Dartmouth Night LRF 21-09-2011

After speaking with a chap at work, decided to hit up Dartmouth for a spot of night time Harbour light action. Have not tried fishing there before. Fished the stretch between the two car ferries, on a pushing neap tide. Pretty clear water, able to see the fish below in the street lights. Fished the Nories Rockfish Bottom UL 1.8-7g, Certate 2506 with Sunline 0.4PE with Ecogear Aqua Straw Tail Grubs & Katsu Aji Straight 2'' on a Shirasu Fine jig head Size 10 1.4g

Met up with my mate, who tagged along to show me some hot spots, and to see what the light action gear was like. Casting out, and a very slow twitched retrieve, could see two flatfish moving towards the lure, with one of them taking it. Nice little scrap, and landed my first flat fish on a lure, a decent size flounder;

Moving along, went out onto a water taxi pontoon, and you could see the fish breaching all over. Flipped a cast into the light, and on the drop a good take, turned out to be a small Bass. The rest of the night it was Pollack action, most taken on the drop off the cast, maybe had 10 in total. 

Was a good first session in Dartmouth, my work colleague enjoyed watching the action, amazed at the Flounder. Next time I will take my spare rod over for him, turn him into a convert. Will be deffo visiting Dartmouth again for some light action, and maybe a jaunt out to the Castle area. Lots of potential and a good large area to explore.

LRF Wrasse On The New Rod 19-09-2011

After picking up the new rod, went straight to my South Coast estuary mouth spot, to get the rod into it's first session, with a bit of shelter from the building winds. Rigged up with the '10 Certate 2506 with Sunline Small Game 0.4PE, and a 3" Senko, Texas rigged with a straight shank hook, used weedless. My first attempt at fishing with this hook style. Found the Wrasse straight away, and the action was good over the dropping neap tide, amongst the rock and weed. After a few fish, the Senko was looking ragged, so rigged up with a 3" Jackson Delicious shiner on a size 4 EWG weedless hook, 2g sinker. A favorite of mine for targeting Wrasse, again straight in, with a total of 10 fish for the day over a couple of hours, no monsters, but some of them took line well, and put a good bend in the light rod. Few of the fish below;

First impressions of the rod are good, but I new they would be! I will get a few more session under my belt with it, draw some conclusions and comparisons, but I think it will sit nicely in my current rod range.

New Light Game Rod 19-09--2011

With my love of fishing light, especially with the Nories Slow Retrieve rod I own, I wanted to get another rod to compliment it, with slightly more power. The Nories brand, and the rods they make, suit my style well, and it makes sense for me to go with a rod that will have familiar qualities.

A trip to see Ben at The Art Of Fishing  had me looking over the Nories Rockfish Bottom Ultralight 6'10 1.8-7g. The rod felt familiar, as I own and use the Rockfish Bottom Light 7-15g already. Decision made, and a new Nories to add to the collection.

With the lightweigh nature of these rods, it made sense to get a case for protection when in transit or storage, went for this Awa-Shima case;

Also over the last week or so, I have picked up a few lures, some new, some second hand;

Jackson Justime 13g 85mm

Daiwa SC Shiner 3.5g 50mm

 

Megabass Zonk Gataride

Dice Bay Crap

 

Bass PB - Light Gear Action! 13-09-2011

Headed out to the same spot I finished up on yesterday afternoon, with a Bass taken off the top. Today the winds were still blowing, this spot offering a little shelter, and being the mouth of the Helford, safe from the raging seas down here at the moment in West Cornwall. Fished from an hour after high, on the ebb, spring tide conditions., with gin clear water, over the sandy sea bed, interspersed with rock and weed.

Tackle of choice was the light gear, with a Nories Slow Retrieve 0.9-5g rod, Daiwa '10 Certate 2506 loaded with Sunline Small Game 0.4PE 8 strand. Selection of small plugs, in the 2-5g range.

Waded out onto a rock, and started out with the Ecogear MW72F (4.7g 72mm). Working a slow retrieve, casting close to the submerged rocks, had a solid take within the first few minutes. Quickly became apparent it was a decent fish on the other end, rod was working well, line being taken off the drag, with the familiar head shakes of a Bass.Then when it came to the surface, could see it was gonna be a PB from the size of it. Played it carefully intowards my feet, and into the scoop net, the fish barely fitting into it. Onto the sandy beach for a few measurements, came in at 62cm and 5lb 1oz, smashing my previous PB by around a pound! Started to rain, so got some soggy pics, including one on self timer;

Slipped the fish back in, and it swam away strongly. Fished on, changing from rock to rock. Slipped on a cheap 45mm lure, and second cast, was into another fish, giving a good account of it'self on the light gear. Landed, and a few measurements and pics. Came in at 51cm and 3lb;

Tide was starting to drop quickly now, and waded out to a deeper rock, this time using the Ecogear CX 40HS (40mm 4.5g), deeper diving with a real buzz through the water. Casting out over the clear sandy bottom, using a very slow retrieve, felt a take and another fish on. This one was smaller, but a real scrapper, making strong runs in the estuary flow. Came in at 2lb 1oz;

