A Manic Weekend!

After a very late night on Friday, fishing and rod building, I was due to meet friends at a mark on the Purbeck coastline for an early morning session. Due to the early hours start it was easier just not to go to bed on Friday into Saturday and load the system with caffeine to keep me going!

I was first to the car park and sat waiting for the others to arrive, for once I was early and was sat in the dark planning my attack in my head for the morning....what lures to use and where I'd like to get to before the sun starts to come up. The previous evening we agreed on the meeting time, they obviously forgot......I arrived at 04.45 and they rolled in at 05.20!

My fishing companions on this trip were fishing partners from many a trip and a new bass angling specialist Rob Wolfsbarsch ( Rob Staigis - http://www.wolfsbarsch.com/in-english.html ) from Holland who had come over to fish with Tom ( http://tomsfishing.blogspot.co.uk/ ), along with Mark & Joe ( http://lurefishingforbass.co.uk/ ).

After the shaking of hands and introductions it was off to the area we had mapped out to target for bass. There is something very special about walking the coastline at this time in the morning, we are truly blessed here in Dorset to have the coastline open to us to fish at a very short drive.

After a good 40 minute walk in the dark we got to the target, water and conditions looking as good as they could be for the day. We all spread out as Joe & Rob disappeared around the corner to fish another area out of my sight. After a climb across the rocks I got to the one I had my eyes on........I could see a ledge under the water where the water dropped off, this was where I was going to start working the lures first, looking for fish working along the drop off. We were over low water but normally this can still produce and give the first light fish.

After only a couple of casts over the ledge, fish on!

Adjusting casts into a stiffening head wind, which gave that feeling of winter is on its way!
Up and down the ridge, trying at different depths and distance until I found the depth and area to target that gave fish on repeated casts. Next to be landed another pollack.

As the light increased the numbers of pollack dropped off only to give me a couple of wrasse.

I increased the distance of cast and got my first bass, only weighing about 3 1/2 to 4lb but target hit. I stayed on the same area of rocks as the others moved around, I knew I had fish out in front of me and they all came to the same lure, the IMA Hound ORCA in Bora Mullet.

This lure casts very well even into the increasing wind, I had no problems getting distance. The lure itself weighs 20gs and is 125mm in length, it is designed to work at a depth of between 80-130cm. This is the lure that was matching the bait I had in front of me.

So, light increasing, wind strengthening and that sudden hard shockwave hits down the rod, fish on! This fish was giving a good account of itself playing around at up and down the ledge it swam, finally allowing me to get it close in and get a look at my second bass hook up........bending down to lift it out and one big shake of its head as I am about to grab it, its off! Right at my feet, I'm claiming this one I had touched it......Feeling generous to myself!

Now the suns up and the fishing turned off, just like flipping a switch!

The others now return from around the corner and we have the who's caught what? It would be unfair of me to tell of there catches, that will be on there blogs very shortly. We carried on fishing for a few more hours, changing locations to no avail.

Now, what could be better than a bacon butty and a cup of tea to wake you back up? Sun shinning and the catch up time, I haven't spoken to these fishing friends for a while and the normal laughter soon flowed over what everyone has been up to.

This was the end of the morning fishing session for me, but after a short spell at home and a chance to get some rods wrapped, food inside me and more caffeine it was time for round two!

A quick phone call to Will Harding ( http://ngangling.blogspot.co.uk/ ) and the next plan is made......A quick change of gear, out with the bassing tackle and onto the LRF. I have been testing a new blank to DFR over the past couple of months and it is performing above my expectations.

Now for those with a belief that LRF isn't fun, think again! Below one of many pollack that gave me a genuine smile and enjoyment from my angling, after all isn't that what we all aim for?

If there was ever a time when I wished that it would stay light for longer this was it.......This was catching, not fishing! 

