Tiddler.

I have had a bad run lately and have only caught tons of lesser Weever fish.

I did manage to get out again last night with Ben. There was a big tide with a lot of suspended weed in the water which made things seriously hard going. There were fish breaking the surface occasionally yet the only method we could use was weightless and weedless soft plastics, even then we were retrieving into and picking up lots of weed.

The only fish caught was a tiddler which fell to my unweighted, weedless O.S.P. DoLive Stick in bluegill pattern.

I hope things pick up again soon.

YGK G-Soul WX-8

I think it fair to say that most saltwater lure fishermen in the UK use braids around the 1-1.2PE mark, some will even go for a 30lb braid here. Now for some circumstances I can see this may be entirely appropriate, but for some time I have felt using such heavy braids is just overkill in our waters.

Fishing light game has taught me a tremendous amount about my Bass fishing for example, as a result I am of the view that balanced tackle can be used to tame pretty much any fish that swims and that will take a lure in the UK.

Yes I can see the point if fishing for Wrasse in heavy ground of going with heavier line, in such circumstances you need a line you can trust in order to pull them away from cover quickly. 

Even then, most of the ground I fish is far from the terrain people fish in South Devon or Cornwall and the Wrasse are generally not as large. The worst abrasion I am going to experience is on weed rather than big boulders.

Honestly though, most braid will cut on a barnacle covered rock, a decent fluorocarbon mainline would probably offer far more advantages in such situations.

With all that in mind I decided a while ago to step down the breaking strain of my Bass lines and recently bought some YGK G-soul WX-8 0.8PE (12lb).

G-sould WX-8 retails in the UK at around £50 and is more than I was prepared to pay for some line. I  therefore bought some off an eBay seller in Japan for £30 including shipping and it took just four days to arrive.

What can I say about this line? 

Well firstly having used the 4 strand version before I knew I was not going to be using an inferior line, but I did not quite realise how good this line would be. This G-soul WX-8 really is good stuff, it feels just silky smooth and very strong. The line really is thin, yet handles very well and casts like a dream. I do like the bright colour and it is easily visible in poor light conditions. 

On using a light surface lure I did get one wind knot, yet unlike other braids I have used, it was easy enough to pick out. Well as yet I cannot find fault in it. I am not sure what the coating YGK use is, but it really does not absorb water like cheaper braids can and is therefore very nice for using surface lures, yet it also gives good feedback when fishing deeper water with soft plastics.

I guess the only gripe I might have is, I would still be reticent to pay the price of UK retailers, though I would definitely pay the extra over many of the cheaper braids out there.

Of course I have only been using it a couple of weeks though and whether it stands up to the abuse I'll put it through long term remains to be seen, time will tell I guess.

Tight lines.

Olympus Stylus TG-2

I'd like to write about some amazing fishing I have had lately, but sadly I have not enjoyed any remotely good sessions. The bright weather conditions, water clarity and lack of wind have made things hard going indeed.

However, if you have been reading my humble little blog, you will know I ruined my camera a short while ago. 

Fishing over sand a lot of the time does have its consequences and kit does tend to et ruined quickly if not looked after.

With that in mind and the other potential hazards that can happen in other places I fish also, I decided to get one of these tough cameras.

After some deliberation, I decided on the Olympus Stylus TG-2.

Now I am certainly no Henry Gilbey when it comes to photography, like most things I do I am mediocre, yet I enjoy fishing and taking photographs.

Now I am not going to bore you to death with all the technical details (I don't understand them all anyway), I shall just say that the Camera is shockproof, freeze proof, waterproof, dustproof, crushproof and thankfully for me, fairly idiotproof. It also has GPS functions (which I have turned off to prevent giving away marks) 12- megapixel BSI CMOS sensor, a TruePic VI image processor, oh and it's capable of shooting videos.
Anyway I am so far quite impressed with the image quality of this little compact, allow me to share some pictures;

Low Light.

It was important to me that the camera took fairly decent photo's in low light, as often the best fishing is to be had in such conditions and everyone likes a dawn or dusk shot right?!

Macro.

Again, a good macro shot was pretty high on my wanted list and was one of the reasons I chose this camera over its competitors.

There are many other functions which I have yet to use and get to grips with, but so far I am liking the camera a lot. 

The beauty and portrait functions are great and very clear, just the ticket for family use, as well as taking pictures of your mates cheesy grin and his fish!

Even as a general point and shoot though, the camera takes some pretty good pictures on the auto function;

One of the thing I love so much about saltwater lure fishing is, the landscapes I see and changing conditions. The landscape feature is pretty good too.

I have yet to use the camera underwater, I am a bit of a Jesse there and the thought of sticking a camera in saltwater still seems pretty alien to me.

Anyway, you'll now know what camera I'll be using for my reports and I hope to bring you some fishy pictures soon.

Tight lines.