Sea Angling for Spearos

[ADM]

Well I've had 2 mullet trips this year so far and nowt. 1st trip with macca we saw nowt caught nowt. 2nd trip, saw loads, caught nowt as I couldn't work out how to strike mullet bites after so long bass fishing.

3rd trip lucky so they say!!

I had a lot of bites, and a lot of which would have ended up with fish on the end if I was a bit faster. Getting there though!!

The best bite I had the float went down and was still down 1 second later, plenty of time even for me to strke home and fish on!!

It was the first fish on the new mullet rod (Duo-Lite Specialist Float) which measures in at 13ft and designed for freshwater float fishing is seriously light and bendy. What fun!!

The fish however was no match despite any bendy rod.

Didn't have any scales with me but pretty sure it wouldnt make the 2lb minimum weight I need for thick lips.

Why is it that the mullet that takes is ALWAYS the smallest fish in the shirvy????? The one which swam about with it when hooked was at least 3 times the size, double the length and much broader. Maybe he was eyeing mine up for lunch??

Anyway, that was to be the only fish from a now spooked shoal, though I did have a few more bites they were not mullet... And It turns out, may well have been a brtish record if I could have hooked one of the little so and so's.

After a chat with Richard Lord and some good descriptions from me (they were very shallow in crystal clear water right under my nose after all) they were a species of bream which would fill a vacant position on the British record list. I'll be back, with some size 16 (or smaller) hooks if I can work out how to tie a line to something so small. I only had 10's with me and they were a little large for them to take I guess, kept getting lovely little bite shaped holes in the bread but no hook taking.

What were they?? 99.9% they were two banded sea bream (Diplodus vulgaris). Very distinct with the 2 stripes and unlikely to be anything else.

http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=1754

Definitely not the white sea bream which only has the one black mark, the guys I saw had a very distinct black stripe across the gill plate area as well as the wrist of the tail.

Here's the white bream for comparison: http://www.fishbase.org/summary/Speciessummary.php?id=1753


The bass trip last night was equally as unsuccessful. Had 2 bites all evening on crab. 1 west coast and one when I was chattin to Sausage, East coast which both resulted in naff all.

I may go in the week but I have an order of Mackerel and Beaks for next Sunday for a big BBQ with the boys from the Missus' work so I guess that's what I will be doing next Saturday...

Roll on Autumn!!

 

[Mr. X]

Hey all you wicked anglers take a look at this: http://forums.deeperblue.com/spearo...cks-recreational-fishing-peta.html#post774500
...the (uninformed) Observer names & shames (Jeez!).

 

[ADM]

The Guernsey Open Bass Festival 2009 is coming up in a month or so.

The final prize list and brchure are available for download now at www.gbass.co.uk/festival.html.

Anyone coming over round then? It's well worth a try!!

No fishy reports from me lately. Fishing is a tad slow with all this daylight stuff. Hard work just to find the schoolies which is all I have had lately. Evenings are slowly drawing in though. August and it will pick up again.

 

[ADM]

I've finally gone and done it with a new bailiwick of Guernsey record. About bloody time the number of hours I spend fishing.

What was it?? well it was a superb fight on the mullet gear, almost pulled my arm off in the 10 second fight before I swung him in with Richard Lord operating the net.

After an hour of the little guy being identified at Richard Lords place, being sedated, having his teeth counted while I tried to hold his gob open and a magnifying glass and headlamp down his throat he is ID'd as...

A White Bream!!

Mahoosive thing at weight for it.....


































0-2-5. That is 2 ounce and 5 drams on the record committee scales at Len's place. Or 68 grams or so in new money.

Not sure it will stand for long but hey, a record is a record. He went back alive on my way home from Len's so in a month or so it will be worth someone else breaking out the size 14's and having a go!!

Pics to follow when I get them on the email from Richard.

