Catch report 09/07/12... For whom the bell tolls!!

Sound.... does it affect lure fishing. It's something I have been thinking over for some time. Why do we have companies spending time and money in producing sound making devices such as glass rattles for our lure fishing? Why do some soft baits already come with rattles as part of the design of the lure, Megabass xlayer for example. Does it make a difference?!

Well only one way to find out and this recent experimentation was fueled by a rather interesting article written by Del THOMPSON over at Scilly Lure Addicts. Del was obviously looking at sound as well and found a small 6mm metal bell on ebay. His findings were that the sound made  HRF fished Wrasse more aggressive and really attack the lure! Time to test this theory for myself.

I managed to purchase a stock of 6mm jingle bells. Linking up with Paul SMITH, we headed out to a mark which I have only fished on the ebb and so was interested to see how it does on the flood. However on arrival it was a disaster. The weather had been particularly awful the previous days with weather warnings across the county. The water was horrendous. Imagine leaving a teabag in a mug of hot water for a few hours then add the smallest drop of milk. You now can see what I saw off the coast at our mark.

Still we had taken the time to travel so fish on we did! I Texas rigged a few different soft plastics during the session but in place of the usual bead I rigged a pair of jingle bells! The sound was very subtle. Casting throughout the morning I had a few bites but no real dedicated takes. The fish were being fussy all through the flood which wasn't helped by the non existent visibility in the water.

However as soon as the tide was high Paul said he thought he had a knock but was now getting nothing... time to bring in the bells! Casting in roughly the same area I went for a quick straight retrieve with a couple of twitches. Primarily due to the fact is was relatively open water and Paul had thought he had seen silver!! Within 8 or 10 feet of where I was stood... Bam!! Strong attack on the lure but no take. Cast and repeat..... Bam!! Every cast was receiving a strong attack but not a hook up. Something was not happy with my lure. With the visibility so poor was the sound making the difference? This continued for some minutes until the HPR bent over quickly but shortly after locked up. No not snagged.... must be a Wrasse!! Giving a bit of line I then saw the most amazing sight. The Wrasse was running with the lure across open water doing its best impression of a Bass! I have never seen Wrasse run like this and this fella was not giving up. The fish was landed after the longest scrap I have had with a Wrasse and this fella, just over the 3lb mark, was photographed and released.

The lure was utterly decimated. I have not experienced aggression like this in any Wrasse I have previously landed. It was a cracking experience and echoes the findings of the Scilly Lure Addict Mr T ;) that the sound seems to provoke an aggressive response from the fish. So sound may actually make a difference. This was the last fish of the day so I dont have any further takes to compare but this will be an ongoing test now to see how much sound affects my fishing.

Here is the lure, well what was left of it. My beloved Snowbee Stinger Slider with a third of the back end missing and teeth marks all over. Never have I had a lure returned in such a state following one single fish. He was the Hulk of the Wrasse world :)