Sea Angling for Spearos

[ADM]

Well it's a new year so what do we aim for in our fishing this year?

For me its:

1. Double bass (preferably on a lure) (try and try again...)
2. Do more lure fishing.
3. Fish the soft plastics properly, especially for wrasse, I only got into it in November and the results were good.
4. Gilthead bream on the lure rod :duh. Bream take lures in other parts of the world so I see no reason why not here as well. I know I can reach the ground they are on witht he lures so i'll be giving it a bash.

Quite looking forward to fishing for rockies with the small SP's and light jigheads. Some of the guys have done very well with fish to over 6lb on the small lures. That would be mental on my Daiwa Infeet (5-21g).

 

[Mr. X]

Excellent ADM. We can check-in with you at the end of year to review your achievements, if you want some additional motivation (as if you needed motivation to fish).

I'd like catch some flatties, rod and/or spear. A few more lobsters would be nice; bass & mullet of course, maybe another Trigger. I guess I'll have to make a conscious effort to get flattie - I have a tendency to head for the rocks with the plugs instead (was not tempted to rod fish Poole Harbour this year, as we did last January).

On the plus side, unusually, we already booked our Summer hols.. We are returning to S. Devon, which I love and - God willing -that means lots of fishing, of all kinds.

 

[ADM]

Well I just got some jig heads in the post to try for some wrasse, standup ones and also some flutter type ones which are supposed to wiggle when you retreive. Check out AGM Discount fishing store for some reallygood prices on that sort of thing.

 

[ADM]

Well it's pretty quiet on the fishing front. Been a few times and not had much. Had a small pollack about 1.5lb last night on a soft plastic with a 3.5g jighead. Casting across from some rocks towards a harbour light it plopped nicely right under the light and was hit within a second or 2.

My obsession with light gear continues with a 2-10g rod now on order from Jap Land. It's not my fault... it was half price!! Never could resist a bargain!! Gotta love the names of rods nowadays... Last year the bushwhacker and boner were big and now I finish off with a salty shot!!

That should make the fish I catch a bit more fun til I work out where the proper fish are.

Even had a go with bait last night as I spotted a JCB digging up the beach within casting range on the way to work I thought chucking some bait into the area might be a good plan with everything being disturbed but the fish were obviously thinking otherwise.

Our east coast seems to be completely devoid of life at the moment. Not good. It's supposed to be picking up about now. Try again tomorrow night maybe.

 

[foxfish]

"Not good. It's supposed to be picking up about now."
Andy its the 2nd of Feb today!
I used to fish for mullet & conger in the town harbour after dark in Feb.
I was fishing a smelt comp one year when a big eel swam into my ground bait over the sark berth steps.

 

[ADM]

I'm very impatient...!! And while not catching I am spending money which is Ok while the bonus lasts but it better pick up before I run out :crutch

 

[ADM]

Quite looking forward to fishing for rockies with the small SP's and light jigheads. Some of the guys have done very well with fish to over 6lb on the small lures. That would be mental on my Daiwa Infeet (5-21g).

The weapons are chosen and purchased!!

Just need some clear water and to get rid of this awful NE wind and freezing cold weather.

 

[ADM]

It's still quiet on the fishing front but the pollack have been providing huge enjoyment on the ultralight gear. A 1.5lb fish will test drag and buckle the rod with endless runs on the 2-10 rod, superb for a bit of fun for those like me suffering the effects of deepest darkest winter.

The crabs are peeling hard now after a couple of warmer days, plenty in the tank and freezer for March when I hope the bass will start to move into the bays after said crabs and until they start to chase bait fish again.

I even noted small shoals of sandeels evident at a few makrs I have been pollacking on so good signs of things a changing.

 

[Mr. X]

Re wind, it can be your friend as well when lure fishing. See this article to make you think a bit. using the wind #1. (advanced lure fishing tech)
...

I don't know if fish behaviour is much affected by wind direction & speed but I started choosing angling spots based on wind direction some time ago. Judging by the relative busyness of the angling stores in the areas concerned, I'm not the only one. I guess a determined beachcaster has enough weight to cast against the wind (had to do this at times in N. Wales this summer) but, esp. lure fishing, I usually want the wind behind me to carry the lure/rig/bait further (or no wind at all).

I did have too much wind behind me, trying to plug off of Barmouth estuary's long footbridge last Summer though. The wind was so strong that it lifted the lure right out of the water at times!

