Schoolies Out For Summer

Fished a short session today, a couple of hours either side of low, in West Cornwall. It was slow going, with just three fish taken, a couple of schoolie Bass and a Pollack. I was pretty shocked to not see more Pollack today, this mark usually throws up double figure numbers on a regular basis.

Fished just softs on jig heads, mixture of Sawamura One Up Shads and Ecogear softies, Another successful session with the Ecogear 3D jig heads, with an assist treble hood attached to the underside of the jighead. Second session using the new Sunline PE x Fluoro hybrid line, and I can see it fast becomeing a favorite line to use over future sessions.

Lots of great new blogs are starting to appear on the net nowadays, so there is always something new, and up to date to read and absorb! One new blog worth checking out is John Hendersons, you can find it here at http://lightweightlure.co.uk/

Day 2: West Cornwall Bass

Following on from my last post, this is the session from the next morning, down in West Cornwall. Fishing the flooding tide, the swell had picked up a little more, with the surf fizzing round the rocks and small coves. Tackle today was my Daiwa morethan Branzino Urban Side Custom rod (8'7 & 5-24g). Lovely rod to look at, but in use, it has been a slow grower for me. Having had it for around a year now, I absolutely love it, and very happy I took the effort to import it from Japan. Sitting on the rod, a Daiwa Certate 2508 reel, freshly loaded up with another new line, some Sunline PE x Fluoro Hybrid, in 10lb / 0.6PE. This is a fluoro core line, with a braid outer.

Started out, searching the deep waters, by running the lure slow, alongside a finger of rock, lined with kelp. Was not long till I had my first Pollack, and conditions were looking promising. Following the same line, as the lure came into sight, darting out from the shadows of the kelp, came a Bass, taking the lure in one go, securely hooked, with a short fight it was landed at my feet, at around 3lb in weight.

You might not be able to see it, but the Bass is hooked on a treble, on the front of the jig head. Now this is the first time I was using this lure set up. An Ecogear 3D Jig Head (14g in this case) which has an eye above and below the jig head. The bottom eye, I attached a split ring and treble hook, sinking one of the points into the belly of the lure. This aids in retaining the lure, and also stops the treble swinging and tangling with the line. I had a good number of fish on this set up, using a combination of Sawamura 4" OneUpShads and Ecogear BTS Shads.

Moving to a shallower cove, time to break out the DUO lures, and do some searching amongst the surf. Starting out with a DUO Beach Walker 100 Vib, a combination of sink and draw, and steady slow retrieves, had a combination of Bass and Mackerel landed.

The Vib was switched over to a DUO Press Bait Kamuy. The distance this lure will travel is amazing, small and relatively heavy with no lip and a single assist hook on the rear, it flies through the air, cutting through the wind. I like to let this lure flutter down, then rip it up off the bottom, and let it flutter again. The takes mostly come on the drop, and makes for exciting fishing, as you really feel like the fish are hunting the lure.

The new Sunline PE x Fluoro Hybrid behaved very well on it's first outing, even in a stiff breeze that picked up throughout the session. I need to get some more sessions under my belt with it before I can give some initial thoughts on it, but todays session showed promising results.

Sunline Small Game Mono Initial Test

This week I received 3 new products from Sunline to test and try out. Amongst them was some Sunline Small Game mono, 150m of 3lb line, in the great pink colour! The other 2 lines, I will talk about in the future on the blog, but for now I have spooled up the mono onto one of my Daiwa Certate 2506 reels.

Since the recent storms and gales, I have not has the chance to fish, so took the opportunity to head out in todays relative calmness, down in West Cornwall. Fishing light, rod of choice was the Nories Slow Retrieve, the above Certate and Sunline Small Game 3lb Mono, and a selection of small softies, jigs and micro plugs. The usual gin clear clarity of the water had the stain of the bad weather, with lower visiablility that usual, with a 2-3' swell slowly rolling through the deep waters.

Staring out with my new favorite lure, the 5g Illeg B'eye, dressed with a 3' Ecogear Sansun on the assist hook, the first fish to be landed was a Pollack, hitting the lure as it dropped through the depths. Following on from the Pollack, I had the welcome sight of the silver flash, as I played a small Bass of around 2lb into my feet. This was followed up by another Bass, slightly smaller around 1.5lb, both taken on the Illex B'eye jig.

As the tide started to Ebb, the Pollack really started to turn on, smashing the lures, often a fish a cast. Started switching the lures and techniqes, the abundance of fish giving me the chance to try things out, find out the best retrieve, different speeds etc... Took a few pics of the Pollack, but high numbers were landed, quickly unhooked and back into the water. Tiny fish up to around 1.5lb at biggest were landed. They were going especially mad for the small DUO lures, the tiny Bivi vib claiming the most fish.

