Wreck Fishing 05-03-2011

From the shore!

Had a session at a spot near me back home, SW Devon. Deep clear water, rock and kelp with some sandy patches. The area I was in has at least two wrecks, smashed up into the shallows, visible at low tide in the water. Large parts of the structure have been washed and pushed up onto the dry rock areas. All the gullies are strewn with rusting metal, with the rocks stained red from rust.

Fished as close to the structure as I dared, but as you can imagine, very snaggy. Deadsticking a 4" Senko, took a Pollack. Switched to a 3" paddle tail shad, and worked a slow retrieve, picking up a couple more Pollack, one which slid off the hook into the water as I landed it.

Switched back to another slim 4" Senko, and worked it in the deep rocky gullies near the wreck area. Felt a good tap, followed by connection and a fish on. Felt bigger than the Pollack, and without too much fight, landed a Wrasse, weighing in at 1lb13oz, and measuring 37cm.

No more fish, but a great session in a nice spot, lots of climbing and walking, but well worth it. Think I will be heading back there with the light gear, try for some Pollack on the small metals.

Vibe Lures

With the waters slowly warming, and looking towards the spring and summer months, I have recently tested out, and purchased some small vibe metals, and similar lures. I have found these lures are simply exciting to fish with, they cast well and give great feedback. There are variations in how they can be worked, and it's something I will be expanding upon, both in my light game approach and heavier. With a lot of these lures falling in the 2-10g bracket, the lighter approach I have developed into my fishing suits them well.

Ecogear VX 35 (35mm 3.5g)

 Ecogear VX 40 (40mm 5.0g)
 

Ecogear ZX 30 (30mm 3.5g)

Jackson Cymo (45mm 5g)

Jackson Cymo (45mm 5g)

Ecogear CX40HS deep diving hard-body crank (40mm 4.5g) 

Tiny-Trap lipless crank (45mm 3.5g)

The Ecogear and Jackson lures came from http://www.artoffishing.co.uk/

The Tiny-Trap lure came from http://www.agmdiscountfishing.co.uk

Plym LRF Meet 03-03-2011

I had a very quiet evening, successfully landing only one Pollack, and loosing a couple more. Was good to try a few different things out, one being the Tict Caro's, these will be a nice addition for when the water warms a little, fishing on the open rock marks in day. Also tried the Marukyu Power Isome (rag worm imitations available from http://www.artoffishing.co.uk/) rigged wacky, which accounted for my fish.

When in suspension, these long, thin lures hang straight, and respond well to small vibrations and twitches from the rod tip. When retrieved slowly along the sea bed, they are a very life like bait, and the fish seem to like them a lot. Will hopefully be putting these into action at various spots, Harbour and open rock marks.

Matt had a bad start to the session, having got set up, with a new shiney new Shimano Rarenium reel, new spool of flurocarbon, first cast led to a big splosh in front of us.  Rod tip still there, rod not snapped, line everywhere...... drag/spool securing knob missing off the reel and in the deep Harbour waters! I think he handled it well, much better than I would have. Good effort finding it on the low water as well!

A good turn out as per usual now from this fortnightly meet. Some nice mini species being caught, and lots of methods tried. Ben Field from Art Of Fishing had the biggest species of the night, with a nice Bass, coming from the shallower waters as the tide dropped away.

Tict

Placed a trial order through Rakuten for some Tict gear. The small quantity I ordered, along with delivery from Japan, UK VAT and handling fees made it expensive, but best to try these things first before committing to a bigger order.

http://www.tict-net.com/

Tict M-Caro Ver.II N-4.6g
Tict M-Caro Ver.II 3g
Tict M-Caro Ver.II 4g
Tict Caro Kabura brown
Tict Caro Kabura pink
Tict LaClip

Video showing the idea behind the presentation;

http://www.fishing-v.jp/movie/?mv=azlb_0910_0304990_02

The shop I ordered through Rakuten was Axia Sports;

http://www.rakuten.co.jp/axiasports/

Will be trying them out tonight at the Plymouth LRF meet, but it's a technique I hope will be good for the Mackerel and species once the water warms a bit.

