Hardly Setting the World Alight!

I have recently at the age of 38 passed my driving test, sure its long overdue but I'm always late to the party, I'm hoping it eventually makes my fishing a little better and a little more varied.

So I poached the car off of the wife for the last two days and took a spin out to Pwllheli yesterday and Porth Ysgaden today.

There wasn't much to report about yesterday at all, I caught two small Pollock while my fishing buddy Kev blanked! To be fair the conditions were less than perfect as we were fishing a Bass mark really and in bright sunshine, you wouldn't believe its November and T-shirt weather.

I initially wanted to head out today to fish at first light but, being a lazy bugger I missed my alarm and settled for early morning. Although the weather was quite bright here in Harlech, the North Peninsula was misty indeed.

The rocks were slippery being dew soaked and covered in lichen, I nearly went breast over buttocks a few times, thankfully as the sun emerged things got less treacherous.

I started fishing with a green Sawamura 2" One Up Shad and though bites were not thick and fast, they were there and I managed some Wrasse.

I'm rather glad I was using my BlueCurrent 76/TZ and not my Breaden as these fish would have barely put a bend in the GRF, still they all count right?!

I moved around a bit and tried various methods, loosing one decent fish and my Hart RSF Mebaru blade in the process, but for some reason other larger fish proved hard to find which was a bit disappointing, I'm positive they were there as I had lost one already, I guess they just weren't in the mood.

I picked up some really small Pollock as well as more small Wrasse but as the title says, "it was hardly setting the world alight!"

Well about 13:30-14:00 I got bored and decided to head off, initially I intended to fish somewhere else but I just went for a drive instead, I figured there is always another day!

To be honest I wouldn't have said it was a bad day anyway, the weather was nice and its better to be on the rocks than at work any-day and Porth Ysgaden didn't half look beautiful today, check the water clarity!

I shall see if I can poach the car again Thursday and fish another venue, lets hope this weather holds out, well actually, a little overcast wouldn't go amiss.

Till then

Tight lines

A Day on Anglesey

My friend Jon contacted me earlier in the week asking if I'd like to go to Anglesey fishing and of course I said yes and that is where I have been today.

Starting out at 6:00am we arrive at Point Lynas for high water. Its not an area I know at all so I was just taking Jon's lead and indeed the area looked good, in fact we were into fish from the first cast.

Jon took first blood with a feisty small Pollock while I tackled up, but when I joined the fun I pulled out two fairly decent Pollock, both taken on the HTO Mace and Mace head combo.

That was a pretty good start to be honest and it was nice to catch them over pretty clean ground which enabled me to give them some line for a change.

We both caught a number of smaller Pollock too and John caught some Wrasse. It was a pleasant start and the Dolphins even made an appearance which was as magic as ever.

As the tide started dropping the fishy activity and certainly the stamp also dropped off, therefore we made a very short move to a rocky point along the way.

Jon was in first once more to either a Pollock or a Wrasse, I cannot remember which. At this point I was struggling a bit with not being able to get a hook up, when Jon's rod bent over proper and his drag started singing, I could tell he was into a good fish indeed! Sadly he was proved to be a bit under-gunned as the fish  severed his 0.3PE braid against the barnacle strewn ledge, Jon's face was not pretty as he realised he'd lost probably the best fish of the day.

I decide to change my lure to a 2" One Up Shad which is a renown fish catcher and indeed it worked for me just fine, here hare some pictures of the better fish;

I love Wrasse, there are full of character and these fought quite well indeed.

The Jighead incidentally is from Sunslicker AKA Nick Robson, they are pretty awesome dart heads with specially sourced hooks which are sharp and tough as tits!

After exhausting the potential of our wee ledge we went along to Cemaes for a much needed coffee and Bacon bap, awesome stuff!

We then fished Llanbedrig for the afternoon. that marked had huge potential but sadly didn't quite cut it today. We caught fish like, but the average size was well down on Point Lynas, my best fish there fell to a jika rigged HTO Leethal.

All in all it was a pretty good day and much needed after a crappy week at work. We plan to go up again soon and fish slightly different states of tide all being well, I am also hoping to encounter the odd different specie too, but we will see.

If you are on the World Sea Fishing forum, be sure to check out the LRF and Light Game section as Jon (AKA Penn2) is sure to write a wee report with photo's of his better fish.

Thats it from me for now though, thanks for reading and tight lines!

Going through the motions

It was a beautiful sunny day here today and it would have been a crime not to go fishing really, so I headed up to the North Peninsula.

I arrived just bang on high water and decided on a spot that is pretty consistent and initially started fishing soft plastics OTD. I had one Pollock but it was becoming clear the fish were being very finicky indeed.

