Light Jig Wrasse

Sunny weather and the start of the School Summer holidays, means busy, busy times at work for me on the Beaches of the South Hams. Fishing has taken a back seat, but I managed a quick evening session as the sun began to set. Fished with the Daiko Spear 2-14g rod, and a Certate 2506 spooled up with Sunline Small Game 0.6PE.

First off, had the Pollack going crazy for the little Jackson RiskBait surface lure, the fish flipping out of the water, as they pursued it. The flat calm sea was glassy, as the RiskBait zig-zagged across the surface.

I wanted to try out some of the lighter metal jigs I had recently got hold of. Slipped on the Daiko Tokon 9g version, and searched out the deep clear water in front of me. Fishing a slow sink and draw style, soon picked up a few more small Pollack. The rocks I fished from, gave way to some very deep angled gullies beneath me, casting short, and simply letting the jig fall back to me in an arc, no winding of the reel, as it came close to the bottom, the Wrasse were active, taking the lure. Also had a couple simply vertical jigging as well, letting the lure just make bottom contact before the fish took hold.

Metal Casting Jigs

I have been building up my collection of metal casting jigs recently. I really enjoy this style of fishing, you can work a hugerange of distances and depths, seeking out where the fish are feeding. They seem particularly successful down in the deep water rock marks of West Cornwall, but I am really looking forward to bouncing them along the shallow sandy beaches of the South Hams, Devon.

They can be worked different ways, to suit the conditions on the day. I like to cast long, and let it sink down deep, the lure fluttering as it falls. Then a long sweep upwards of the rod tip, holding it up, so the lure follows an arc as it sinks back down. Long, sweeping lifts work well, and sometimes the fish like a more aggressive quick double pump upwards. More often than not, the takes will come after the rise, and the lure drops back down.

The LRF size jigs have long been a successful tool for me, but these new ones I have, are bigger and heavier, for my Bass and light Bass kit. The recent poor weather and winds are easily dealt with when casting a 20g metal, and they can make the difference between a blank and landing fish when conditions are tough.

Damiki Tokon Jig 20g

Damiki Tokon Jig 20g

Damiki Tokon Jig 9g

Bassday Bungy 14g

Jazz Bakutyo 20g & Bridge Bagus 20g

Tackle House Nabura Deka 14g & Nories In The Bait/Ocean 12g

Quantum Mahi 12g & 18g



Cornish Wrasse Hunt With Scott

Day one was a solo mission to my regular West Cornwall spot. Tooled up with the sublime Nories JigHead Snapper and a back pack full of soft plastics, fishing was poor, with the calm, clear conditions just throwing up a handful of small Pollack, and a couple of Wrasse. The pink Ecogear Minnow M 4" claiming one fish Texas rigged, the other Wrasse taken on a drop shot rig, with the OSP Mylar Minnow. Fished with a spool of Sunline FC Sniper 10lb fluro, great line for the vertical approach in amongst the rough stuff.

On my way to this mark, over the last few sessions, I have been greeted by a squawking bird call, unlike any other I have heard. The bird in question is pretty rare by all accounts, and it is a Cornish Chough. At a glance, similar to a crow at first, but this bird is only found in small numbers here and there, and location of breeding programs are kept very secret.

Day 2, and I had arranged to meet up with Scott, who was on holiday down in Porthleven, from his home back in Edinburgh. Scott wanted to get amongst the Cornish Wrasse, and hopefully improve on his PB of around 1.5lb. Sea conditions were calm, water clear and winds light, so we made the decision to fish the far West of Cornwall on the South Coast. This particular mark, I had not visited for around 3 months, as it is very exposed to swell, and weather conditions of late have been far from perfect for venturing out there.

After parking up and making the 20 minute walk down along the coast path, we arrived at the first rocky outcrop to fish from. Deep water over rock and weed, we rigged up our soft plastics and cast out. I was using the JigHead Snapper again, so versatile, able to work tiny LRF lures, and easily scale up to something bigger and heavier if needed. Today I was fishing with the ever reliable Sunline RockFish 0.6PE (10lb) line. Combined with a Sunline Siglon 8lb Fluro leader, this combo is great for targeting the hard fighting Wrasse in amongst the rough grounds.