I met up with Will at the mark and Rob Mears a local photographer who enjoys his fishing to. After a quick chat I was into fish from the off, first cast in a small wrasse, then solid pollack after pollack up to 4lbs. These fish were giving the test I wanted on this rod, strong fights with line screaming from the reel as the clutch was let loose.

When fishing from rocks above the water a net was a must to make life easy for us and to safely handle the fish. On a mixture of soft plastics from Molix to Ecogear the fish kept coming to the net for all of us. Rob had this great wrasse, just look at the colours in the mouth, an artists pallet on one fish.

The Molix SP was the Sligozzo 4" / White Shad, I did cut the larger bulk part of the body off and hook up allowing the big paddle to the rear to work in the water.

My next choice of SP was the Ecogear Minnow.

Again instant results, this time a mackerel giving a great account on light tackle, the Dorset tuna ran and took line of the reel, how much fun can you have in one day?

All the SP's were rigged on jig heads, my first cast in saw me loose one on a fish, a bit to hard of a strike on my behalf. Lesson learnt and allow the fish to take the lure then lift into it, fish hooked.

  

The light was fading and the fish were still biting, the words of just one more cast! I did not want to leave, when fishing is this good it is hard to walk away from it.

The sun dropped beyond the horizon and we made our way back to the cars, this truly was a great days fishing, bass, pollack & wrasse all giving fights on light tackle.

It would be unfair to report what the others caught, I'm sure this will come in there blogs when written.

We tried again Sunday, but with conditions changed from the sun on the day before to howling wind and driving rain we had to admit defeat! I picked up Will and Lolly to hopefully get to where we were the day before......safety ruled here and we weren't going to put our life's at risk or anyone else's to save us just for some fishing ( even though I am obsessed ). We drove around, parking up and getting saturated looking for somewhere to fish, then having to settle on somewhere that could of given a surprise. This was not to be, three very wet anglers returned to the car to then go and get food! 

Sunday was a wash out.........  

Thank you for reading another days fishing from a Lure Addict!

IMA Komomo II 

Take a look at the link above to see the Komomo II in action. I just love this lure and admit to being a lure addict! I own a few of them........ 

Just a quick trip to the shop today - Chesil Bait 'N' Tackle or you can find them on Facebook

I knew they had just got the Komomo II flashing plate in and after a phone call to say keep one back, I just couldn't help myself! Like sweets in the sweet shop, I have a sweet tooth; so as you can guess I walked away with more than one lure!

Plans are made for some bass fishing over the next week or so, so please let the weather be nice to us and give me that chance of some decent bass. 

Bora Mullet

Chameleon Flashing Plate

DUO

This will be the latest addition to my DUO collection, The extra weight and shape hold this lure stable in rougher turbulent water. 

DUO - Tide Minnow SURF (H-91)

Megabass XLAYER

One of my favourite soft plastics and easy to use/rig. This lure is great at catching bass and comes in a variety of colours to tempt more than just the fish! 

Megabass XLAYER 41/2' in AURORA SHAD

Megabass XLAYER 41/2' in GLOW BLUE

I'm sure I'll be back in the shop again before I get on the water and as always the lures will catch me first!

YES, I have a problem.....I am a lure addict....thanks for reading.

A few recent reviews.

After a busy summer of holidays, fishing and hectic children (now back to school) it's time for a few recent reviews to be put on the blog.

Many thanks to:

Tom at Toms Fishing Blog - Toms rod - this was on the 9ft, 8-28g St Croix Legend Elite blank. This isn't very often that this happens, I didn't take any pictures!!!! Tom has a few on the blog, the rod is finished in black/gold wraps with a decorative carbon black/gold tube between the split grip. Fuji VSS reel seat with Pacific Bay minima 4 guides in TiCH/TiCH.

