Keep it Real!

Being a non-driver in the sticks of Snowdonia means that most of my connections with other anglers are largely formed online, mainly through various forums and Facebook.

I have made some good friends through such sites too, but it is not on the value of social media I wish to write this post, I actually wish to write about a seemingly ever present issue relating to LRF in the UK.

What is lrf?

Light Rock Fishing, how do you define it? These questions I have asked myself and they are being asked continually even now, years down the line.

The trouble with any question is not the question itself, but the motive behind it and this is where I perceive error being perpetuated time and time again. The motives of those asking this question already seem to have a rehearsed proposition and answer ready for the unsuspecting inquirer.

"Light Rock Fishing is a term that open to interpretation" People say, but what do they mean by this?

Well all too often it means leading the consumer up the garden path!

Many believe the term can be taken literally; 

Light means anything lighter than what people are traditionally used to on the rocks in the UK.

Rock means fishing from or over rock.

Fishing means anything fishing related; bait, freshwater etc.

Often coupled with this erroneous view comes a load of tackle which is completely inappropriate for any task, let alone 'the' task!

Many will already know of the massively misleading article published in the Sea Angler Magazine some while ago, written by the well respected angler Alan Yates. A supposedly informative article on LRF as a discipline, that was not even a distortion of the truth but a complete lie and which enraged many respected LRF anglers here.

A similar thing can be seen here if viewed from 18:30;

And here;



The History

So seriously what is LRF?

I think personally that LRF can be a problematic term for many and I sometimes wish Light Game would be used more widely, though even 'Light Game' is not without its problems, like LRF it is a Japanese term that can be diverse in its interpretation.

The key I feel is to knowing the history and origins of LRF, admittedly I am not 100% clued up in that area either, but I shall go someway into explaining it as I understand it.

It ought to be well understood by now that LRF originated in Japan as an 'out of Bass season' discipline, for targeting Pacific Rockfish species such as Mebaru.

In its inception, anglers fashioned 'Kabura' from dried and dyed fish skin which was either tied to jig heads or in a sabiki like string.

As the disciple became more popular, especially as Mebaru are good to eat, tackle refinements and innovations became to appear. Lighter SW specific lines, UL saltwater rods and bespoke lures mimicking seasonal prey and plankton appeared, with certain people and tackle brands leading the way.

The tackle was designed to get the most sport out of the Rockfish species, to fish effectively and to protect the hook hold too. It all became refined to present a wide range of UL/light lures effectively, the discipline is a lure discipline and has been since its inception.

Yes you could argue that dried fish skin is a bait of types, but natural materials are used in fly fishing, we couldn't very well call that bait now could we?!

So are people right about the fishing from and over rocks then? Well no, not entirely.

As Mebaruing メバリング　grew in Japan, the tackle also became effective to target other species, as in its ethos, rockfishing is about effectively presenting very light lures to small game fish.

Aji (Pacific Horse Mackerel) would be a prime example, would we consider our Scad to be a rockfish in the purest sense of the word? I don't think so, yet Ajing アジング　also fell under the same banner 'Rockfishing'.

So what about Light Rock Fishing (LRF) as a term, where did it come from?

LRF was a term pretty much coined by Daiwa to launch their range of tackle aimed at Aji and Mebaru anglers, a clever piece of marketing to make a distinct name for themselves in the Rockfishing world. With Daiwa's rods, reels and other accessories came marketing and instructional DVD's and it is these DVD's that were exported here to the UK, along with Daiwa's discipline names.

From the many Japanese blogs and sites I have read, the term 'Light Rock Fishing' is actually seldom employed, rather 'Light Game' or 'Rockfishing' is, yet here in the UK, LRF became the number one recognised term.

The people who originally bought LRF to the UK did their very best to explain both the disciplines history and its tactics, it is fair to say that so many would not be enjoying this awesome game now without their sacrifice and input. In someways keeping Daiwa's terms was at first helpful because they distinguished HRF from LRF and both arrived in the UK pretty much simultaneously and were simultaneously being applied, taught and promoted.

The Industry

So why has this all become so confused here in the UK? Why are people suggesting that 7' rods rated 5-30g and 4000 sized reels as suitable for LRF.

Well I can think much of it is purely down to industry greed and not just ignorance.

LRF has grown tremendously in popularity and has become become a buzz word, a fashion too. Many people want in on the LRF game and quite rightly so; its great fun, social and pretty accessible for anyone. But some in the industry want in purely because there is money in it, yet even 2 years ago they couldn't give a stuff about LRF, "It won't last" they said, "won't work", "a fad" and so on.