Ecogear 3" Para Max & Ecogear 3g Iwashi Head

Ilex 5g B'eye & Power Isome

DUO Spearhead Ryuki 50S

DUO Tetra Works Bivi

So the initial session the with Sunline 3lb Small Game Mono was great. At 3lb, its a low diameter, fine line, so casting is excellent, with jig or small plug. Coupled with a rod like the Nories Slow Retrieve, which is able to protect the light line well, the kiting Bass and hard diving Pollack were landed with no problems. I had my drag set fairly light, but with the extra stretch you get from the mono, in comparisson to braid, the runs and dives from the fish felt more elastic, the drag not doing much work, but the bend of the rod and the mono line cushioning the fight. Looking forward to getting out there again, and using this line some more.

Finally, for those of you who enjoy reading my blog, and those of others, there is a new one you can add to your reading list, from Neil Burnell, a lure fisherman from South Devon. You can check out his blog here at http://braidrunner.com/

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

DUO Tetra Works  Yurameki

Ecogear CX 40HS 

Ecogear Aqua Milfle & Ecogear Iwashi 3.5g

Return Of The Mack

Absolutely hate the song, but the Mackerel were in the bay this evening. Had a quick hours blast after a busy days work, enjoy the last of the days sunshine. Using the Branzino Urban Side Custom, paired with a Certate 2508R loaded up with Sunline Castaway 0.8PE (12lb).

Started out at the turn of the pushing tide, fishing an OSP DoLive 4.5" Crawler mounted on a 7g Ecogear Skip in the Shade jig head. Long cast out, couple of lifts, and started to get takes on the drop, resulting in the first fish landed.

Switched over to the hard plastics, and went with a DUO Bay Ruf SV-70. Ripping it up, making it vibrate, letting it fall back down, soon found the Mackies again as they moved around the bay. As the tide pushed in, switched up to a DUO Press Bait Kamuy, a supreme lure for searching the water column, and capable of doing so at extreme distance! The fish were loving the lure, and it accounted for a good handful over the hour, some coming in at a decent size, really motoring in the shallows as they were played in towards my rocky perch. Great fun short session and a good way to end the day.

Shorts & T-Shirt Fishing Is Here!

Glorious weather, calm clear seas, finally the chance to get out fishing in just t-shirt and shorts. No sweaty cumbersome waders, time to work on that tan! Fished with my Nories Jig Head Snapper and a Certate 2506 reel. Decided to go with the fantastic Sunline 0.6PE RockFish braid, and also took along a spare spool for the reel, with some Sunline FC Sniper fluoro mainline in 10lb.

Wanted to try out a new jig from MARS, a scaled up sorta version of the Illex B'eye I was using for the LRF styles last week. The MARS jig comes in at 7g, and you can rig it with various softs of your choice. Went with a Nories 4" Shrilpin, and first cast, I was into a fish, a Pollack, which came thick and fast over the whole session. Also mixed in, were the occasional Wrasse, as the jig made it's way to the bottom, bouncing over the mixed ground.

Switched over to a 10g Ecogear Iwashi jighead, rigged with a 4.5" OSP DoLive Crawler, and blasted it out far. Had a take on the drop, and the familiar shakes and runs of a Mackerel were transmitted down the rod.

Finished the session off with some Texas rigged softs. This is why I really love the Nories Jig Head Snapper, it's a superb softs rod, allowing you to fish light LRF styles, right through to heavier HRF rigs, doing the job very well across the whole range. Picked up a couple more Wrasse, before calling it a day.

Slow Going, But a Fish is a Fish

Fished the same spot as yesterday, conditions were different tho. The swell had dropped to nothing, with gin clear water, and strong offshore winds. Fishing the same set up, Daiko Spear 2-14g with a 2506 Certate with 0.6PE Sunline RockFish.

Continuing on with yesterdays success, went with the Nories Shrilpen rigged on a 1.8g Ecogear Bottom head, and also an Ilex B'eye 5g jig with an Ecogear 3" Sansun on the hook for tht little bit extra. In comparisson to yesterdays fish coming thick and fast, just the two Wrasse landed today.

One think I did see from up on my rocky perch, was a huge amount of bait fish milling around in shoals. Sand eels were there in numbers, big and small, as well as tiny fish in small groups, popping in and out of the weedy rock shelf. With the Wrasse bites turning off, decided to search the bay I was in with a DUO Bay Ruf SV-70. Was not long till I had a take, and my only Pollack of the day was landed. So a quiet session all in, but the conditions will hopefully change soon.