Will at Next Generation Angling - Will's rod was a Tenryu Injection, it still is the same blank but with the DFR twist!
The changes - all the red paint was removed, then re-coated with a clear resin for a gloss finish. Decorative carbon tube in the split grip area to match the carbon check design on the original tip section. Colour and wraps in black/silver to match up with the Matagi rod components. Fuji VSS reel seat in the screw up position with slim Japanese high density EVA. Metal work is in gun metal colours to match the tip of the butt section metal cap. Pacific Bay minima 4 guides in TiCH/TiCH. The decals were added to match Will's blog. The tip wraps are in an off white colour to help aid Will seeing the tip when led down on the ground or for quick tip/bite detection. The butt cap on this rod was custom made with a hole for a lanyard ro be connected if required.

Danny at Lure Fishing, A Diary of Danny & Friends - Danny's rod was on a T-Russell blank, these are blanks that I have ranged for HRF (hard rock fishing). There are 4 in the range with plenty of power in the lightest 14lb class up to 30lb class with casting ranges from 8-25g to 10-40g, all at 7ft 6'.
The rod that Danny has is the 20lb class casting 8-30g, it is a butt jointed rod which allows for the power when required for the wrasse. Colour wraps and design in red, black & silver. Matagi rod components in red & silver with decorative carbon tube under the VSS Fuji reel seat. This rod has a Tiger wrap in the split grip, when layered out this gives real depth and a 3D lift on the look when moving the rod hense the name of a Tiger Wrap. Pacific Bay minima 4 guides in TiCH/TiCH.
Personalized decals with Danny's name and the included text of 'Evil Wrasse Cult'.

I must show the pictures of this 8lb 3oz bass caught in Ireland earlier this year from one of my customers, it was caught on the St Croix Avid series blank and made for a great fishing holiday for Frank in Ireland on the Copper Coast.

Thanks for reading.

Changes!

Looking back it's been a strange year so far! 

After a long battle with cancer my father lost his fight a few months ago, I will admit that I have not got back to people who called and emailed, I know I have missed people, but I hope you can understand that I put other things to the top of my priorities. We are getting back to normal now and I know I have to get back to calls and emails quicker, I just keep running out of time!

Fishing.....this summer saw my first trip with my son, most people know me for lure fishing, you may like to know I also freshwater fish quite a bit to. I enjoy feeder fishing for bream, winter chubbing on the river and pole fishing. I have spent some time with my son hopefully showing him how to catch some fish! Keeping sessions short and choosing the times when catching is likely to be on the higher return rate. The first trip below was only a couple of hours and all time spent with him on the waggler catching and loosing a few, I wish I had someone to show me how to fish when I was his age. 

 My son and his catch

For him, the promise of the Mc Donald's after! For anyone who does this as well, you will understand my problem now, he expects a Mc Donald's after every trip!!!!! He had a few perch, roach, rudd, skimmers and a tench, the tench made his arm ache....those were his words.

The bass fishing has been slow for me this year, the better times to go have been when I have had other commitments and just couldn't get to the water. I have managed a few trips and had a few bass, but nowhere near in the numbers I had last year, hopefully this will improve as we move into autumn.

 A small bass from my last trip.

The new game!

A while back I had a few conversations with Will Harding ( Next Generation Angling ) after repairing and rebuilding some rods for him about going out and trying the lrf & hrf fishing that he has been heavily into. Now, I have done the ultralight for perch, chub & caught pike in freshwater, so to give this a go took a while to get me to take him up on the offer due to the fact that I have always been so heavily into my bass fishing. The ease of the 'lurfing' is that I can introduce my son in as controlled an environment as possible to lure fishing in a short session to catch fish. So far that is what I have done, caught fish!  

A dragonet

'Lurfing', so many similarities to the freshwater ultralight fishing that I have done in the past, you can make it as simple as you want or add in all the extras of knowledge that you may have from other angling experience.  The basic start up I was shown was the braid or mono attached to a small swivel, from here you attach your leader/hooklength & tie the hook direct to this. As in the picture above AAA shot attached to the line direct to get the soft plastic down to the fish, don't forget though not all the fish are hard on the bottom as in freshwater different species are at varying water depths.

