Fishing with friends.

I've had a little bit of free time lately and as a result I have been able to catch up with some friends, which has been a huge positive.

We've had some pretty good fishing, sunshine and some laughs too. 

Thursday night I was out with Ben and his mate Ed; I've never met Ed but he seems a thoroughly nice chap and clearly a passionate angler. We were fishing a new mark and Ed led the way kicking off with two feisty Bass while myself and Ben were blanking. A little later I dropped a small fish and thought I'd blown it when  literally just before we left, I managed to save the dreaded blank by tempting a Schoolie to take my 5" Skid Stik in Holo Yellow. Nice!

At the time the fish took, I actually had a small audience consisting of a father and his two children. They got incredibly excited to see the fish, which was quite funny and the young girl snapped my picture for me. I gave them a small education on Bass as a predator , they seemed to really like the fact I cut my thumb on the gill raker!

Friday morning I had planned to meet my good friend Ross Johnson as he is over on a holiday from his work in Alderney Angling. Ross also bought his friend Rich along too and we headed up the peninsula.

The fishing started slowly so we made a little move and things kicked off for Ross and Rich as they started catching Wrasse and Pollock, yet I was still to get off the mark. At first I employed the same tactics as the guys without any joy and decided to stick a jig on which worked a treat!

Off the mark!

From that point on we were all getting some pretty good and constant action with fish averaging around the two to two and a half pound mark. I wish I had pictures of the guys as Ross pulled out some Wrasse with some stunning colours and Rich was bagging up on Pollock, Wrasse and Coalies.

Unfortunately you are just going to have to put up with pictures of my fish.

40g "Bad Ass Bob"

My first Coalie in maybe 20 years!

30g Tacklehouse Nebura Deka

4" Ecogear Paramax

40g Tronixpro jig

I lost all my jigs during the action, I got absolutely owned by a really big fish which took me completely by surprise and lodged itself under a deep ledge. Admittedly I am not very experienced with really big Pollock and I was totally overwhelmed, the thing pulled so hard I nearly lost my footing on the rock I was standing on, its something I will never forget and I was gutted to lose it.

I lost another fish this was and another to a really dodgy clip made by Flashmer;

Shit clips!

I'll be throwing the rest of those in the bin for sure! I did also lose another fish and jig due to a bad knot, I have no one else to blame for that except myself!

After losing my Jigs, I changed to a deep spinning carolina type setup and after a little experimenting I found that a rig consisting of; an initial 25lb leader with a 28g drilled bullet weight, a bead, then tied to a swivel. After that; a 2 foot 15lb trace and a 4" orange curl tail at the business end, this put me back in the action along with the boys.

That rig actually landed me the biggest fish of the trip which I was very pleased about! It still didn't even begin to compare with the one I lost, but a nice fish none the less.

4lb 12oz

It was an intensely enjoyable session, but the day wasn't quite finished.

Ross wanted to come down my end to catch some Weever on lures and have a bash at the Turbot, so we headed back and fished with light game gear. Ross out fished me on my own mark and the jammy bugger got a Flounder on his first cast with a Daiwa prisoner jig, literally just as I said to him "I've never had a flattie on a jig"!

We both caught a few weever but failed to land any Turbot, we couldn't really grumble after such an epic day though!

We actually reminisced a bit throughout the day and I felt genuinely privileged to have made such good friends through this awesome sport. I hope that myself, Ross and Scott can get together at some point, we've had some great times in the past. 

Well thats for the future and who know what that'll bring?

Thanks for reading and tight lines all!

Gear I used;

Rods 

Apia Foojin' AD Flow Hunt 89ML 

Sakura Mazzera 742MH

Breaden GRF85- TR85 "PE Secial" Houri-island

Reels  

Shimano Rarenium 4000

'13 Shimano Complex 2500HGS F6

Braids  

Sufix 832 20lb

0.4PE Gosen 240

Fluorocarbons

25lb Sakuma Fluorocarbon

15.4lb Seaguar Hard Ace

0.198mm Toray Premium Protype

Lures  

Fishin' Magician Skid Stick

Tronixpro casting lures

Madfish "Bad Ass Bob" 

Tacklehouse Nebura Deka

Ecogear Paramax

Berkley Gulp Fish Fry

End Tackle

Decoy Rockfish hooks, Home made assists, Decoy Delte Magic SV51 Jigheads

Autumn Silvery Seas.

As much as I would have summer stick around a lot longer, Autumn is a special time of year. There are many species now close to shore, many of which I have never caught, there are also larger fish about.

I love the light and colour of the sea this time of year, it always looks kind of silvery  and somewhat secretive.

Now as much as I think I really should be trying to beat my personal best Bass, I can't help being attracted, or distracted by the multiple species available and just the sheer fun of fishing lures on ultralight tackle.

My wife has also been quite ill lately and the attraction of just catching quite easily when I do manage to get out is quite appealing.

I have to say though, the fishing hasn't been quite as easy as last year on my local patch. I cannot seem to catch the Turbot as readily as this time last year and I am finding that most peculiar!

Mackerel and Lesser Weever seem to be around in greater numbers though and I have been finding short flurries of Mackerel turning up along the shore line, the odd Weever mixed in too. 

With the sea temperature still being quite high they are still also readily taking jigs.

6g Apia Seiryu jig with the assist tipped with isome.

This Weever was 16cm and a PB

Today I have been out again after managing to free up a couple of hours and caught four species including one I have neglected to target this year until now.

More Mackerel caught on the Apia Seiryu Jig, this time un-tipped;

Bass on Marukyu Power Isome rigged on a 2.5g Decoy Delta Magic Jig head.

The Bass actually fought like a brute despite being only 43cm, they are so much fun on light game gear!

A new PB Lesser Weever on the above method;

I also caught a Flounder on Marukyu Isome. Although looking at some of the other pictures I have, it is quite possible its a hybrid because it had plaice like characteristics, such as; a clear herringbone underside and a pronounced boney part behind the "top" eye. Either way I'm still happy!

I still hope to get another couple of species before the year is out and I may try to get out again tomorrow. I haven't decided on the style of fishing, but I'll hopefully bring another report.

Tight lines.