Sea Angling for Spearos

[Magpie]

I wouldn't bother going to 40lbs with the whiplash, 30 is plenty strong enough.

The Dynabraid is not a lure fishing style braid, its more for boat bait fishing. Tough, but a bit industrial sort of thing.

If you want something easier to handle than whiplash try Power Pro, its stiffer, and I wouldn't go higher than 25lbs with it, but its very sensitive.

When putting any line, braid or mono, onto a fixed spool you must ensure the coils coming off the spool are rotating the same way as the bail arm turns. Do it the other way, or from a revolving line spool, and you'll be putting lots of twists into the line which will cause you worlds of grief later on.

With regard to the lures you will never find one thats always reliable. Changing conditions, seasons, weather etc etc, all play their part in what will work on any given day. Take plenty with you and change regulalrly till you find something that works that day.

[stuckinsurrey]

Flyflicker and everyone else,

I have a couple of chugbugs (floating plug for anybody not familiar with them) and was wondering how violently do you retrieve them as they have the potential to create a lot of wake and noise. As i have yet to manage a take on one all tips welcome!

Jim

[spicer]

Whilst I have seen and experienced web angling for Spearo's (been caught a few times and released after severe financial penalty) and even the lure of the diveshop I have never experienced sea angling for spearo's. How do you do it a good old large spoon with some trebles and aim for the snorkel? Do they put up a good fight and how do you disarm them from those mamba thingy's? I bet you have to peel the neoprene off before you cook them and they must taste awefull!


Just wondering?

[Mr. X]

Originally Posted by spicer

... I have never experienced sea angling for spearo's. How do you do it a good old large spoon with some trebles and aim for the snorkel? Do they put up a good fight and how do you disarm them from those mamba thingy's? I bet you have to peel the neoprene off before you cook them and they must taste awefull!
Just wondering?

Taste a bit fishy I expect . I've caught myself a few times with treble hooks - owch! I would expect they put up a pretty good fight with all that lead, speargun, knife, iki-spikes, etc. I would think Jetski is probably as effective method as any...

[flyflicker]

Jim

I like to give it a little yank every so often, I also give it a second or two rest every so often - but I don't think it really matters just do whatever your confident with....!

[Mr. X]

Got down to the coast early Sunday (3.45am) but judging by ML's last article, I was probably about 30-45 minutes too late for these long mid-Summer days! Met a warden as I walked down (hint).

My trusty old Petzl Zoom head-torch was decidedly less trusty than it used to be but it made initial set up & walk-in a breeze. I also wore my wellies, which helped; although they gripped well on dry rock, they acted like oiled kippers when any dampness was present!

I had a pretty good time casting around. I used a Rebel jointed-minnow (I have several, this one is a silver & blue one, about J-11/12-ish) for an hour an half until I lost it in weed. It stays about and inch or two under the surface the whole time -- very odd but useful. The tide was going out -- far from ideal from a fish/plugging perspective I gather -- but it did allow me to recover my Rebel lure later on; thought it was buried in weed but eventually found it sitting on top, the shiney silver making it easy to see.

The Whiplash braid worked well. I did have one tangle late in the morning, which I had to cut out but not as bad as previous ones (possibly due to loss of concentration ... feeling a little tired, forgot the coffee). I was surprised to see the 16lb braid break, when I lost the lure, rather than the 15lb mono or the knots - the braid is very thin, perhaps abraison weakened it.

I tried a couple of surface lures (jerkbait/poppers) from the US, a new one (Green/Silver/clear Kinami KB Jay Walker, act. from Taiwan) and vintage one (blue/silver, MirrOlure 97MR CHBL surface walker, act. from Costa Rica via Florida). Both cast like rockets, although the newer one looked more fish-like to me. Ended up fishing with the chug bug again though.

Grabbed a coffee when the cafe' opened; re-vitalised I spent the rest of the day spearfishing at another spot. Excellent day. Worn out by the end of it, with drive back, family duties, unpacking, cleaning fish & washing down gear. Felt great though.

[Mr. X]

Thought an image of the above lures might be more interesting. Also shown, my 2 fancy new Japanese made lures from Veals (my quota for the year), as used by Mike Ladle (he seems to use Maria lures most of the time now, usually the same one - the current Veals Bass catalogue has a couple of interesting articles by him).