Hooking the sp's (soft plastics) is straight forward, threaded through, 'whacky' or add in other variants! 

The last couple of trips & tonight I have been experimenting with rigs as in the picture below.

 Adjustable depth rig

By changing the rig, there are so many you can try, different species can be targeted as you find the depth they are feeding at, this alters in day & night. The picture above is a simple rig that has no other components to add weight to the set up, thus not over loading the rod and making sure the tackle is balanced. I have taken from my freshwater rig making to use loop knots (figure of eight knot) to change over hook lengths & weight drop line, this makes it all quicker and simpler to change over tackle & you can make up ready made spares! The build above has a short weight line tied to the leader with a grinner knot that will run up and down the leader as I require to change the depth, to stop this is a power gum stop knot(red), this stops the weight sliding down further than the required depth. You can increase or decrease both the weight line length and hook length as the tide increases and decreases, this will allow the sp to work to full potential either being worked, fluttering on the drop or on retrieve. Once you find the depth of the species your targeting, you can if you wish measure the depth length to make sure if the knot does slip or you break up you can remake the rig at the depth you were fishing at. Another way if you want to fix the lines permanently is to use the water knot. With the ready made spare lengths of hooklengths/weight lines you can simply use the loops to do your attachments, makes life easier in the dark!

Megabass 'Rocky Fry' ( Chesil Bait N Tackle)

Tonight I got out with my son for a short 60 minute trip in Weymouth, not a bad evening he got to see about 6 or 7 different species from pollack, pout, whiting, wrasse, blennies, goby's. The Rocky Fry above from Megabass took most of the species tonight, the glow that this sp gives off once livened up from the torch or headlight attracted the attention of the fish. By adjusting the hooklength to a longer length and on a slow twitched retrieve gave the results. The highlight was on the Rocky Fry when I hooked into a larger fish in the dark....the line pulled, reel sung then the surface splash and slap! For about 20 seconds I'm looking at my son and his face as he's looking at the water and the fish jumping about, the next jump saw the fish throw the barbless hook! Right, next predicament barbless or barbed? I have always used barbless in my freshwater, this makes for easier release and less fish damage. When it comes to this type of fishing where they are to be released all I can say is barbless all the way! 

You may loose the odd fish, but the damage you will do if not treating these fish with the proper care will cause there death, opinion I know that is my belief. If you are new to fishing this will make it easier for you to remove a hook and when you become more experienced, you can make the change if you so choose. A few other tips when it comes to fish welfare; a disgorger is a must to remove the hooks, quite a lot of these species will engulf the hook down there throat if you don't hook up in time. Try to make sure your hands are wet or you use a damp cloth when handling them. You may want to check the species on the end of the hook, be aware of spines, especially if you catch something like a weaver fish! 

Chesil Bait 'N' Tackle 

Don't forget to join them on Facebook, they have an ever growing number of lures and specialist lure tackle in store, the inventory is growing daily and not everything is on there website! Lots of new toys in store and they are the lure specialist shop on the south coast.

  

 

If you're into your bass lure fishing, LRF or HRF they have it all to kit you out to fish!

Back to the last few fishing trips!

After turning into a mountain goat and buying a new pair of walking boots (which were a must), we found some fish. My last few trips have been with Will as above who has just joined the 'Sunline' team, we have been on the lrf and hrf.

  Will

The last trip saw lots of smaller wrasse in front of me, and by the end of the day I had lost count of the amount landed. We moved 3 times up and down cliffs, back to the car move on to no avail to find the larger fish of any species. I am an angler and will fish for whatever species is in front of me. 

 Me & one of the numerous small wrasse caught.

Lots more fishing to come this year and I haven't even touched on the recent rods being built! 

The next instalment will be an update on recent rod builds and I hope some of the specimen fish that Dorset is known for.

Signing off for now, thanks for reading.