Smells-Kinda-Like-Fish: Light Lure Experimentation

Pushing tide, hazy sun, too warm to fish without stripping off a little, the summertime feeling has returned, after a good long season of fishing wrapped up from the elements. The deep clear water was alive with bait fish of various sizes from tiny sand eels up to larger groups of Launce. The shoals would scatter and run every now and then, as a marauding predator darted in amongst them.

Fishing light today, with the Nories Slow Retrieve, Daiwa 2506 loaded up with 8lb Sunline Small Game 0.6PE. I have been using this line for around a year now, and still really impressed with each session I use it. I have fished in the Harbour environment with it, the fresh water reservoirs, estuaries and the rugged West Cornwall coastline. It feels good in the fingertips, very fine and slick, with a cool pink colour to it. As someone who likes to fish small light plugs around the 5g mark, casting them out with the Small Game PE can help you get that little bit more, over some heavier lines. As well as the usual mini species, I have landed some decent hard fighting Wrasse, and my best Bass of 2011 was taken on this line, at just over 5lb in weight.

Back to the fishing; I had made up a bit of a DIY lure, with various bits and pieces. I took a Delalande articulated jig head, added a Pontton 21 split ring, attached 2 Decoy size 6 Dancing Jacks, and rigged 2 Ecogear 3" Sansun lures. Casting out, working it off the bottom, could feel some fish plucking at it, then a Pollack was landed, with the take coming on the drop.

Next on was a 5g Reins Palpuntin, working it at distance, ripping it up, and allowing it to flutter back down, some good solid takes from the fish. I use a Decoy Plugging single hook on mine instead of the small treble, makes for much easier unhooking and does not affect the catch rate.

As the tide filled the small rocky cove I was fishing in, I was able to chop and change lures often, trying different retrieves and techniques. Ended up with large number of Pollack landed, some really fighting hard, with the occasional good size Mackerel thrown in.

Ecogear 3" ParaMax & Ecogear Bottom Head 2.5g size 3