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Sea Angling for Spearos

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Ledgering with a shock leader

This might seem like a silly question but how do ledger when using a shock-leader? Do you put the weight (perhaps on a slider with a clip?) on the shock-leader and then just add a swivel/swivel-clip to the end of the shock-leader for the lighter hook-trace?

[Found my spool of shock-leader - 2 days after buying a new spool - typical!]
 
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Was hoping to read the answers to my ledgering question while I eat my lunch - oh well never mind.

Thanks for live sandeel response OMD, I missed that the other day. Makes a lot of sense if you live by the sea but a bit of rigmarole for the occasional angler like me. I haven't seen them offered by angling stores here either. Pity I know some folk rave about soft shell crabs but live sandeel just sounds like the ultimate bass bait to me (having seen bass chase them on several occasions).

I have some very small Sabuki(sp?) Japanese feathers which I reckon might be intended for sandeels/launce - and/or perhaps fussy mackerel - but without the aerated storage perhaps not viable. Although Dr. Mike Ladle:king sometimes starts a session by trying to catch a mackeral with a Toby for live bait - I think that reflects the confidence of a much more experienced angler though. He lets the mackerel go afterwards if nothing takes it, as he uses a single hook. Perhaps I'll give the little feathers a try on holiday this year - at Tor Cross perhaps?
 
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Saving money on lures

I was lusting after some of the latest lures at www.Veals.co.uk and MonsterTackle.co.uk - Bass Fishing Lures from Rapala, Yo-Zuri, Smith, Daiwa, Lucky Craft, Storm Lures and more and www.HarrisSports.co.uk recently - but resisted. I try to adhere to Mike Ladles guideline that 2 new lures a year is probably enough to replace losses but its hard to resist the lures. Usually I end up buying more.

However, the most of the lures struck me as really expensive/overpriced for what they are. I could buy a nice bass or two or three for the price of most. I guess if you have a lure that catches several fish it pays for itself - but most don't, for me.

The other problem is that I have a lot of lures that have had little or now use. When I started, I lost a lot of gear - often on each cast. So I bought quite a lot of cheap & used terminal tackle. But with the help of this thread & Sea Angler Magazine I learnt a few techniques which resulted in a drastic reduction in my tackle losses.

So here is my tip for saving money on lures: take a look through what you already have! Looking through my lures last night I was surprised how many cool and interesting lures I have that have seen little or no use. I really need to skip buying lure for a few year until I have made better use of those.

Of course - as my brother always reminds me - the fish only sees the last bit of your gear the line, bait, hook(s), so make you investment there.

Need to revive the lure thread: http://forums.deeperblue.com/huntin...es/82344-2-new-lures-2009-a-2.html#post816578
 
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I think the difference between a cheap and an expensive lure is that an expensive lure does exactly what it says on the tin. Shallow diver does just that, wiggles just like it says, casts a long way and has a top notch finish and usually top mark hooks.

And if I only got 2 lures a year I'd run out of lures very soon indeed!! That's my excuse anyway. Lost at least 3 to top of the range lures this year already including a zonk, a baby feed shallow and an IMA Sasuke, sure i have lost a few others this year as well. Not cheap. BUT, I reckon I lure fish more than most people fish in total. A normal week is at least 6-8 hours of a lure in the water. A competition weekend can see that many hours a day.

At the end of the day, we all have budgets and they are all different.

Best value for money IMO is the Maria range of hard lures and in soft lures the senkos.
 
Reactions: Mr. X
Good points AMD. Many/most of the medium-to-expensive lures have things like wire-through construction - which is probably vital for big fish abroad and desirable even in the UK; I had a cheap but nice looking/good casting J11-style plastic lure [similar but possibly different to that shown below] shatter on shingle - a balsa Rapala J11 would easily have withstood that - but it costs twice the price, has a plainer finish and so does not cast as far). You are right, better lures have better hooks (although I have heard of people switching hooks on Rapalas, which seem quite good to me); Lidl's plugs have hooks & rings that just rust away - probably intended for freshwater or perhaps just cheap. Some of the new cheaper lures have better/fancier finishes than, say the older Rapala lure - probably because of the different construction technique (plastic!) but yes most of the expensive Japanese lures look incredibly good -- I'm tempted to take a bite out of them myself sometimes.



I like the Maria lures too, they look pretty good and cast better than you might expect - but most of all because Dr. Mike Ladle (& AMD of course) uses them a lot and he catches with them.

Since moving to 30lb braid with 20lb fluoro trace, I don't loose many lures - they'll generally rip free of weed. Also, if its weedy, I usually switch to a cheaper, less snaggy bait, such as Wildeye sandeel, Eddystone eel or a Toby (the Shakespeare Slim Jim is surprisingly good in weed). Than again, I probably lure fish in a year about as much as you do in a week ADM .

Interesting Henry Gilbey article on a jointed lure (from Veals) that locks for casting: http://www.henry-gilbey.com/blog/the_jointed_lure_to_get_me_into_jointed_lures.html
 
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Managed to squeeze in quite a lot of angling over the weekend, in South Wales. Managed to find a few promising locations, found a huge fishing store (Fishing Corner, Llanelli) and bumped into Hollywood stars Michael Douglas and Katherine Zeta Jones - I kid you not! More on my blog.


I don't think I'm cut out for baitfishing though. Seemed like hard work in the fast big tides of Gower. Fabulous bays (such as Bracelet Bay, Caswell and Brandy Cove) and features (like Mumbles, Three Cliffs, Great Tor & Worms Head) though. Lures are sooo much less hassle.
 
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Hello Andy....

Angling does help spearfishing but, spearfishing helps angling more imho.
Are blogs allowed to be posted ?

People should check out my blog as we cross over diving and fishing quite alot with the 'skishing'.