That is an interesting article, trying to mimic the with-tide behaviour of bait fish would not have occurred to me -- it could make casting difficult/impractical. [Do baitfish always/usually swim with the tide? I guess they probably do -- I think bass try to get into bays ahead of them...think I got that idea from Mike Ladles book, the one he has now published on the web.]

 

[ADM]

Difficult one when it comes to lure fishing opposed to bait fishing.

when bait fishing for bass, most of the time marks seem to fish better with the wind coming into the mark, (i.e. west wind on a west facing bay) but other marks seem only to produce bass on southerly winds where other species prefer NE wind on the exact same mark.

That's bait though, lure fishing seems to be different. The mark I did well at later last year faces north(ish) and fishes best with a wind with some west in it so casting s ok, especially when the tide is running east to west as it sweeps the lure into the wind, wind against tide.

Heck, that's just triggered a thought!! Maybe we need to be comparing wind direction and tide direction, while I think of the two marks I have caught bass more at lately, the wind was always against tide... But those were areas of pronounced tidal run the lure acting like baitfish going with the tide. other places I can't think what the tide was doing direction wise or how strong it was off the top of my head. Not something I thought I needed to write down other than when bottom fishing to know if I could anchor the bait down.

Need to get experimenting and take more notes methinks!!

I do beleive there are always reasons why fish are at the places they are at and that we can work out when a bass will be at Mark Y and when in what conditions. Just need more data. they are not stupid, they are where they are for a reason, normally food supply and ease of getting that food supply.

 

[Old Man Dave]

Been laid up with a bad back so lazing around Saturday lunchtime and caught a new (to me anyway) angling program on Sky TV. Channel 154 Quest and the shows called The Ultimate Fishing Show.

Seems to be a New Zealand show hosted by Matt Watson. Saw 2 episodes, one with tuna following the deepwater trawlers off NZ south island and one in Vanuatu.

What is different about this show is the amount and quality of the underwater footage. They are using towed cameras alongside their high speed towed lures. Great shots of tuna, marlin, wahoo etc zooming in and attacking the lures. Some good stationary remote camera and diver held camera shots. Easily the best I've seen.

Catch this show if you can, whether diver of angler, it's a good one.

Dave.

 

[foxfish]

Tomorrow's program features old Rexy's young fiends fishing for kingfish but still in New Zealand - 1pm

 

[ADM]

Some of you may want to hear that one of the great defenders of bass has passed away.

John Leballeur died at the weekend. He was the Chairman of the Bass Restoration team, part of B.A.S.S. and will be sorely missed by all. He was the man behind a lot of the ideas and the fight for an increaed MLS etc, the man who dealt with the politicians and never gave up.

 

[ADM]

Well it's a new year so what do we aim for in our fishing this year?

For me its:

1. Double bass (preferably on a lure) (try and try again...)
2. Do more lure fishing.
3. Fish the soft plastics properly, especially for wrasse, I only got into it in November and the results were good.
4. Gilthead bream on the lure rod :duh. Bream take lures in other parts of the world so I see no reason why not here as well. I know I can reach the ground they are on witht he lures so i'll be giving it a bash.

Quite looking forward to fishing for rockies with the small SP's and light jigheads. Some of the guys have done very well with fish to over 6lb on the small lures. That would be mental on my Daiwa Infeet (5-21g).

We can scratch no 3 of the list. Rockie on an SP.

Decided that I would give it a go for a rockie today and selected my bit of cliff. never been there before but looked do-able on Google Earth so it was walking boots on, chest pack, rod and net, no heavy duty stuff here. Selected the Vale Tudo as I had no idea what would await me at the bottom.

About half way down and it started to look like I have selected a nice little spot!! Deep clear water, pinnacles, gullies, kelp.....

Sorry but it's phone cam shots. Have mislaid my mini digi cam (again...) and wasn't taking the EOS 500D down a cliff.

Doesn't it look nice...

There was a little bit of ground swell but nothing bad, our west coast is one huge mill pond today as the wind has dropped down to a F2/3 from the east.

There's a mullet open comp this weekend so I had gone away from the normal mullet marks and more off the beaten track but after a half hour of fishing swore I heard voices and soon after saw a couple with mullet rod along from me. Not sure if I had been seen but I continued regardless.

Back to the fishing.

Started off with some black (Smoke Glitter??) Giant Xlayers on a 7g bachi head and didn't have any interest so switched to a zonk for a bit, then onto a savage gear sandeel which I snaged up and the hook snapped off (bloney things...) so switched back to the black slayer. Still no joy so I switched to a lighter Giant XLayer in the sparkle berry colour (I call it brown...!!

