A New Convert.

I met up with my Bass fishing buddy Tim today, its actually been the first time I have met up with him this year and it was proper good to see him. Due to health issues and the pressures of life, Tim has not been able to get out and catch this year at all, so we decided to head up to the North of the Peninsula and fish a favourite and memorable spot of ours.

The weather conditions were less than favourable, with a stiff South Easterly blowing we knew we were going to have to work for any fish. I also wanted to get Tim to try light rock fishing while we were there, so I lent him a setup so he could try it out.

I handed him my HTO Rockfish 73 set up with my Biomaster, 0.4PE braid, HTO jig heads and gulp lures, I also gave him a small amount of tuition and away he went. I was pleased to see how well he adapted to it, as he fished through the water column just taking up slack when needed. There was a fair amount of tidal movement which was pretty good, but I expected the wind to cause him more problems than it did.

Anyway, it wasn't long before Tim was catching some Pollock that were chasing Launce and fry around the gully we were fishing.

He was clearly very happy to catch his first fish of the year and I was feeling pretty satisfied too.

Well Tim was clearly getting the hang of rock fishing and didn't need any further supervision, so I fished away with my new HTO Rockfish Revolution UL, employing a few different tactics to see how she coped.

Well I am quite amazed that this rod sells at under 60 notes as it feels very nice and natural to fish with, it was proper nice to fish with a solid tipped rod for a change too. Heres a few of my captures;

Towards the end of the session Tim was actually getting a fish per cast, which culminated in a very pleasing end for us both; Tim hooked and landed his first ever Wrasse which also turned out to be the biggest fish of the day.

Well that was a cracking way to end an enjoyable day and I think its safe to say that it won't be the last time Tim downs his Bass rod in favour of some LRF!

Tight lines.

Caro Fall Rates and Trajectory

Following yesterdays report I have been asked a lot of questions on the differing sink rates of the Tict Caro's. Now I must point out that I do not speak or read Japanese so much of my findings are just how I have been interpreting my own experience.

There is a slight difference in fall rate according to the Caro's type, this is to do with the trajectory of slide, coupled with the water resistance.

Lets take things out of the water a minute. If I am standing on the top of a tower and I drop an apple and a brick at the same time; which falls fastest or hits the deck first?

Well really they fall at the same rate and will hit the ground at the same time, but there is more to it.

A brick is a rectangular prism and certainly if I drop the brick with the smallest surface area facing toward the ground, the brick will fall as fast as the apple. However, if I drop the brick with the larger surface area facing the ground, the apple should fall faster. This is because of air resistance acting as a secondary force, to the force of gravity.

If you think about a rain drop and how fast something so small and light falls, its amazing. A raindrop is perfectly formed to counter air resistance and fall according to the force of gravity.

Well lets take thing back to the water and explain a little about these Caro's. Really a similar principle applies except instead of dealing with air resistance, we are dealing with water resistance and by altering the trajectory of the Caro at the point of immersion, the Caro falls through the water at a different speed. 

However, because the density of water is greater than that of air, the fall in Water has a noticeably different effect, in that an object with a greater surface area fill fall at a different trajectory to that of an object with a smaller surface area.

Ok enough of me waffling, lets see these Caro's in action with this very helpful video provided by Tict themselves;

As you can see, altering the distribution of weight and in turn altering the surface area, the L Caro falls slower, but also at a different trajectory  that of the S Caro ( I don't think I am going to get any marks for my scientific explanation here).

In terms of fishing; say I am fishing a small west facing cove and I am standing on the southerly tip and I want to present my lure at a slow rate to the fish holding up on the northerly rock ledge. I would need to cast short of the ledge when using the L type Caro, in order for the Caro to slide away from me and present my lure to the fish in an approaching fashion. With the S type, I can cast pretty tight against the structure, but the fall would present the lure in a faster and more vertical fashion.

However depending on how near or far I cast the L type to the structure, will determine the depth in which the lure is presented against it and of course you would need to do this to suss out what depth the fish are present.

The same applies throughout the body of water really and in the manner which you select and work the Caro's can help you present the lure effectively to your quarry.

This is but one scenario in which my Caro choice might be helpful, but think about the effects of a fast tidal pull and you might select a different type to use and so on.

Well as I said in my previous post, "my thought are not yet sown up" and even in writing this post I am thinking about how this style is to be used and how it can continue to benefit my fishing.

I apologise if some of this info might seem superfluous and unformed and I would welcome discussion on your findings in fishing the Caro.

Tight lines,

Lee

Caro Fishing

I have been doing a lot of Caro fishing of late, I have found that the fish are just a bit further out or deeper in current, perhaps this is due to the increased beach traffic over the holiday season.

There is only so far I can throw a 2.5 g jig head and even then that presentation does not always give me what I desire and this is where Caro really comes in handy; they allow me to present a light lure far out and/or deep down.

If you are not familiar with them, they are a type of "inline active sinker" and I feel that is the best way to describe them. They are active in the way they sink through the water column at different trajectories, thus allowing for different presentations. The rig itself is quite simple; you tie a 20-30cm length of monofilament to your light game braid, slide the Caro on with the stem towards the rod tip, after the Caro, thread a bead on and then add a swivel. After the swivel you want a 30-40cm trace, then your jig head and lure choice.

I have found the long slide type to be perhaps the most useful, it suits shallow water better and is equally suitable for sliding over kelp beds at depth. For dropping behind sandbars or into holes, the N and S type are also pretty useful. I haven't got all my ideas sown up about these things though and look forward to experimenting more. 

I do find that straight lures work very well indeed, with jig weights mostly between 0.3 and 1.5g.

The following are some of my results lately, the first are Caro caught fish utilising the AquaWave Straights on AquaWave Rockbait jig heads;

I really do like these lures and heads, the lures behave well and look great in the water and the heads are just excellent, just the right gauge of hook wire for my liking and sharp!

I've also been using the Delalande Spaghetti lures; they are really designed for wacky rigging, but when I received them I just thought "Caro". I like nice bright colours when fishing the depths and these have a bold presence in the water.

As you can see, coupled with my report from Brixham, there are a number of species that will take this presentation. Its quite an enjoyable way of fishing too, its insane the distances that can be achieved with these things too, which in turn allows me to cover plenty of water.

For more info on Caro's and how to fish them, check out these videos;

Tight lines.