Here are a few links to skishing stories which, without prior knowledge of the water from underneath, would NOT have been possible...

Mission ( Black Op's ), Halloween on the Bass II

Mission B:1

Crazy but we love it...LOL
 
Reactions: Pav
We had some fun in OMDs boat today, nothing spectacular but plenty of nice macs & Pollock.
 

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Angling does help spearfishing but, spearfishing helps angling more imho.
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I agree with this. I've been fshing for a long time now. I'm new to freediving, but it has allowed me to have a good look at the bottom of the areas I've fished for so long. It's also nice to see how the fish behave around the structure they live on.
Nic
 
Some interesting lure idea - although this are for the huge Striped Bass found off the E. coast of America. Particularly like the spoon/pirk with rubber-tube eel attached - on a rig intended to look like 2 (or 3?) sand eels!


Needlefish Lures for Striped Bass Fishing

More at: http://www.striperspace.com/surf_fishing_lures.html

Thought this was interesting (Mike Ladle recently suggest Slug-go soft lures to avoid snagging weed - from his diary, it sounds like Super Sandra soft bait also work well for his party recently):

[ame=http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/showthread.php?t=667238]Martha's Vineyard--Bass on Squid and Sand Eels - SurfTalk[/ame]

Catching big Striped Bass on fly fishing gear - looks pretty darn cool to me
 
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Just got back from Devon. Spent most of my time spearing, reading with a little sketching & boogie boarding thrown in (it rained quite a lot & got windy towards the end of the fortnight). But, I did manage a little angling & chatted to some other beach & kayak anglers.

Once the water visibility was ruined by particularly heavy rain early this week, it sounds like folk stopped catching - I guess the fish can't see the lures. Although one Plymouth angler I met, who really seemed to know what he was doing, was fishing a local spot for him at what he described as the optimal state of the tide/time with sandeel & he didn't get a bite either. He was using a simple ledger rig, much like I'd been thinking of, and took the time to explain the details of it (slider or swivel clip on the shock leader; bead & end swivel to block it; thinner mono-trace; hook through eel's mouth, gill and then back out, reverse and back in again - very neat).

Several folk had caught fish before the heavy down-pour though. A kayak fisher on a white Storm weighted gel sandeel - the same as I sometimes use; I painted the tops of mine with metallic blue acrylic paint recently though. He had a large Eddystone eel on a second rod but usually just trolled the other rod. Another pair of kayak anglers lost their car keys overboard & towed me out to dive for them - but, with very poor visibility in 20 ft of waterand the tide pulling, it was futile. One of the kayakers got flipped out of his kayak, presumbly because he was holding onto his anchor rope; not a big deal under the circumstances but something to be aware of.

Another angler had caught two mackerel and a small bass - all on a medium size Dexter Wedge. Again, a simple, inexpensive approach. All were caught from a beach & near rocks I have dived many times (and had good catches) but where I have never seen a mackerel. I saw others using mackerel feathers - but on that day nobody caught anything.

BTW I found a nice Toby & swivel clip (strangely no line & it was not snagged) laying on the sea bed while spearing. I thought I must be mistaken at first but as I'd never seen a razor clam shell on that beach before (which seemed like the most likely thing). Over the next 2 weeks I lost my beloved blue Slim Jim Toby (I have a spare though, phew!) and a Dexter wedge on the same beach. The first when the baitcaster bird nested badly, damaging the line. The second when the braid on my other rod somehow tangled around the rod tip while casting - the 25lb fluorocarbon trace just snapped; it was probably due for replacement, I've been using it for quite some time now.
 
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Is it possible to fish more than 1 lure (other than mackeral feathers!) on a line? , maybe with a boom.
Boat fishing ; On the drift, or trolling.

I remember having seen a rig from the usa which I think was called an umbrella rig (although I'm terrible at names)
 
Yes, I saw a elaborate umbrella rig on a site recently - I think for big game (e.g. Marlin) fishing. Maybe you could make something similar tailored for bass/mackeral that might be attracted to a shoal - perhaps using a coat-hanger.

I tied a simple 2 Eddystone eel rig (1 eel at the end, one on a "paternoster"-loop up -line) which I planned to try out on holiday but never got around to it. So not sure if that will work - it might well just twist around itself.

I already posted a simple trolling rig that I used, which consisted of a string of feathers (red feathers with luminous heads I think) terminated by a rubber eel (rather than a weight) - it caught a small bass, on the eel. However, dealing with all those hooks and the increased weed snagging potential are things to consider.

How do paravanes work? Is the idea to hang multiple lures from the paravane, or do you need one for each lure (e.g. with one set for port, another for starboard and perhaps even a third straight back)? Most of the paravanes I've seen have been a bit large and pricey for a kayak but I saw one recently which was quite small and inexpensive (maybe £3.99?). A couple of years ago I would probably have bought one or two to try out but I've come to the conclusion that simple often works best for me, esp. with regard to kayak fishing, and I will probably go back to the single, unweighted Eddystone eel hand-line approach ... once I've tried out the various rigs I already built to test over the last couple of years
 
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I recently had a few days down dorset way catching loads of fish - all small but good fun to be getting hits nearly every cast!! My missus got in on the action also.







The Garfish were going crazy chasing huge balls of baitfish close in and were following our lures right into the shallow water but not taking - changing to a float setup baited with washed up baitfish was a instant success. Funny that some of the best fishing fun i have had for ages was with small stuff!!
 
Reactions: Broseidon, Mr. X, foxfish and 1 other person
Cool. I encouraged my father-in-law to try fishing with a similar float over an area that I know often has mullet & occasionally gar but he found that the float kept coming back into shore, due either due wind, tide or current. I dived that day, so did not hear of his problems until I returned to shore.
 
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