Well here we are approaching 2015, LRF is here to stay and many missed the boat, failed to understand it, so what now?

Well it appears people want to take the name and apply it to something completely different, whether it be fishing for fresh water Perch or using scaled down bait rigs in the sea. Most of it, like the videos above is about selling tackle and not really for the love of LRF at all, these companies realise they  have "rejected a chief cornerstone".

Largely, proper anglers with history in Rockfishing have addressed these issues, but the damage is still being done. People are still looking to find fame and fortune completely the wrong way in what has become somewhat of an angling sub-culture here and its just not on.

I actually do not have a problem with people using whatever tackle they want to fish bait in the sea, if that floats your boat great, but why try and make LRF fit what you are doing? It just doesn't, never has and never will.

LRF is a saltwater game that borrows many of its tactics from freshwater fishing and employs them in the sea. Mainly (but not exclusively) LRF is about catching what can be considered as 'small game' on ultra light tackle, but is always lure in its methodology.

Don't be fooled by those who seem more 'open minded' as to LRF's application and telling you its about bait too, most were completely close-minded to LRF not so very long ago at all!

Keep it Real

For my part I am pleased to be now part of the HTO team in the UK, among us we have some real LRF heads who seek to grow with this firm and produce proper kit to serve the needs of the UK angler. Keen to stick to the ethos and build on the foundations others have laid, we seek to bring our own flavour to this revolutionary angling discipline. But my business here is not to promote a brand as such, it is to promote the game, to try and stay faithful to the roots, the real scene and the anglers who made such sacrifices to bring UK LRF to the masses.

So look, if you are a newcomer to LRF then my advice is to speak to the longstanding LRF anglers or those that have been mentored by such. Do your own research too and make sure that the information you are getting is the right information! Check out some of my recommended blogs and links too, theres some real good stuff there for you to get your teeth into.

I think I shall add a new page to my blog shortly, to hopefully inform the reader better on LRF tackle and hopefully to make the minefield of information and misinformation a little bit easier to navigate.

For those LRF long-standers in the UK, to them I say "Keep up the good work, keep informing and promoting and above all; Keep it Real!

Slowing up now

I went out with Jon again yesterday in the hope of Herring at Holyhead breakwater and though we saw a few, they were beyond casting distance. We hadn't planned to stay long, basically we made our way up to "Corkwing Corner" and back again, casting as we went. Aside from the odd bit of surface activity, there wasn't much happening, Jon caught a tiny pollock and on my very last cast I hooked into a nice fighting Wrasse. 

The fish actually took my Aquawave Straight on a 1g Rockbait jig head, in pretty shallow water and tight against the wall. Jon also had to handling it up for me as he had gloves on, when I tried the 0.5PE braid just cut into my hands, anyway a nice first fish in my opinion.

We went over to the "Ranges" after that and visited a spot where I've enjoyed good fishing before, unfortunately the fishing remained tough. I am not sure why, but the Pollock have seemed to be a bit scarce of late. The ground screamed Pollock; a nice amount of current and a nice back eddie, yet nothing. I did pick up three more Wrasse, one to a Texas rigged HTO mini Stick and two to 4"Gulp! Sandworm and Jon caught a specimen sized Corkwing Wrasse (not featured).

We made another short move before calling it a day. It was a nice spot and I mainly just took some photo's of the area and Jon fishing.

It really does seem to be difficult out there now, I don't know whether its just the time of year, or whether its the unsettled conditions. We have barely had a sustained wind direction and that doesn't help, I'd sure like to find some decent Pollock though, the only ones I've had lately have been tiny, a bit like this one caught on Barmouth Breakwater on Thursday;

On the whole the fishing hasn't been as satisfying as last year I guess, some of that is largely down to health issues, I think that when your mind is on so much other stuff, its impossible to be on top of your game. Still I am fortunate to live by the coast and catch a few, many would like to be in my shoes I am sure and there will be better days.

Tight lines

Thigh burning fishing.

Uwchmynydd's "Cardiac hill" is named such for a good reason, scaling the ground there is at times hard going and yesterday was one of those times, both in terms of physical strain and tough fishing.

I had arranged to meet up with my friend Jon who I met through the World Sea Fishing Forum.

Jon kindly picked me up at 7:30am yesterday and we made our way up to Pen Llyn. Jon is not massively familiar with the fishing there and seeing as his main discipline is fishing ultra light, it pays to have someone with some knowledge of the ground.