For non-Guerns this is the first recorded white Bream in Bailiwick waters (i.e. Guernsey, Herm, Sark, Alderney and other small islets), they already have then in Jersey across the water at just under 2lb so there is room to move on the record weight.

 

[foxfish]

Lost for words Andy!!

 

[ADM]

It was a tad small but Richard was very excited to say the least!! Not sure I had a choice about ID and weighing it officially but I did specify I wanted it going back alive. He swam off strong when I returned it to the water.

Edit to add: The fish was well cared for and kept in aerated water. Out of the water for absolute minimum time for photo's ID and weighing.

 

[Old Man Dave]

Well done Andy. "the first recorded white Bream in Bailiwick waters" not strictly true. First caught maybe but if you remember some diver videoed them a while back.

According to Mart there are some other new species swimming around the harbour, so more potential records.

Dave.

PS I was still seeing small white bream in December last year on night dives, so I think they are well established. Also 6.5lb gilthead off the shore by local angler last night. That's a nice fish, although I know you're no stranger to catching gilties Andy.

 

[ADM]

Yes Dave, I meant fish captured.

Here he is:



There were other bream there as well, I was after the 2 banded bream which is vacant on the british record list and which was happily swimming about i the shirvy as well.

 

[Mr. X]

Barmouth, N. Wales

Visited Barmouth in North Wales last week for several days before moving up to the Lake District for a few days (if you are thinking this is a strange holiday for me, rest assured I did not plan this one - I had 2 great spearing summer holidays in recent years and the family demand a change this year).

Didn't catch anything and I think it might have taken me a few more days to figure out what rigs to use at the 3 main marks. But I've described roughly what I did below, in the hope that I might pick up some suggestions from the more experienced anglers on the thread, and perhaps others might save some time.

Barmouth has 3 main areas/marks: the sheltered harbour (beware of the boats & cables and DO NOT DIVE there), the exposed sandy beach (you can dive here - when conditions permot) and the tidal estuary (do not dive here). The bridge over the tidal estuary is a popular place to fish the estuary and has a 75p toll but access is free in the evening/night. Don't fish the metal part of the bridge near the toll booth (forbidden) but it is allowed from the surprisingly long main wooden structure.

Weather was windy, until the day we left, typical. First night it was blowing a gale but I plugged around the sheltered harbour (watch out for cable warning signs & boats) and then took my plugging rod up on the estuary bridge - so that the wind blew in my favour as I cast up-river in the unbelievably powerful high tide (I think it was 1 night before peak Spring tide) roaring into the estuary. I was able to cast huge distances but even my large plug starting flying like a kite when only half way in! My gear was too light for the conditions. A couple of young anglers were using simple, heavier gear (probably 4oz yellow "teardrop" ledger weights and worms).

Despite the rip roaring tide, the estuary is mainly fairly shallow and when the tide goes out you can see the shellfish beds and mussels, which no doubt bring the fish in.

BTW there are 3 angling shops on the main street in Barmouth. Some have charter boats. The one nearest the harbour has live bait (the others frozen only) - rag worms - and opens Sunday mornings.

I spoke to an older local fisherman who also spearfishes Barmouth with his son and with an angling store owner and her son. Seems like bass are normally targeted - recommended baits were live sandeel (saw some pics of 6lb+ bass caught off the point - between the harbour & beach on this), soft-back crabs and "Mevagissey's" (rubber eels like Eddystones/Delta eels/etc.) as treble hooks tend to catch weed. Flatties off the beach are possible. A store owner suggested using some other worms, thinner black ones (I forget the name) for flatties - but as they were already dead I was not keen to buy them and bought live rag worn instead. Catches of bass, flatties, plaice, etc. have diminished over the years though (same story as the everywhere I guess ).