I had really hoped to catch some Wrasse but they really didn't seem to want to play ball at all today and after persevering for a while I started to fish metals.

It really seems as though metals have out-fished other lures for me this year, ever since my masterclass in Jigs with Angelo back in Madeira.

I sadly lost my Jazz Vibe bait early on so used the Hart RSF Mebaru Blade for a while, it has been a pretty good lure for me this year, the only complaint I have is the hooks tend to get caught up on the tail a lot especially when it gets hit by a fish. I did catch some Mackerel and Pollock on it before changing to jigs though.

The amount of times the lure got hit but no hookups became frustrating though and I therefore changed to a HTO shore jig rigged with my own assists, the Pollock certainly liked that and I had a fair few.

Thing was I really started to feel a bit bored, it was all a bit "samey samey" so I decided on a move to a gully which usually hold some Wrasse action. I don't know what the deal was today but the Wrasse just didn't want to know, I tried my best Wrasse lures and aside from the very occasional tail pull I could get no committals, just more Pollock.

In the end I just thought "to hell with it" and decided just to focus on the fish that wanted to play. I moved again to a new spot for me, good deep water on the edge of a slight rip.

Again the fish preferring jigs to softs I bagged up on Mackerel and Pollock.

Although the fishing was fun at times, I did feel as though I was just going through the motions a lot too and was kinda glad to go home. I think I need some new challenges in my fishing and also feel I need to fish for Bass a bit more next year, hopefully I will get my transport situation sorted so I can also mix things up a bit species wise. I don't do too badly and I am fortunate to live by the coast, but things have just seemed too repetitive lately.

Anyways something to think on for me.

Tight lines

Sweet vibrations

I popped down to Porthmadog harbour this evening while my Daughter was at Ballet, dang its cold today!

Inappropriately dressed I did not last long at all, I was chilled to the bone and spent more time vaping than I did fishing I think. I did however manage a small Sewin (Sea Trout) before heading off and in my book, any fish that leaps out of the water in a bid to shake the hook is a good fish!

This little Jazz vibe is one cracking little lure, I need more I think!

Tight lines

Light Game Hirame shiz

I haven't fished local marks much this year mainly because I have found an aversion to wading and indeed as I sit here writing this I still have a slightly moist crotch, what is it with waders and not lasting a season?

Well as you may have now guessed I have been on my local beach, which was characteristically slow to start. I had been fishing soft plastic lures in the hope of a Turbot which incidentally do not seem to be as prevalent these days, things were not really happening though. I switched through some lures before putting on my Jazz vibe bait.

My friend Yoji Sato actually uses these to good effect when fish are feeding on crabs among structure, I wondered what I could turn over the sand. Well there wasn't a massive surprise when I started catching Weever ten to the dozen.

I carried on catching these nasty little blighters before moving north and finding a nice rip in the sea.

Using short twitches and lifts before hitting the bed, I got a take. At first I thought "another bloody Weever" before the fish tore off taking some line on the way! Well to my surprise I had a Flounder on and soon banked! 

Its the first time I have caught a Flounder on a metal so I was pleased to say the least and maybe there is some milage for this type of bait when fish are feeding on small crab, after all that is what Flounder tend to like! Then again maybe I should not have been quite so surprised at this capture, for the Japanese use vibes for their Hirame fishing a lot, just not a connection I had made before today.

Food for thought and another piece in the puzzle surrounding fish behaviour maybe?!

Shortly after this surprise capture the Mackerel turned up and I had some fun with those for a short time before heading home. A nice relaxed wee session anyhow.

Tight lines

Mackerel Game

I've been messing with video again and compiled a fun session I had last week. The music is from my friend Shifty again and I think his tracks lend themselves to chilled out fun in the sun.

Here it is;

Tight lines.

Light Game Cymru

I managed a wee session on the Peninsula yesterday which was quite enjoyable at times but slow at others. For some reason I found soft plastics out-fished jigs for a change so I fished dart heads along with HTO soft lures to good effect. 

I also had my first Wrasse caught on a vibe bait too and interestingly in exactly the same place I had my first Wrasse on a metal jig.

Here is some vid I shot whilst there;

           

Video is just something I am starting to dabble in but I can see me doing more as time and money allow.

Special thanks to my friend Aaron AKA Shifty for the soundtrack, check out his other work here.

Mackerel Double Shot

I've been Mackerel bashing a little lately as I haven't always had the hours to put in elsewhere or the right conditions. Sometimes some good honest, fun fishing is just whats required and as such, thats what I've been about.

Here's a wee clip from a video I have been playing with;

Rock Roving.

I recently took possession of the new HTO Rock Rover which is a five piece light game pack rod, its 6'11 in length, rated 2-7g and comes with both a solid tip and a tubular tip. Well I was pretty excited about it and have been for some time so I decided to give it a whirl yesterday.

