompots, bagging another half dozen or so whilst the others were left bewildered as to how I was doing it lol. The one highlight for me on the final day was my first lure caught mullet of 2013, a small but very welcome thick lip which took a liking to my white isome.



After 4 long days of fishing, the time had come to say our farewells, or at least we thought it had, half way back to Bangor, Scott realised he'd misplaced his phone. Positive he'd left it on the roof of the car before we'd set off, he had to make a tough decision : leave it and get his train home or go and have a look for it and miss his train. In the end he decided it was worth having a look for but after a thorough search it was nowhere to be seen. What a downer! So in the end it was just Lee we waved goodbye to that night and Scott kipped in my spare room having booked the next train northbound at 5am the following morning.

Wanting to make the most of my time off, I headed out again that evening for a spot of bass fishing whilst Scott decided to stay in and get some sleep. It was not a hugely productive session but I did manage to get my target with this bass of 45cm and roughly 2lb in weight, better than a kick in the teeth.

By the time i'd woken up for work the following morning, Scott had left so it was back to the day job for the foreseeable future.

It was great to see the guys once again and all things considered, I think we did a fairly good job. I was happy at managing to put them onto a few fish and I'm sure they enjoyed it. I don't think many people can say they've caught 14 species over a long weekend in winter, so we did a good job :)

Thanks for reading,
Tight Lines,
Ross
                                                                                                                                                                        

Striking gold on the Lleyn

For a few weeks now, myself and mate Lee Goddard have been contemplating meeting up for a days fishing. After dismissing pike fishing due to unfavourable conditions, the suggestion was made to go hunting big Pollack at one of my more successful marks on the Lleyn. Meeting Lee in Pwllheli for 7.30ish we were soon on our way to the mark with some high hopes of a productive session. The weather was spot on, couldn't have asked for a nicer day, a huge contrast to the last time we'd fished together, in which I avoided a blank by resorting to catching sand-gobies, desperate times lol. Anyway, as we finally stepped onto the mark it was time to get the ball rolling, or not as it seemed, for after 40 minutes of chucking the lures around, neither of us had managed a touch. The Pollack can be very finicky at this mark and often feed at random intervals throughout the tide, so I decided to have a small break and watch as Lee kept going. As fortune would have it, it was as soon as I opened my mouth and blurted the words 'maybe they're just not on yet,' that Lee's rod suddenly bent over and the first Pollack of the day was landed.

Not wanting to miss out in case this just happened to be happy hour, I jumped up and got my lure in the water quick time. That cast, bang, that's my blank avoided and my first Pollack of the year. A couple of casts later, another one, only a tiddler but always welcome. After landing half a dozen or so, we both decided to have a change of tactic. If there was any bigger ones down there, we were gonna search them out with some much more manly and heftier lures. Wasn't to be though, didn't matter what was thrown on, the fish had lost interest, maybe another lull in their feeding. Reverting back to my previously successful deep spinning rig, I was soon banging them out again like no-ones business, even managing to get another short video done. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiDLaYZrMg0&feature=youtu.be One after the other, they seemed to just throw themselves on the hook, whilst Lee watched on in slight disbelief.

Lee instead opted to continue with the larger lures for a while before eventually deciding enough was enough and changing method. This time he had an ace up his sleeve and started using a Jika rig to see if there was any willing customers lurking on the bottom. Not long after starting with the method, he soon found himself into a powerful fish, well at least for 5 seconds as it unfortunately chucked the hook a moment after the hook-up. This would kick start an hour of misery for Lee, as rig after rig kept getting snagged up with no gear coming back, it was getting expensive for him. As his frustration grew, I just couldn't resist adding fuel to the fire by giving him a rolling commentary on my tally, it's funny when he gets angry lol. He soon cheered up though, when after a gargantuan effort, he finally hooked another fish on the Jika and this one wasn't coming off. Not exactly sure what it was, the thought's leaned towards ballan and this was confirmed as it hit the surface, quite possibly the first lure caught wrasse in North Wales this year, a top result. This one had a lovely tiger like pattern with vivid green spots on both its dorsal and caudal fins, a real stunning fish.

Now tired of Pollack, I spent my last half hour chasing blennies round a rockpool, catching 3 of them in the process, before I snagged a rock out of my reach and lost the lure, this was a sign to pack up. So session over, I could gladly say it was a far better outcome than the previous time we'd fished together, my finishing tally being 26 Pollack and 3 blennies. Lee had struggled with the Pollack landing just 3, but did manage a well earned ballan wrasse that he will say was worth 20 Pollack, so we both left more than happy.

Hope you enjoyed reading and until next time,
Tight Lines All,
Ross

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

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

Scottish Adventures Part 1 : Aberdeen with Wyness

 The first leg of my journey to the Northern Quarters saw me visiting Ad in his new home for 3 years, Aberdeen. Being completely clueless about where to start, we had originally made plans to have a go for sea trout but after finding out it is illegal to fish for them on Sundays (our first day), a change of plan was in order. We decided to wander a bit of coastline to the South and after a short walk we found a few more anglers to go and have a chat with. The pair of anglers, Matty and John were targeting a variety of fish with pollack and codling being the main quarry. It wasn't long before Matty had his first pollack of around 2-3lb on feathers so myself and Ad quickly ran back to the car to get the gear, Returning just 15 minutes later Matty had already managed a nice codling to add to his catch and John had also had his first pollack of the day. Rigging up a variety of weedless soft plastics on a deep spinning rig, we were both getting a good number of takes and at the end of the session I'd notched up a tally of 9 pollock to 3.5lbs whilst Ad had managed a macky and a codling. Matty and John were doing well on the bait also with a good haul of decent codling and a few
macky and pollack thrown in. As soon as the tide started running though the fishing died so we threw in the towell and went for a few bevvies. The following day we returned with some stronger tackle to target some of the better ones we had lost the day before. I met with John and Matty again down at the mark with the pair of them opting for lighter spinning tackle this time around. The scene was set but after a good few hours and just a couple of smaller fish to show for our efforts we had a short break. Over the hill came Ad after his morning meeting and almost instantly the fish came on. The better fish were now beginning to show again and after a few more small ones, I managed my best of the session at roughly 4lb. Matty managed to capture a nice action shot for me and then a photo of the fish after it had been landed. Ad was

getting plenty of takes but again couldn't manage any pollack so I gave him a small red tailed sidewinder to try. He lost a fish on his first cast but the fish didn't get so lucky the second time and Ad got a real nice fish of around 6lb (left) which broke his PB. This was to be the best pollock of the trip but Ad lost a fish he thinks may have been bigger. Meanwhile John and Matty were happily working the lures getting a good haul of pollock until Matty's rod arched over into what we thought was a big pollock. After a spirited fight though, we saw the culprit, a crakker of a codling at around the 5lb mark. What a place and to think this was the only mark we'd tried. This area has a lot of potential for a giant and I'll be back visiting shortly no doubt to try and beat a few of my own PB's.

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 :)