From the beach, I used my 2-4oz rated bass rod with a modified "AtomicHaggis flattie rig" (I added a silver Mustad spoon on a collet(?) above the junction of weight & hook lengths). I mainly used rag worm but tried a couple of prawns too (a boat fisherman in Devon told me this was a killer bait for them in Devon last year, for plaice). The 4oz leads work well even in quite high winds. When the wind was low and the flattie rig was cast out, I used a big luminous Eddystone eel inside which I had previously inserted a lead torpedo weight of 20-30g with my other rod. The flattie spoon worked quite well when reeling in but caused extra drag and would sometimes snag weed. I was using 4oz "watch" leads which did a nice job of stirring up the sand to create interest but smoother leads would have been better once the weed showed up. The conditions seemed a little rough for flatties most days though. I used quite heavy lines for the flattie rigs, 20lb & 17lb - perhaps too much? On the eel, I think I had 20lb line but it was probably hard-to-see fluorocarbon.

I also fished the harbour from near the point one very wind morning but it was not ideal, with a fast falling tide. I cast my flattie rig towards the sand/mud flats area of shallow water and cast a mackeral head on a big ol' circle hook (maybe 7/0?) with the other rod - something suggested for harbour bass in a fishing book I bought for my FIL. I borrowed the small Shimano spinning rod for some plugging in between (Maria Angel Kiss mackerel subsurface from Veals - Dr. Mike Ladles chosen lure for a couple of years a year or so back).

 

[ADM]

If only bass were as easy to catch as mullet...


Decided to give the bass a miss for a bit and practice catching the easy species before the spec hunt so orf I go with shirvy and bread into the darkness.

This one went 3-3-4 on the scales and went like stink!! Nice to have a fish really feel like it's challenging the gear and making your arm ache a bit.

Despite what people think about mullet being clever, this one was far from it. Put him in the drop net to lower back in and just let the net down, about 5ft under to let him recover and hopefully just swim out but the numpty was still in the net swimming in circles half an hour later. Stupid fish. He did eventually get himself out...

In the meantime I had a very delicate take, struck into a fish and it took off big time. szszszszszszszszszszsszszszssz goes the reel and doesn't stop, he's heading for the snags so I thumbed the spool a little to try slow him dwn while holding the rod over to turn him and then it goes light as he's pulled the hook.

not to worry, half hour later and i'm into another one, feels heavier, holding station and not doing much it came close quite easily but then the dog fight began, he was swimming up and down the wall just not wanting to come closer, not searing runs just dogged determination and head shaking resisting coming to the net. Eventually he gave a bit and I managed to get him in the drop net. Surprisingly hard on your own with a 13ft rod...

He went 4-1-6 on the scales before he went back without the faffing of the other one.

All in all a nice evening and good to catch fish again. Why do I bass fish and blank all the time when there's stuff like this waiting to be caught so easily???

plenty of the old goby things about as usual, nothing huge but had the one eyed chap I caught this time last year. Nice to know he's still in there.

 

[foxfish]

Andy are you entering the specimen hunt?

 

[ADM]

I think i'll have a go Mart. Getting bored of not catching bass so will have a few weekends of species hunting. About time I landed a few decent other species. There is no reason why I shouldn't find 5 or 6 species over qualifying weights. Problem is finding them at the right times!!

Last night was a much needed break from the bass and to remind myself what it's like to feel a fish on the end. Confidence now much restored!!

I would recommend trying mullet fishing to anyone. Yes it can be frustrating but when the fight is on it is so so rewarding.

 

[Mr. X]

Nice pair of mullet ADM. Yes mullet put up quite a fight when speared too, the tench of the sea? I should give mullet angling a try sometime. Do you think bread would be any good. I know a couple of good spots for mullet but I reckon Mike Ladle-style fly fishing with maggots might be the way to go -- there is usually a lot of weed to deal with.

 

[ADM]

I've speared a few mullet before and they do fight a fair bit. Not been spearing proper in ages but you just have to read the Gsy threads to see why I can't be bothered to get wet. Went in the water this year but not with gun.

They are worth a try round any harbour or estuary where there is a good base to fish from.