I figured it would be hard going, especially when Jon informed me there was a minimum 2' swell. Really those conditions render the place un-fishable using short light rods, but thankfully it was not nearly as bad as expected with maybe a 1.5' swell.

I took Jon to the nearest place first; a place known to myself and Ben as "Wrasse Gully". Its usually crammed with Wrasse up to around a pound or so, with the odd larger fish in the mix, sadly there was nothing really happening aside form a small Pollock that I hooked and then lost before landing. 

Back up the rocks and hill we went and walked North to find some fishable water inside another cove. Upon making the steep decent, things were looking good, yet the conditions proved deceiving, as aside from Jon catching a small Pollock (first blood) and myself catching a small Wrasse, things remained tough.

I was genuinely surprised, I had expected more and larger Pollock to show. It was true that we were not fishing the best Pollock marks as those were out of bounds due to the swell, however I would have certainly expected to catch the sub 2lb ones with reasonable consistency. Still it wasn't a bad day to spend time on the coast chatting and it gave Jon a chance to try out his new, very nice looking Major Craft Truzer Aji rod.

Up the cliff again and again up the steep, wet grass hill we went, this time travelling back south. The walk was more of a traverse at the top of the rocks, so nothing too arduous, but the cliffs didn't half burn my muscles!

Eventually we found some fishable water, with a degree of shelter from the swell and once again made a steep descent.

There was a stiff side wind, which did make rings a little difficult, but far from impossible and though there was a bit of colour in the water, it was definitely workable.

From the off we were both getting bites, some far out which I suspect were small Pollock and some tight in. It was pretty clear the fish were being finicky and they were also small, it wasn't long before that was confirmed.

I had a fairly steady amount of action, a few caught and a few lost and Jon was also breaking in his new rod with some small Pollock and the odd Wrasse. I don't have any pictures of Jons fish unfortunately, but below are some of mine.

All my fish were caught fishing Texas rigged HTO mini sticks and Mini Shads, which are just perfect for getting tight to structure and in amongst the kelp. I do find that in most conditions the Ayu and Margherita colours work best, but on the occasion the white and blue can be awesome. If you don't own some of these lures, I'd highly recommend them, I tend to rig them on Gamakatsu G-lock hooks in size 4 with a 2-5g cone weight.

My legs didn't half burn on the climb back to the car, but as hard as it all was it was certainly not a waste of time, to some degree you have to expect hardship this time of year. 

I hope to return with Jon when there is a good period of settled weather and a half foot swell, pretty much all of the headland becomes more accessible then and there are some sweet reefs to investigate, with better action to be had.

I wouldn't always go that light there mind as there are some pure brutes about and even with a heavy rod, they can be at times hard to get away from the underwater structure. The other thing is some of the area is incredibly deep and unless you know where yo are going, you can often find yourself blanking!

Having said that, Uwchmynydd is a very worthwhile place to spend some time exploring, its literally one of my favourite places to fish. I've had some great times there with all of my friends and it certainly holds some good memories.

Tight lines.

Baby its Cold Outside!

Since returning from Menorca, conditions have been so bad locally I haven't managed to get out at all. 

The first opportunity to actually get a lure in the water came Monday last. I was down in Barmouth sorting out my rail card and had an hour or so to kill before returning home, so thought I may as well throw some lures I have been wanting to test. 

Damn it was freezing on the Breakwater, with the wind gripping me to the very bone, but it was sure nice to get a spirited run as the tide rose. I was just fishing an AquaWave Lockhead and lure in the current when a nice late season Schooly took the lure.

I was pretty pleased as that is the latest Bass I have ever caught on Lure, the conditions and water colour were less than perfect too!

I didn't stay long afterwards, but I may get down again soon, although I will wear thermals next time!

Tight lines

Rockfish Menorca - Calescoves to Mahon

The last day of our Rockfishing trip and I was personally feeling good, I still wanted to catch a few more fish for sure but I was feeling more relaxed about the whole thing.

We'd visited some stunning parts of the coast, caught a nice variety of fish and had some laughs along the way, but there was one place I wanted to at least see; Calescoves.

I'd spotted the place on Google Earth before we departed the UK and it really is a place of such beauty, it didn't disappoint.

Calescoves was possibly my favourite place of the trip, it was so serene and the water was quite cool, in fact I took the time to chill a couple of times.

We did catch a few fish here, mainly combers and Wrasse. We did have a load of Garfish in at one point, but they proved too small to catch in size 6 jig heads, though they definitely took a liking to my Aquawave Spark 40's.