Poppers/surface lures to the left; sub-surface lures to the rights.

Left bottom 2 - newKinami KB Jay Walker & vintage MirrOlure Surface Walker, as described above. Next two, new and untested; the top one is my fancy new Daiwa TD Pencil. At the top, a vintage American Cotton Cordell, pretty hefty -- might try that behind the yak.

Right, top 2 are vintage American Rebel jointed minnows (11 & 13cm) in blue/silver. Then regular Conrad J/13-ish (got something similar around 11cm - favouring 11/12cm rather than 13/14cm at the moment - hoping it might have wider appeal). Bottom right, fancy new Maria Chase BW. The Rebels & Maria are very shallow divers.

[Pav]

Surely you need a hat next Mr X to display all your lures on ;>)

Stuck on my J13s, but tempted by the Bass bandit lures. Most the guys around here are now fishing with them.

[HEDS]

Hey , just found this thread - great to see in this horrible british weather!!
I see your discussing lures at the moment - Here's my views.
Im yet to find anything more successful [personally] than a fly as a lure for bass , Its a sport thats picked up quickly - and, if and when you try it , you will see why . You can tie a fly that is incredibly sandeel looking , and i believe that its success lies in how naturally a fly moves through the water compared to a plug. Also its versatility in terms of depth,sink rate,retrieve speed.
Dont take me wrong here !! Im not anti plug. - a plug is usefull in a range of sitiuations. Although, if I was to choose a lure to use on a spinning rod as opposed to a fly rod it would be a toby, [which cant be fished everywhere i understand]

[spicer]

I am pretty keen to take up bass and mullet fishing on fly. I have 25 years trout fishing experience and all the kit for saltwater. Now I need to get to the right spots to try it. Maybe I should get one of the old GITS to show me the ropes. I have caught a few bass on live sandeel spinning which was also great. What have you found to be most effective floating, intermediary or sinking line and what rodweight do you use. I am tempted to ditch the sea outfit I have in favour of the seven weight 10ft trout outfit as I get great distance with this setup.

Anyone in Guernsey on the fly thingy that would like to share some spots and strategy and would like to go cast a line sometime?

[HEDS]

Thats how i got hooked into it as well , trouting since a boy I have always relied on the fly to catch a variety of species.
First of all - i dont use any fancy gear just because i cast into water that has a little salt in it .. I have one fly rod and a selection of lines that i use everywhere. I find that like most thinks - its better kept simple . And as you say - get used to a the rod for a couple of seasons and you could chuck a four foot wet towel out on the end of that line.!!! I have a seven weight 10ft daiwa whisker fly rod, Which i have hammered for the last 5 yrs , spigot and handle are coming loose by now....
My usual fly fishing venues always have a generous helping of strong current [estuaries mostly, and rocky headlands] Therfore i find that the best method is to use a fast sinking line [7-8 ips sink rate] and fish a smalish sandeel coloured fly on or close to the bottom . I have a selection of popping flies - a bit like large muddlers that i plan to use when i see bass feeding close to the surface [but im yet to see that happen in years of sea fishing !!]
The only reason i would use a floater or intermed line is for garfish possibly.

[spicer]

Thanks HEDS for the heads up on this. Do you sometimes use more than one fly or is that stretching it a bit?

[tancho]

Fellow spearo anglers,

Does anyone fish for sandeels to use as bait. Can they be caught on rod and line and what is the best method/bait?
This would surely be easier than trying to mimic one with lures.

[HEDS]

spicer :
I dont use more than one fly for i dont see the point - anyways , two 4-5lb bass/pollock would either break the mono/bend the hook/tearout the fly. It would be worth a shot if mackerel or garfish were close in .

tancho :
I have only heard of people catching live sandeel with a net . However , you can catch Launce [a large sandeel] with small mackerel feathers fished on the bottom. Launce is a good livebait for bass.

[spicer]

A friend of mine totally surprised me when he tied a heavy spoon onto a string of white mackeral feathers and cast and retrieved it in quite shallow water catching pollock, mackeral and even a wrasse by this method.