Make up a bread shirvy (cheapest bread you can get, plenty of water and mush it up). Chuck some into the swim, I normally start with a few good dollops and then tail off when the fish appear. Light float gear with some bread pinched round a size 6 wide gape (I like Kamasan B983's) so there's no hook showing and away you go. You have to strike the bites fast though or they've spat it out before you react.

I have also tried quiver tipping with a feeder for them but not had a mullet on the quiver just yet. Plenty of gobies but no mullet.

 

[Mr. X]

Looking through my now fairly excessive looking jumble of tackle, I see rather a lot of Kamasan hooks, Aberdeens in various sizes but mainly 2's intended for flatties. 6, that is pretty small (although I used to use 18 & 20s on the canals).

Weymouth harbour features in Mike Ladle's mullet video but I don't think I'd fancy eating those -- lots of boats and I suspect sewage. Poole harbour/estuary/ria would probably be worth a try. Must try there again for flatties.:hmm

I saw mullet feeding on green algae on the rocks in very shallow water ( maybe 2 ft deep), near the shore at the weekend.

 

[Mr. X]

Picked up a copy of Sea Angler today, lots of bass stuff, so "watch this space"! (I usually buy the copy with the free Memorex snood line too - good value!).

I've been thinking that new but pricey (£125?) 3-piece Dr. Mike Ladle plugging rod from Veals might be the shape of things to come -- looks v. lightweight, probably a key attribute for any rod that you will be continually casting. They're also selling a Mike Ladle specialist popper rod -- a bit stiffer (like a jerkbait rod?). The Shakespeare Royalty that I use could certainly do with being a bit stiffer for sea plugging (act. the local fishing store found a cheaper, stiffer Shakespeare rod for my FOM - the owner had remembered my feedback on the Royalty from a year earlier, so knew exactly what to recommend!).

 

[ADM]

Why do you need a 3 piece?

I just got my hands on a Jap rod, a Sakura Shukan for £130.

Even had my first bass on it last saturday with a Zonk, just a baby at 4-3-8 but welcome after a long dry run over the barren summer months. Winters on the way so the bass fishing is starting to pick up a bit now.

Tons of squid and pollack about though, bit of a pain when you keep hooking little pollack as it wastes time getting them off and back fishing again. I shouldn't complain but I'm doing well in the club and need another fish or 3. The new target is 50lb (over 3lb fish ony) for the year. Currently on a bit over 37lb.

Hopefully the rest will come on lures as i'm having fun trying new things.

 

[Fro-in-shorts]

Interesting thread, I'm a Guernsey borne surfer / spearo, with a soft spot for spinning for bass and polock. I've read a fair few pages of this thread, and one thing does strike me, people seem to be heavily relient upon expensive rapala type lures with multiple trebles. I have had 19 bass spinning so far this year, not one of them caught with a lure costing more than 50-80p.

My advice.... get a packet or 2 of storm shads, or the nearest equivalent (loads of brands). They are easy to cast and to work in the water. They are a small shad/roslett type rubber lure wit a single hook coming out of theeir dorsal fin area. The single hook means that its easy to avoid/escape from snags as well as not mutilating fish, the inexpensiveness of the lures means that ur not miffed for the rest of the day if you loose one. Plus they seem to really work well. Also started spinning off my stand up paddle board with loads of success. hope this helps.

 

[ADM]

Nice fish there "Fro".

I have some of those lures but haven't caught much on them just a few in the 3's and a load of schoolies, same for metal spinners, never had a bass on one.

I'm just a learner/beginner when it comes to bass so open to any ideas.

Main problem at the moment is finding somewhere with bass to eat any kind of lure. It's pretty dead everywhere I have tried with soft and hard lures. Well other than pollack. Had another 9 yesterday afternoon.

Nearly time to pack the rods away until January.

 

[foxfish]

Yes great fishing there Fro, I have only ever caught a few on lures but in my day we caught plenty on bait anyway!