) and first cast I had a follow from a big goldfish, the rockie that followed was so orange you could easily call it a koi carp. He didn't take though. Couple of casts later and I had a few more plucks and wishing I had a lighter rod about now as certain I was missing takes but I wasn't going back up just for a rod.

Then next cast he took proper!!

Yay!!

He must have followed for a while and took nearly under the rod so not much of a fight.

Interesting pattern down the side of the fish, not had one like that before.

Not a big fish so I didn't weigh it, just wanted him back in the water but I would estimate about 2lb. if that's not good enough for the SP challenge then that's fine, sure I can do better than that anyway.

Fished on for a bit and felt a few more taps but the Vale Tudo is a bit heavy duty for what I ended up doing...

i also felt that I was missing fish through using the giant Xlayers on the bachi head, small hook and big lure, normal size lure might have been a better choice but there are only giant xlayers available locally at the moment. must resist ordering more... Big bait, big fish is my motto!!

Back up the cliff, collect the nipper and home.

So mission accomplished.

 

[foxfish]

Well done Andy, I notice the cliffs are starting to change colour too.

 

[ADM]

Yes, definitley some gorse coming on now. There's not a lot in that area of cliffs, no bramble, not much gorse but that's not as good as it sounds. Less legs being scratched to bits but more scree and chance of a slip and nothing to stop a slide down to the bottom. Not too bad to get to that one compared to other cliff climbs. Looks very eely and hussy. Might have to give it a go with bait. Only a poor quality French mobile signal down there as well.

 

[foxfish]

I once walked down the stream that leads past the Gouffre tea rooms (the Hollows) to fish exactly where the stream enters the sea.
It was a very challenging experience but fired with fantasies of sea trout & giant freshwater eels....

 

[Mr. X]

A Rod & Reel for Kayak fishing

Hi Chaps, I picked up a copy of Sea Angler this week -- the combination of articles, locations & the very pleasant weather no doubt got the better of me. More on the articles later. However ...

I've had the notion at the back of my mind of getting a rod & reel for kayak fishing. Not really sure what though. These are some of the characteristics that occur to me:

1. Inexpensive - as there is a high chance of loss, damage, saltwater ingress & corrosion. (i.e. potentially dunkable & disposable).
2. Strong - the two rods I've tried so far seem too flimsy.
3. Short - there is not lot of room to maneuver but no need to cast far (the 6.5ft spinning rod I tried was more than long enough).
4. Corrosion resistant - see above.

I've got a couple of old reels that can be sacrificed to the sea if necessary but they are not up to sea fishing conditions, fish sizes or line capacities . My current kayak fishing rod is a home-made affair, made from the stiff top section of an old beachcaster with an old freshwater reel secured to it - it was a good enough reel in its day but not really up to sea fishing.

Anyway, I noticed an interesting package in the Glasgow Angling Centre catalogue which might be ideal -- I'd value your opinions:

Ron Thompson Kamikaze Boat Rod 7ft, 20lb, 2pc Rod £15 / Rod & Reel £29
Reel is Okuma Searay Multiplier "worth £44.99" (although they sell it for £29.99!).

Glasgow Angling Centre – Boat Multipliers

"...developed for the serious sea fisherman [so no laughing]...very light, have slim blanks...truly fantastic value...SIC guides...full carbon...high quality fittings...Light weight 100% carbon...Solid glass tip for extra sensitivity."

What do you guys think? Is the spec. right for my needs ...20lb seems to be a proper, lighter boat fishing rating? Multiplier [see below]? Ron Thompson any good?

Also, how do you use a boat multiplier like that -- do you cast with it, or is it purely a matter of letting the line out? I've never used a multiplier before (without birds-nesting it - nobody mentioned you need to brake them with your thumb).

 

[foxfish]

Well I think a fixed spool reel would be a better choice because you might be casting lightweight lures as well as drift fishing the bottom.
I have been using a nice little combo from a locale shop that comprises of a small fixed spool & a solid glass 7' rod - cost £18.

 

[Mr. X]

Sounds good. £18 would put it just within the no VAT limit for the UK. Is it a spinning set? Designed for sea/boat fishing? Are you using as a boat/kayak rod? Do you have any details e.g. rating (20lb/10-60g/1.5oz/2.75lbTC/...). Is it the sort of thing I could pick up from most sea-side angling stores?

Any thoughts on solid glass vs. carbon? Presumably carbon is lighter & fibre glass more sensitive (from the previous ad.).