Here's a couple of pictures including a small but perfectly formed Dusky Grouper caught by Scott;

 After the half a mile walk to the car we were incredibly thirsty and visited Nelsons bar located not far away. That was a bit of a strange place in my opinion, an English Bar ran by a couple of folk from Essex charging London prices, 11 Euros for 6 cans of Sprite! I much preferred the Spanish joints.
From Nelsons we headed Mahon way to fish Es Castell.

At Es Castell I was really feeling tired, heat rash had broken out across my back and I really just chilled while Scott searched for Gobies in order to top up his species tally, I couldn't be bothered with that.

We then moved to a spot we had fished earlier in the week; Cala Figuera.
Its quite nice and comfortable fishing there with plenty of fish to keep you occupied. The water is quite coloured so I didn't feel it necessary to mess around with non-gulp lures to be honest, this is where I feel smelly lures really give you the edge.

Initially I had a good run of Mediterranean Horse Mackerel using a Gulp Fish Fry at range on a dropshot rig. Its a shame they weren't bigger,but a nice catch anyway.

I also got my Common Pandora which I was pretty happy about indeed, they are a right nice fish and pull quite well for the size.

Scott added a Rusty Blenny to his impressive species tally;

And I caught plenty more Bream species, mostly Annular and Two Banded.

The Two Banded bream were really nice and often featured the kind of facial blue hue that you sometimes fiend on our Black Bream.

As darkness was soon expected we headed around the corner to El Funduco in the hope of Barracuda turning up. To cut a long story short, I didn't get My Barracuda, I did catch more Comber and Bream and on Scotts very last cast of the trip, managed a new species for him; a Pickerel.

A pretty nice way to end a very enjoyable trip I thought.

The very last fish of the trip and a nice reward for Scott.

I was genuinely sad to leave Menorca and would certainly like to return someday, it such a peaceful and beautiful place, with friendly people and great weather.
Our next trip is to Madeira though and I am very much looking forward to that, hopefully the anticipation shall stave the winter blues!

Tight lines all and thanks for reading.

Rockfish Menorca - Ciutadella

Definitely no early morning session to be had on Saturday, we woke up to a hot calm day and decided on a chill out day. Enough racing about across the island in hope of larger fish, we decided to stay local to the hotel and in all fairness we'd had some OK sessions in Ciutadella anyway.

After breakfast we went just around the corner from the hotel and accessed some water we'd previously wanted to fish, but couldn't until now due to the wind and swell. There were plenty of baitfish cruising around in the upper water column and trying a range of techniques we investigated what could be had. 

There were some guys to our above left fishing with long rods from the cliff tops and a person with loud music jigging from his boat just off the shelf. An atmospheric day indeed.

We were shortly joined by a young local family who came to fish for Gar, and explained that they found these a "special fish". Thankfully the young gentleman spoke good english and it was nice to speak to him. The family had a large bucket of bread crumbs and were feeding it into the water inducing a baitfish feeding frenzy and sure enough the Gar turned up in numbers, this gave us some ideas!

Scott actually hooked a Gar which sadly came off. I was just experimenting a bit and caught some comber on my Tict M-Float rig. This is when the young man told us why they call Painted Comber "Vaca" or "Cow", he also told us they were good eating and I gave him one I caught which he seemed grateful with.

However, they didn't stick around long due to the small platform being crowded with us there.

Afterwards myself and Scott discussed the possibility of using some shirvy to attract some fish. Scott actually thought that I'd never be into it, as I am a bit of a lure purist at times, but I explained that I came to catch fish and at this point didn't care much. With that we headed to the shops for bread and sardines, I also did some gift shopping for my children, before heading off to the breakwater in Ciutadella.

Well I had assumed that we would save the shirvy in hope of attracting more Barracuda at sundown and therefore rigged up an Ecogearaqua Katsu Aji Straight on a 1g AquaWave Rockbait jig head. I spotted some interesting fish off of the back of the platform and made my first cast. I was watching my lure fall through the water when a fish moved lightning fast and engulfed the lure, I set the hook. My rod bent right over as I shouted "fish on!" Scott looked in disbelief as I told him "I think I have an Amberjack on!" As the fish kept me on my toes and had me running with it around around the breakwater structure, Scott confirmed that I did indeed have an Amberjack on. Thoughts of losing the Barracuda resurrected and I decided to give this fish time! Sure enough I, with Scott as gilly got the fish in!