My choice of venue was Porth Ysgaden on the Llyn Peninsula as its a pretty nice place with good broken ground and a mixture of silt and shale. There was still a bit of swell running and a northerly wind blowing which did make for a challenge at times.

I started using the tube tip and flung out a Bait Breath Moysa on a 2g Aquawave Jighead which casted admirably and took a small Pollock and a large Launce on my first two casts, lovely!

The fishing wasn't exactly firing after that though so I moved to a different spot, casting a Hart Mebaru Blade across a small inlet from a precarious rock, there were Launce everywhere! 

I literally had one of these per cast and though they dont fight exceptionally well at all it was good fun indeed! The lure by the way, weighs 7g and is therefore at the maximum end of the rods stated capability and it coped no problem.

As the tide ebbed the Launce switched off some and the Pollock switched on, nothing big at all but they don't really need to be on an UL rod to be fun.

After I had had my fill of small Pollock and Launce I made the decision to head west along Porth Ysgaden's broken ground in search if a little shelter from the wind and swell with the hope of catching some Wrasse. Selecting the solid tip for some OTD and deadsticking action I fished some precarious looking ledges into deep sheltered gullies, using mainly the HTO Excalibur in white.

Well the Wrasse kindly obliged and fought with spirit ,putting a nice bend in this awesome little rod.

Some sweet action from one of my favourite UK fish to catch, I love how they sometimes just go pure mental, keeping you on your toes!

Sometimes the lure was intercepted on the way down by more Pollock which also provided some fun.

I made my last move to the north of the main cove and caught some more small Pollock on the HTO Mace before heading home. All in all though a fun day and I can honestly say I like the Rockfish Rover a great deal! Obviously this isn't a review as such as I haven't used it nearly long enough, but its pretty sick nonetheless.

The sky Last night was pretty awesome too!

Tight lines.

Rockfish Skiathos! Part 4

Now here's a strange thing I should've mentioned in my previous post; when we were in Skopelos and swimming on the shingle beaches my wife yelped a couple of times and said that she was being bitten by fish. Now I have to admit I didn't believe her so I swam over to where she was and right enough, within seconds I had been bitten too, I also yelled a bit but also laughed.

How strange though! 

Well you remember my daughter worrying about the wasps? Well it should've been these fish she was concerned about as on the last beach, she entered the water and got bitten immediately on the inside of her thigh, the thing actually latched on! She had to pull the thing off and I couldn't quite believe the nip it gave her, even drawing blood. She made such a commotion that everyone around left the water and to look as an outsider you'd think she had been the victim of a shark attack!

Well anyway I was wondering if any of you fishy guru's may possibly know what this savage critter would be? I didn't see the fish but my Daughter said it was green and spiky, if you know please let me know.

OK back to the report now.

My next session was just a kind of interlude whilst we were at Maratha beach between Troulos and Koukounaries, nothing terribly exciting and really just more Combers, Wrasse and small Bream but fun nonetheless. I got loads of follows from small Garfish but couldn't get them to commit, not only are they a fraction of the size here, they are also much more finicky!

It wasn't half hot hat day, in fact it was around 40 degrees for that week which saw my in the water more often than out. Predators to hunt or not, they were gonna have to wait until I had cooled my flesh!

Combers certainly were the predominant species caught over my time there, it was a bit ridiculous and they reminded me of the blasted Weever back home, they would just attack anything. I even had them on a small Seaspin Buginu!

In fact when I was snorkelling I even saw one with what looked like the tail end of a rainbow Wrasse hanging out its mouth! 

On that note, Snorkelling was a bit of an eyeopener, although I saw the odd larger fish, most were really small indeed, like 3" max! I wish I have had a go pro or something to film it all. I followed a Bream species which I think was either a Dentex or a Gilthead for sometime, he was around the pound mark I guess, but didn't seem bothered too much about me at all! 

A few other species like small Derbio, Salema and two banded bream were present too but obviously didn't like lures! I expect if I had've taken my Gulp Angleworm along I would've had a better chance at those.

However one morning when I decided to return to that tasty looking spot between Agia Paraskevi and Troulos I did eventually get a good fight when fishing my Hart RSF Mebaru Blade in a sink and draw style. Immediately after getting the hit at range, this fast silver object was leaping out the water and shining wonderfully in the rising sun, wow my heart was racing. I honestly can say I have never hooked something so damn fast and it didn't half strip line off of my Luvias. It was in fact a species I really had hoped to catch, a Palometa Derbio. I think this could easily be my favourite light game capture of all time, just down to the sheer speed and agility, I seriously thought I'd lose it on a couple of occasions. For this size it'd surely take some beating!

