West Cornwall Wrasse Light Games 21-11-2011

Fished the flood this morning for a couple of hours, from one of my favorite West Cornwall rocky perches. Deep water, big granite towers and weed. No real swell to speak of, but the surface was choppy with the occasional surge up the rocks, with fairly clear water. Decided to fish light, with the Nories Slow Retrieve 0.9-5g, and 3lb Sunline Small Game Fluorocarbon straight through of the Daiwa '10 Certate 2506.

I enjoy fishing the fluoro straight through, no messing with leaders, quick and easy fishing. The bite detection is different to the fine 8 strand braids, and I have found takes to be more subtle on occasion, especially when deadstick. The sink rate is great, cuts through the water nicely, and as the fishing is short range, no worries over loosing casting distance.

First fish of the day was taken on a dropshot rig, with a 3.5g weight, and an Ecogear Aqua Straw Tail Grub on a size 10 strong Carp hook. The following six were taken using a combination of 2" Ecogear BugAnts, and Jackson 3" Delicious Shiner lures, both rigged Texas style on a size 4 EWG weedless hook, and a Zappu 1.8g bullet weight;

All on the smaller side, and as you can see from the last pic, this Wrasse had a very large sore, and scarring on the opposite side, no doubt caused by a net of some kind, he swam off strong after being returned to the water. So a fun session in all, the Slow Retrieve rod works so well with the light lines, really protects them well.

LRF Wrasse on the Lizard 17-11-2011

With the wind forecast to pick up throughout the day, decided to head of for some sheltered fishing at one of my favorite spots out on the Lizard, West Cornwall. Arrived early morning, to fish an hour up on the high tide, with sunny conditions and flat calm waters, well within this large estuary mouth. The previous days days Easterly winds had churned the water up, and it was not the usual gin clear conditions, but better than the brown soup a couple days earlier.

Fished with the light gear, Nories Rockfish Bottom UL 1.8-7g rod, Daiwa '10 Certate 2506 loaded with Sunline Small Game 0.4PE. Started off with a Texas rigged Ecogear 2" BugAnt, on a size 4 EWG weedless hook, and a Zappu 1.8g bullet weight. Searching the rockline beneath the finger of rock I fished from, felt the familiar tap tap of the Wrasse, before hooking into the first of the day. Took a couple of small Wrasse on this lure;

Switched over to my go-to Wrasse lure, the 3" Jackson Delicious Shiner, in various colour patterns, on the same rig as above. Casting away from my perch, towards a partially submerged rock, let the lure drop, deadstick for around 5-10 seconds, and a big take. The fish was away from cover, able to bring it up to the surface, could see this fish was of a decent size, turned out the biggest of the day by some way. No scales with me today as fishing with the minimum, guessing between 3.5-4lb, nice and fat!

Safely returned, fished on with the same lure, moving from rock to rock, taking a few more small fish;

Final fish of the day was taken on the smallest lure, rigged an Ecogear Sansun worm on a 1.8g Ecogear Shirasu Fine size 8 jig head, worked vertically off the bottom;

Also popped out a couple more times earlier in the week, in tougher conditions. Fished near to Penzance, at a deep water rock and weed mark that has produced good fish for me previously. There were strong winds, and a decent swell rolling in, with some good soaking over the high tide period.

Fishing with plugs, rod choice was the Daiwa morethan Branzino Urban Side Custom 87LML 5-24g, paired with a Daiwa '10 Certate 2508RH. I had recently spooled the reel up with a new braid, Sunline Momentum 4x4 1.0PE 16lb. Great bright colour, and behaved very well in it's first outing in the wind and waves.

Landed a few Pollack on a Jackson Maxim vib lure, but the fish were scarce. As the tide dropped, rigged up a Nories 4" Power Balance on a Deps 3/8oz Head Lock jig, and pulled out a couple of Wrasse, the bigger of the two pictured.

Finally, a few shots of the great Cornish Coast, from a spot I fished a few days back, but pulled of a total blank! Love fishing these types of areas, with the impressives cliffs and great rocky features.

West Cornwall Wrasse 08-11-2011

Well, being down in Penzance, and my freshly delivered copy of Modern Warfare 3 sitting with the rest of the post back home in Devon, seemed a good time to go for a quick session on the Wrasse. Headed out of Penzance to one of the small fishing villages on the South Coast of West Cornwall. Arrived in the drizzle at low, with the tide starting to push over the weed strewn granite lumps that make this part of the country up.

