Catch reports... A catch up!!

Having been a bit rushed off one's feet for a few weeks the blog has unfortunately had to take a back seat.. as has the fishing :(

However have managed to make up for lost time the past few days and so I will condense what has been a few good fishing trips :0

First up was the Art of Fishing Wrasse comp. I had been trying some new areas for Wrasse recently and in company with Paul SMITH and Frankie COSTELLO. We headed out to the mark shortly after a quick sign in at the PLYMOUTH BARBICAN shop. After a small chat in the parking area we headed out to see what we could winkle out. Conditions have not been best for Wrasse recently and any fish were going to be hard fought.

Frankie and Paul with our mascot, Rocky!

We quickly got stuck in off the rocks but it was soon panning out to be a very hard session indeed. I had a mare of a day having some incredible bites but I didnt manage to hook a single fish!! One take had me look over at Frankie who commented on how much of a bend the fish had put on my 7'3" HPR. Hoping for a big donkey all I ended up with was a hook fly out the water with no lure :(( ... and they didnt even leave a tip!

So an infuriating day for me turned into a cracker for Frankie. Still having to land a HRF Wrasse he soon winkled out his first from under a ledge we were fishing. This continued to be the best spot of the day and we got hammered for bites! Frankie converted another bite into a landed fish and the best of the day.. really chuffed for him to have two Wrasse on his first HRF session with fish landed. Cracking work!

Nice deep coloured rock pig at 35cm

A great day to be had by all and the competition was won in the end by a 51cm fish I believe which is a cracking effort considering how bad things have been.

This past Thursday I hit the LRF with the usual crew and it panned out to be an unusual night. Back using the metals I tested the Jackall Mameta in a bright pink. First part of the evening was the return of the living cuttlefish! Obviously attracted by the vibrant pink on the lure I had no less than three cuttlefish with yet a sniff from a fish. However the first fish soon came and I had this little pollock attack the lure on a straight retrieve.

Moving to a new pool and continuing on with the same metal I had a quick tap of a bite transmit down the MC Zaltz and converted into this fella coming out of the water.

A fine looking Sand Goby who thought that the Mameta was certainly a tasty treat. After a few more gobies the light was dropping away so i decided to go to a bit more dropshotting. Using a 5g dropshot with a new size 14 LRF dropshot hook, both from Andy KENDRICK at the awesome Jack's LRF. These dropshot hooks are the business. Easily threaded the doubled Sunline flourocarcbon through the eye and tied with a Palomar knot, all in the dark :) I use flourocarbon throughout for dropshot as I find it just makes sense. The Palomar knot is the best way to secure a decent dropshot rig and once you try it a few times its a relatively easy knot to tie.

Popping a very small section of Pink Power Isome on the hook I dropped it tight to the wall I was fishing along. Bites started almost instantaneously. This is normally the way with the dropshot. I really must try it in an HRF environment. Soon a small Pollock was retrieved. Re rigged with fresh Isome and back in the water. This time the bites came thick and fast. As I retrieved what appeared to be a small pollock I saw a larger dark figure make a beeline for my catch. Not sure what it was but very nearly ended up with a surprise on the hook :) However on the retrieve an even bigger suprise.. a small pouting. My first on the light gear and a real sign that winter is on the way :(

The evening was closing in and time to finish up on the light gear for another evening. A great night and some odd goings on with the cuttlefish and some signs that the season is drawing to a close with the sign of pouting in the water.

My final session came yesterday when I returned to a new and unknown mark which is begging to be expored. Joined by Frankie again for this trip there was a bit of a hike down to the mark. This mark is a beautiful strip of coastline and Im rapidly coming to enjoy being there. However the fish have not been kind so time to prove that the Wrasse were in.. After fishing some likely areas on at the start of the flood we moved across the gullies testing the water at every stage with no bites. Standing at the end of a gully I dropped a Snowbee Stinger Slider right at my feet down into deeper water and in front of what appeared to be a rocky ledge. A few tell tale nibbles started on the lure and the 7'3" HPR bent over. Fish on! It returned to its home under the ledge and took some coaxing out only to run for a heavy weeded area. With the drag now screwed down hard a quick bully away from the weed stopped the Wrasse in its tracks and soon landed. A cracking fight and a healthy fish just under the 2 1/2 lb mark was released after photos.

Rock hopping again another good network of gullies were soon found and these ran to meet each other in a large pool. Taking position over a rocky ledge there had to be fish somewhere in the area. The ground was boulders and weed lining the edges of some deep water gullies. Optimistic I cast the lure searching for some tell tale signs of Wrasse. After little reply from the water I again dropped the lure at my feet to sink just in front of the ledge I was stood over. Whilst admiring the sun, which was on the way to setting, I had an almighty thump on the lure and this fish peeled away some line from the Cladia 3000. Unfortunately it was to retreat back under its ledge. I soon realised that there was no way to bully this one out of its hole. Slacking off some line I repositioned myself at a better angle and started to slowly retrieve on the Caldia. After some coaxing the fish finally moved and ran across the gully to avoid being landed. There was a tremendous amount of power from the fish. I would soon see why. The fish gave a cracking account for itself and was finally landed. It was soon apparent where the power came from as the paddle on this fella was a sight. Weighing in over 2 1/2 pound I was pleased with the scrap this fish put up. Reminds me why I love Wrasse fishing over any other.



Nice paddle on the back end of this pig!

All in all a good day fishing and I really have fallen in love with this mark. Still needs to throw up some bigger fish mind :) More return visits will be had. The walk up was a bit of an epic climb but the views were second to none.

 

Tough life all this fishing malarky!! Tight lines all...