Tide was getting low, and started seeing less fish cruising by, so called it a day after a couple of hours, happy with the results, very happy with a new PB, and for it to come on the light gear puts a big smile on my face. This spot has been fickle for me, usually on the flood, so might try the ebb again next time, see if the results are the same. Finally a look at the 3 lures that did the work today;

Equipment Update 13-09-2011

Sunline Castaway 0.8PE

1 3/4" 3/16oz micro plugs

Ecogear Shirasu Fine Jig Heads

  

Ecogear Aqua Straight 2"

  

Lunker City 2.5" Fin-S

  

 

Single Bass Saves My Sanity 13-09-2011

With the super-strong winds across the country, and down here in West Cornwall, decided my best chance of a session was to head out to the East side of the Lizard. Decided to try out my 'rockfish' rod with some plugs, not done it before. So geared up with the Nories Rockfish Bottom Light 6'10 7-15g rod, with a '10 Certate 2506 loaded with a fresh spool of Sunline Castaway 0.8PE

Started out near Coverack (not fished there before), heading away from the small harbour to the shelter of a headland point. Started working a Patchinko 100, amongst the rocks in generally calm water. Just meters round the corner of the headland, strong wind and waves crashed in. Then the fun started....

Wind knot number 1, thankfully I was able to work some magic and unpick it. Next cast, adolescent seagull likes the look of the lure, dive bombs it resulting in a seagull hooked. Finally brought it in, one treble in the web of it's foot, one in the roof of it's mouth. Then I find I left my forceps in my LRF kit bag. So with a firm grip of the gulls neck, manage to get both sets of hooks out, leaving the gull to fly off.

Next few casts, wind knot number 2! This one needed to be cut out, so back onto the rocks, scissors out, only to fumble them down a deep crevice in the rocks, lost for good. Proceed to tie a double up braid knot to a new leader, and having to bite through the braid, rasping it off on my teeth! One very messy looking leader knot! Repeat twice more, with a total of 4 wind knots, 3 badly bitten knots, and feeling very peed off, I decided to give up on that mark. Tide was dropping, and did not show much promise! Saw this ship skeleton on the way back to the car;

Mark number 2, again not fished there, was Porthoustock. Strange place, with the active quarry right next to the beach. Decided to try out the LRF gear, but not even a sniff. Was convinced it would be the go, but the wind was managing to wrap around, and making contact tricky. Might explore it more when the winds drop.

Final mark was a familiar one to me, near the mouth of the Helford. Have fished here a few times, but usually for Wrasse. Back on with the Patchinko, and casting from a rock over the clear water, sandy bottom with a few submerged rocks. Soon saw the lure disappear at distance, and it was fish on! Brought it in close, and the welcome sight of Bass was thrashing about under foot. Not a monster, but has been a while since I landed one;

Fished on for a while, and all the time decent fish were cruising by, some in shoals. A few Bass, but mainly Mullet, heading up the Helford. Couldn't get any more interest, even with the lures passing by the nose of the fish, so called it a day, happy to have avoided a day out with a blank! Took the fish from the rocks in this picture;

On reflection, the good bits: My braid scissors are 99p stainless nail scissors from Morissons, so picked up a couple more pairs, so I can carry a spare. The reel spool was overfilled by 10m or so according to spec, so brought the wind knots on my self, and with some line stripped off, the final session was hassell free! The Rockfish rod was ok with the plugs, but think I will keep it so soft plastic duties in the future. Will see what tomorrows session brings, hopefully a bit less wind! 

Recently Acquired Gear

Over the last month or so, I have gathered some more gear, some of it new, some to replace lures that have been lost and damaged etc... First up, I needed to replace my very tired Snowbee XS Pro wading boots. Considering these were new back in January 2011, I probably got around 8 months of use from them, till the studs have pushed through inside the soles, and the external materials have worn far beyond what is acceptable!

So the new boots are the Patagonia River Walkers, combined with some Simms Hard Bite Vibram studs. Really impressed with the way they look, and my initial thoughts on the quality are pleasing. The soles look very grippy as standard, and the with the studs fitted, should make them into a rock hopping dream!

Have added some small lightweight lures, that can be used with the Nories Slow Retrieve 0.9-5g rod;

Ecogear SX40LC (40mm 2.5g)

Ecogear SX40LC (40mm 2.5g)

Ecogear MW72F (72mm 4.7g)

Ecogear MW72F (72mm 4.7g)

Yo Zuri Arms Minnow Micro (55mm 4g)

Have also 'beefed up' the LRF spool I use on the Daiwa ';10 Certate 2506. I have gone for the Sunline Small Game 0.4PE, along with the Sunline Siglon FC 8lb to help out with the Wrasse, as I have found myself using the light gear a lot when conditions allow, for chasing the Rockfish;

Some new lures acquired over the last few weeks, some new, some second hand;

Xorus Patchinko 100 Sun Sprat

Tackle House Feed Shallow 128 Wakasagi

Daiwa Shore Line Shiner R50+SSR FG Anchovy

Megabass Vision OneTen

Megabass Lates

Duo Tide Minnow 140 Slim