I was first off the mark with a couple of Wrasse, a good sign of things to come. I was still a little nervous, feeling the pressure to score Scott a decent fish, at a mark I had not fished in a long while.

With no more bites, it was a quick climb back up, and along the coast path. We were heading to a gulley in the granite, that in the past, has always thrown up some good numbers of fish. The way down to it, like many paths in Cornwall at the moment, was heavily overgrown, with all the wet, warm weather, a mini jungle expedition was required to get down to the spot. The gulley is fed at one end by a stream, pouring it's way down from the fields above. It was here that Scott hooked into his first Wrasse of the day. This was quickly followed up by another, which after a quick weigh, measure and kiss, broke his previous PB! From then on the Wrasse were landed thick and fast for both of us.

My attention was turned towards the RNLI Penlee Lifeboat, the Paul Alexander (Atlantic 75 class) as it steamed West. Shortly after, it returned in the Newlyn direction, with a stricken boat on tow. The Atlantic 75 was later on exercise with the mighty Ivan Ellen (Servern Class) in Mounts Bay.

Soon after, Scott's rod was bent into another fish, and this one looked a decent size, as it made it's runs down into the depths. Once landed, Scott's smile said it all, his PB was once again beaten, this time well and truly, with a lovely pig weighing in just over 4lb. This was the best fish of the day, stoked that Scott had his mission accomplished.

My best fish was a lovely spotted example, with stunning pattern and colouration on its flanks. I had fished a combination of various 2 - 4" lures today, all Texas rigged weedless. Some straight slug types, such as the 3" Jackson Delicious Shiner, some craw styles, like the 2' Ecogear BugAnts.

I finished the day with 21 Wrasse landed, and I think Scott had similar numbers. I was relieved that my choice of mark had produced, and Scott was happy to have smashed his Wrasse PB. It was a great session overall, good to meet up with Scott and fish along side him. I dropped him back in Porthleven, where I am sure he will have a few more good sessions on the fish during his stay, and I look forward to hearing about his species hunt aboard a charter boat. So to finish up, a few more pics of some of my Wrasse. Always amazes me, the variation in colour and pattern. Also great to think that 30+ fish came from one location, a place that we decided to call Wrasse Alley!

If you want to check out Scott's other fishing adventures with his mate Jake, then take a look at their joint blog. It's a great read, with reports and session from all over the UK http://schogskyandhutch.blogspot.co.uk/

DUO MOAB 120F

One of the DUO lures I have been having good results with lately is the MOAB 120F (mother of all baits). This lure has such a great finish to it, really nice detail and colourings. It comes in at 120mm and 13g and is a floating minnow.

Unlike many other lures, the diving lip is constructed from a thin circuit board style material, this gives the lip great strength, letting you really work the lure if required. It has a magnetic transfer ball weight internally, with another smaller fixed weight in the front section.

I have been fishing the estuaries recently in West Cornwall, over mainly clean sandy grounds. The schoolies are about in good numbers, and the DUO MOAB has been particularly effective in bringing them in. On the flood, casting from rock to rock, working the lure close to structure, the takes have been hard and fast, with the little fish scrapping well.

There have been the occasion Pollack in the estuary as well. These fish have a lovely light colouring in comparison to the ones I usually catch from the deep weedy marks, a case of the fish matching their surroundings.

I have been trying out some new metal jigs as well. The recent high winds and rough stormy weather have been good testing conditions for them. Casting is a dream, as they cut through the air, the heavy small bodies sinking down in the rough seas.

Tackle House Nabura Deka 14g

Bridge Bagus 20g / 70mm

July = DUO Contest #9

Well a new month is here, and to bring a little sunshine into this miserable Summer weather, the guys at DUO have a new contest for you to enter!

This time the contest subject is not about DUO, instead they want to know about you.  In order to enter the contest, you simply have to answer the following question;

Where are you from?

  

You can either answer with a country or a city, and for a few useless plus points, you can also write what is your town famous for and what good is there to see.

Entry into the contest, requires you to become a fan of the DUO Facebook page, and email your answer to duocontest@gmail.com with the subject title DUO Contest #9. The three lucky winners will get a DUO lure pack, as well as the new DUO t-shirts. Good luck!