Set up the Nories Rockfish Bottom Light 7-15g rod with a Daiwa '10 Certate reel, loaded with Sunline 0.8PE braid. Have found the Sunline Castaway to be a very reliable line, offering good wear resistance in amongst the rough grounds where the Wrasse like to feed.

Rigged up a drop shot rig, with a 5g drop shot weight, and a Decoy size 1 hook with wire weed guard. Hooked an OSP Mylar Minnow lure through the head, and into the dep water below the rocky perch I was on. Small surge pushing through the gully I was fishing in, soon connected with a fish, and landed the first Wrasse of the day, coming in at 2lb 9oz;

Fished on with the dropshot rig, until it became snagged, and the leader snapped off at the hook. Took the opportunity to rig a 3" Jackson Delicious Shiner Texas style, with a size 4 weedless hook and a Zappu 1.8g bullet weight. Love these small lures, they are my top Wrasse catcher this season, perfect mouthful for the fish. Hooked 2 more Wrasse, both smaller than the first, took a quick pic of the bigger one out of the two;

Tackle Update 08-11-2011

Xorus Patchinko 100 Cabot

Xorus Patchinko 100 Lemon

 
Daiwa '10 Certate 2506 Spare Spool

Sunline Small Game Fluoro 3lb

 
Mars R-32 3.5" Togoro Iwashi

Mars R-32 3.5" Onuma Shinner

 
Ecogear Aqua Aji Straight 2"

 
Ecogear Aqua Aji Straight 2"

Jackson Delicious Shiner 3" Purple Weenie

 

Plym Night Light Games 03-11-2011

Met up with a few of the guys down in Plym the other night. Was a bit of a wind blowing, which dictated where we fished. The action was good, many fish being taken as the tide slowly filled the Marina.

I was using the Nories RockFish Bottom UL 1.8-7g, with a 2506 Certate loaded with Sunline Small Game 0.4PE. Rigged up a drop shot rig using a size 10 hook, with drop shot weights of 3.5 & 5g.

Searching out the sides of the Marina walls, the lure doing the business was the Ecogear Aqua Aji Straight 2" in various colours. Had a selection of Goby type fish, along with some great scrappy little Goldsinney Wrasse, who were attacking the lure in numbers;

Plym LRF 01-11-2011

Met up with a few of the guys down in Plym last night. Strong winds dictated where we fished, but good banter and fun throughout. Fished with the Nories Slow Retrieve 0.9-5g, Certate 2506 with Sunline Small Game 0.4PE.

Amongst the usual Polack, managed to catch a Poor Cod, last one I had was in the cold winter, also some kind of Goby thing, very small. Both taken on a Ecogear Aqua Aji Straight 2". on a barbless size 14 hook, with a 0.8g split shot 3" from the lure;

Got to fish a new part of the Harbour as well, the guys have had good success there before. Fell in love with Matts Certate 2004, looks a great size and will now be on the shopping list...

Also had this little greedy critter from the Creek at the end of my fields the other week, just did not get round to posting it yet, taken on a Power Isome;

Light Action Fun 31-10-2011

Have not fished much the last few weeks, so thought I would get out today in between surfing, and get some fish! Started off near Salcombe, the weather was not great, choppy conditions with swell rolling in. Went light, with the Nories RockFish Bottom UL 1.8-7g, 2506 Certate with 0.8PE Sunline Small Game.

Scrambled down to a rocky platform, tide was pushing, lots of water movement. Started out with small plugs, working various depths, and caught a good handful of Pollack. Switched over to a small metal vib lure, and again took a load of Pollack, nothing too big tho. Finally tackled up with a 2.5" Fin-s SP, and wangled out a small Wrasse, along with a few Pollack.

The tide was pushing up over my fishing spot, so headed off for a surf at home. Looking back from the footpath, quick shot of the terrain and conditions;

Then this evening, decided to go for a spot of LRF in Dartmouth. Wind was strong, but managed to find some sheltered spots in the Harbour. Rod choice was the Nories Slow Retrieve 0.9-5g with the same reel and line as above. Used a 0.9g Ecogear Shirasu Fine head, with an Ecogear Aqua Aji Straight lure, drifted in the current.

First fish of the evening was a Smelt, followed by several Pollack, from micro up to the size of the one pictured below;

As the tidal flow and wind increased, decided to fish a little heavier, and rigged up a 2" Ecogear BugAnt, Texas style with a 3g sinker. Twitched along the bottom, had a more aggressive fish take the lure, and after a scrappy fight, landed a small Bass from a dark spot;

Had good fun, was nice to get out fishing again, think I will be heading down to Plym tomorrow night for some more light action.