I cannot tell you how pleased I was, I didn't expect it at all! 

Scott also got into a fish and though may not have been the Amberjack he wanted, was a pretty nice fish indeed; A large  East Atlantic Peacock Wrasse I believe.

I carried on fishing, hoping for another Amberjack while Scott made up some shirvy and was feeding the bait fish. Some large Mullet were cruising in and out of the shoals and Saddled Bream were shooting up from the depths and snatching bread off of the surface, but generally the fishing was a bit quiet.

I can't quite remember what Scott was doing but he spotted a fish a way out and exclaimed "look, thats a Leerfish!" Still full of adrenaline I was quick of the mark and cast my 1g head out and Ecogear lure, again letting it fall through the water when I got a take! "Fish on!" I pronounced as Scott once more looked in disbelief. This was a better fight! run after run and lunge after lunge my heart was pounding, so afraid of loosing the species that was on the very top of my wish list! 

I also got frustrated that we didn't bring the net from the car, I hate tiring fish that much, but eventually he was ready to land. With expert help from Scott we got the fish ashore and it was time for another grip and grin.

Wow! I now didn't really give a stuff if I didn't catch another fish, I was totally buzzing!

I did feel for Scott as he'd lost an Amberjack elsewhere abroad and really wanted these two species, but conversely I know Scott was pleased for me (well, sort of).

Well we didn't expect this of course and did not know how the rest of the day might unfold, so I went to grab the net. 

I started fishing again this time with a pearl Ecogear Power Shirasu on my Rockbait Jighead and observed some Mullet tight to structure below. I dropped my lure down and was dead sticking about four inches off of the bottom. "that Mullet just bummed my lure" I told Scott, "Oh hang on!" A larger Mullet had taken the lure!

Again I found myself hot on my toes as the fish ran around the slab, I couldn't stop laughing! He was a much cleverer fish in many respects and ran into a through-hole underneath the breakwater, I thought I'd lost it for sure, but I managed to keep my line away from the sharp edges and pull him out OK. Eventually I had him beat and on the waters surface when Scott came with the net and I was ready for another grip and grin.

Full respect to Scott, he made an excellent gilly!

After this Scott was sitting down and fishing prawn under a float, I wasn't fishing so hard at this point and sort of took a step back being quite satisfied anyway. 

Scott was getting noticeably frustrated at the bream stripping his bait but eventually his float took a proper dive and run! The fish started to run around the corner in the same manner as mine did and Scott put the brakes on, sadly within seconds the fish had snapped his line, Scott was noticeably annoyed!

Around this time the local children arrived, who were out just about very dry night targeting Barracuda and I showed them my photo's on my phone. They were noticeably excited and called some other friends to take a look. All of a sudden I found myself being treated like a pro angler with children asking me what to use and wanting to inspect my gear. I kind of buzzed off of their thirst for angling knowledge and in many ways wish we had a youth culture like that here.

I spent some time with them showing them the range of lures I use, it was hard communicating though as my Spanish is incredibly basic. I learnt that Seriola is Amberjack and was constantly being handed lures with the question "this for Seriola?". Anyway I taught them how to texas rig as well as some other things and gave out some HTO lures, Jigheads, hooks and bullet weights, one lad Sabatian also claimed a vibe bait.

Soon myself and Scott found ourselves tying their knots, re-rigging their lures and all sorts, my fault really!

One interesting thing they had, was a strange type of lure which apparently is good for Barraduda;

A through wired and  dried Garfish! I thought it was kool enough to photograph anyway.

It became quite tough fishing here to be honest, as very time we started casting the children were pretty much on top of us wanting to do the same things and fish the same swim, I can't deny it started to get irritating. 

Meanwhile Scott was casting a metal across the narrow channel at the end of the breakwater when some fish came out of nowhere and fast! His rod bucked over and a fight ensued with another Amberjack.

Things were a bit hectic at this point, as the children all came over and were chucking their lures over the top of our heads. 

Scotts fish had also done a loop-the-loop around a mooring rope  and things were not looking good, it was trying to go deep while rubbing his braid against the rope the whole while. Thankfully Scott is more intelligent than I and managed to lift the rope and pass his rod underneath, freeing it whilst keeping a tight line. Finally it was my time to be gilly and I netted the fish ashore.

Actually When Scott was playing his, Sabatian was also into a fish, amazingly Scott briefly left his fish with me and netted Sabatians too!

High fives all round and another grip and grin;

What an excellent day this had shaped up to be!