Launce On Light Gear

Had another go in the daylight on the light metals today. Fished in clear deep water, using a 5g Jackson Cymo. Love these small metal vibes, the really buzz in the water, and cast so well. No real fish to report of, but had some promising catches - Took five nice big Launce, all on the treble of the Cymo. Measured and photographed the first one, pic of the second, and the others were of a similar size;

They have an interesting mouth, all hinged and able to elongate. So, thinking that if they are about at this spot, then hopefully there will be something bigger wanting to feed on them! Unfortunately no signs today, maybe soon. 

Night & Day

Couple of sessions to report on from last night and today.

Went over to Mevagissey, to meet up with Ben for a spot of LRF in the Harbour. I have never been to Mevagissey, and it looked promising. Tide was not on our side, as we started fishing at around low, with small tides. There was enough water to fish the area near the Harbour entrance, but it was dry at the town end. Another big factor against us was the howling wind, made it tricky to find spots to fish from, we were limited in where we could try.

On Ben's recommendation, I started out on some steps, casting parallel to a large sea wall. Straight away I was into the fish, small Pollack. They seemed to be taking the lure almost at the bottom of the steps, as the lure was drawn out of the water. I had four from this spot, before I switched places with Ben, and he landed some more little ones. The lure of choice once more was the Ecogear Aqua Straw Tail Grub, with a little extra weight to combat the windy conditions;

After an hour or so of slow fishing, Luke turned up. Quick discussion on where to fish, and we were heading off to Fowey. Luke kindly filled us in on a little local information, and after a tour of the twisty narrow streets, we fished from a small slip and harbour wall. We all had fish, Luke and I close range with Pollack against the wall. Ben had the fish of the night, with a decent size Herring at distance in the main channel. Biggest one I have seen for sure;

Was more of an exploratory session, and it's easy to see that Fowey has enormous potential, cheers to Ben and Luke.

Today HRF - Small swell and cross offshore winds, sun out, so went to try the Wrasse at my rough ground deep water West Cornwall spot. Fished for a good hour without any action, moved from rocky outcrop to another. Wind was stronger than anticipated, could only fish off one side of the outcrops.

Few nibbles here and there, but no connections with the 4" Senko's and similar stick baits. Switched to a smaller 3" Ecogear Aqua Milfle, rigged weedless. Jigging vertically in a deep gulley, letting the surges of tide do the work, finally connected and landed my only fish of the session. Small Wrasse - Did not weigh or measure, looked to me like it was maybe getting close to spawning, with a bulging lower belly area?? Maybe, maybe not, but it was unhooked, quick photo and back in the water just in case, no faffing about.

My first non-LRF fish of February, been a very unproductive month for me in the daylight sessions. Here's to a better month in March! 

Penzance LRF 22-02-2011

Went for a session in the Harbour, Penzance last night. Light to no wind, but a constant thick drizzle coming down, full wet weather gear required. I wanted to try a few different approaches, and arrived at bang on high tide.

First up, seeing what I could learn from using a blade style lure, in this case the Ecogear ZX30 in Dark Knight colour. Started out casting from a low height, and working a lift and retrieve pattern, Has a couple of follows to the surface, but no take. Moved up off the steps to the Harbour wall, and cast short, and worked the lure off the bottom, almost vertically, lifting up quickly making the blade 'buzz', and following the rod tip down in a controlled drop. This brought the takes, and landed a couple of Pollack.

Also tried out a small Ecogear floating crank bait, casting out and a steady retrieve with jerks and twitches to get the lure down in the water, allowing it to rise up. No takes, lots of vibration and depth right to the rod tip. Think I need to use it in some daylight to understand the lure better.

Moved onto the trusty 2" Straw Tail Grub. Rigged it split shot, carolina and on a jig head, Chartreuse and White Glow versions. Found definite patterns between the two species I was catching. The Herrings were all taking on a slow retrieve, mid to shallow. Pretty aggressive takes for a fish of its size. The Pollacks all came from OTD, either cast out, working it off the bottom, or jigged vertically from the Harbour wall, in the lower column of water.

I also tried fishing with a fine wire size 10 barbless Carp hook. The takes were good, but even with pressure on the fish, as it got to the surface, the hook was shaken, or it shook the hook as lifted from the water. Out of about 8 or so Herring and Pollack, think I only landed one fish cleanly. I put this largely down to my inexperience in using a barbless hook, something I might see if I can improve upon in future sessions.

A lot of fish were taken over the 2 hours I fished, lost count, maybe 20+ As the rain eased, took a couple of pics for the report, nothing 'special' taken over the whole session, but was a good chance to try a few new things out.