And yep that speck above my head is another bloody wasp in the shot!

Sadly there wasn't anymore like that, just more bloody Painted comber.

On the way back to the Hotel there was something else I needed to search out and indeed I found them where my Daughter told me they could be found about half way along Agia Paraskevi beach;

I am not exactly sure what type of Turtle or Terrapin these are but I bet my friend Russell Roster can tell me when he reads this! Totally cool though if not a little smelly.

With two days left I actually only managed one more session which was very short due to my feeling a bit worse for wear (leave it at that). I spent that time just sitting on a little breakwater (surrounded by wasps), dropshotting for small Bream and that was the end of that.

Now here's the thing; even though the fishing was pretty poor, I am told it really picks up through September and even through the winter and even if that was not the case I'd definitely still return. Skiathos is a pretty magical place in my opinion, the people are great and make you feel genuinely welcome, the food and drink is as good and the scenery is epic, I feel I still have so much to see there. Really I can totally see us returning!

I'm not even sure if there is anything I would do massively different, maybe try and spend more time fishing over the sand? Its just I love scrambling about on rock, its a major part of the lure fishing buzz for me. 

I know I would've caught more if I had've fished Berkley Gulp! products too, but that just gets boring for me at times and I need a proper challenge, therefore I would probably just choose a cooler time of year and fish for longer and at night more.

I had a great time meeting new people, seeing friends wed, spending time with my family and more. All in all it was a thoroughly good trip and some fish were just a bonus.

Thanks for reading,

Tight lines.

Rockfish Skiathos! Part 3

Tuesday morning saw me on the first day of out second week in Skiathos and still wanting some slightly larger fish, I didn't exactly want trophy fish, just something to take a little line at least.

I started using my lighter set up a little more and to be honest I'd forgotten how much of a delight it was to use as I have been using the Breaden most of the time both in the UK and away.

The Yamaga Blanks Bluecurrents are truly wonderful rods and I can see myself getting a newer version before long.

Anyway, due to My daughter being tired at the wedding and me taking her home early (the hotel felt like home), I was able to get out just before sunrise. I was working my jig with continuous short twitches but very little movement of the reel handle, a little like walking the dog, when I got a good hit close in. Hey this fish even made my drag sing a little, happy days!

Quite a nice little bream! I tried for more this size but to no avail, I did catch some smaller ones on ami's again though before heading west.

I scrambled along the rocks and bays further than I had done before and had some follows off of slightly larger fish, yet each time a flaming Comber would shoot up and intercept my jig before the other fish could get it, they started to really pee me off. 

This happened again  yet I saw the larger fish take cover under a ledge i was standing on and therefore dropped my jig down and it got snaffled by something small, not the fish I wanted but certainly not a comber either. The fish shot out from the ledge and tried to make it to another hole, so i pulled it up. Well bugger me, I have never caught a Goby on a jig before! I think this one is a Giant Goby.

Well I guess it was another species to the tally hey!
From then on it was just comber after comber although I did find some interesting ground to play on. I actually saw a decent fish come out from under a ledge and have a go at my jig but failed to hook up, very annoying but at least I'd found somewhere with potential!

Time came for me to return to the family however so I made my way back with intentions to return.

Wednesday I had planned to meet Stuart agin and fish Koukounaries Marina once more. I met Stuart at about 4:45am and we got another 20 euro taxi down the road and were fishing for 5:15am. I let Stuart have my Sardine jig again and I used my Reins jigs. It was a totally different day!
I was first in and managed a short succession of mini Barracuda but Stuart was blanking.

I allowed Stuart to take his pick of my jigs and lures to get off the mark but he was having a real hard time and I certainly wasn't managing anything too epic at all. I'd added combers too my tally but nothing remotely big. We did see some Bass deep down but they seemed so lazy, we put it down to the intense heat but who knows?

Eventually I suggested Stuart put on my Hart RSF Mebaru Blade and sure enough that got him a comber. Determined his sardine jig wold still work he persevered and also managed a small Gar later on. 

Well well, what a difference though! It was slow and tough with little to show for the early start. I still enjoyed my time with Stuart, but we decided to call it a day and head back. I didn't fish again until Friday as Wednesday was my Daughter Liberty's birthday and Thursday I went on the Mama Mia tour around Skopelos with my family, which was a great time (aside from the Abba)!

Remember I mentioned the plague of wasps? Well Liberty is terrified of them and on Skopelos she decided to eat her dinner under a towel, she was ok as long as she couldn't see them, a case of "out of sight, out of mind" I guess.

Well on that random subject I shall conclude another post. One more to come I think and then I'm done until another trip to report or topic springs to mind.

Tight lines