We stuck around until sundown as I still wanted a Barracuda, but found myself growing increasingly irritated with the "combat fishing", it was hard to get a look in with the place so crowded and I feared for my rod as excited youths flung their large lures at the Barracuda. The children with Scotts help actually caught two at around 3lb a piece and that was nice to see. Scott also hooked a good one yet I couldn't get to him in time with the net, missing the opportunity to land it for him which was very frustrating. That was the second lost fish for Scott that day and the second lost Barracuda of the trip, but at least he has caught a Barracuda before I guess.

All in all the day ended on a high and we returned to the hotel to chill and celebrate. I also took the opportunity to rub it in a little about the Leer, Scott repeatedly called me a prick haha!

That was easily my favourite day of the trip, but there was still another day left, stay tuned!

Rockfish Menorca - Cala Morell to Son Parc

Thursday night we decided to change things tactically as although we were having some fun catching the smaller rockfish, we really had hoped to come across more pelagic species and even some large Horse Mackerel. To be honest I think we set our expectations of the trip a tiny bit too high after all we were fishing without any guides, just relying on basic watercraft and basic technique. Fishing the type   of ground we would be confident with back at home, just didn't seem to yield similar results, i.e. bigger fish.

We therefore decided to head out before breakfast under the cover of darkness and into sunrise to see what this might yield. I had spotted a close enough mark called Cala Morell on Google Earth, it looked ideal featuring a natural bottleneck at the headland after a bay, I figured it would be a good spot for predators ambushing prey leaving and entering the bay. I must admit I am not one for fishing complete darkness much and Scott likes it even less, but we gave it a go.

Initially finding a parking spot was a nightmare and we were both pretty tired out at 6:00am, but soon we found a satisfactory place to park and descended the steps to the bay. On the way down Scott spotted a small Gekko on the stairway wall, which I quickly grabbed. I really like lizards and find them both fascinating and therapeutic somehow.

 I told scott how they can lose their tails and grow them back but I didn't quite expect it to happen, but sure enough it did. I felt half guilty and half fascinated by it, poor little thing, he had a nice tail yet after his encounter with me is now a stumpy.

After observing this little creature and releasing him again, we set off to fish come comfortable ledges on the left side of the bay until some light appeared.
We wasn't there particularly long when I had a thump on my dropshot rig with immediate hook up. A short burst of energy was subdued by yours truly and I drew first blood with a Scorpion Fish;

He was a nicer size than the night before and I avoided being stung by this one!

Scott was next up with a species I had really hoped to get while away, the Dusky Grouper.

 I was a tiny bit jealous of that one although I wanted mine to be larger, never satisfied me! It was good for Scott to get another species to his tally, especially as he'd se himself an ambitious target of thirty species for the duration!

As the light changed we moved to the choke point north of the bay. It was seriously deep water there yet it didn't seem to fish very well at all, I was a bit astounded and would like to fish that place again under varying conditions. We stuck at it for a bit but decided to move back into the bay area.
I fished a snaggy reef, while Scott fished some ground further in.
It wasn't epic and as the morning got brighter the usual suspects came out to play.

 We played around with the small reef fish some more before heading off tired and a tiny bit disappointed on the whole. Can't deny it was a beautiful spot though and again under different conditions, who knows what it could produce.

From there we headed to Son Parc, a fairly exclusive golf resort in the North East. The ground there looked great fairly deep water strewn with reef and broken ground, the kind of place back home you'd expect to find good sized Wrasse and Pollock. Sadly the place was much the same as elsewhere; ridden with Small Wrasse and Comber.
With this and tiredness starting to set in we'd kind of had enough, packed up the gear and went for a swim.

Whilst swimming, Scott had his snorkelling gear on and was carrying out a bit of a recce, occasionally popping up to tell me what was going on. Scott had spotted large shoals of Striped Sea Bream grubbing about on the bottom, small flounder, a small Stingray among other things and we decided to give it a shot after a Squid lunch and more Fanta Lemon.

Fishing this time over the sandy bay, we hoped to get some of these species. I'd hoped to get a Striped Bream as again I had enjoyed them so much in Turkey but it was not to be. Instead we were pestered by Lizardfish with Scott even getting a double hook up on his fancy gulp rig.

I lived up to my holiday nick name "The Comber King" catching another nice looking Common Comber;

 After the sun had set, we returned to the hotel for some much needed sleep, slightly sullen but mot deterred.
With two days left we had started to give up on the hope of encountering any pelagic species, but there was still time right?

Tight lines