I feel like I have just woken from a long winters hibernation! It's been many months since I have actually fished in Saltwater and it's been a long cold and wet winter and I had reverted to some Freshwater fishing to pass the time. I grew tired and stale in a very short space of time and in the end it felt like I was just going through the motions, which indeed I was in an effort to keep doing some fishing of some kind. Yesterday signified the end of that period and I resolved to move on to some Saltwater fishing with the rising temperatures signalling the possibility of this.

So Last evening I had a text from one of my fishing buddies enquiring if I fancied a bit of LRF at a local spot with one of our other friends.  I jumped at the chance to make the change and off we went. The night was very still with zero wind and though slightly fresh it wasn't what you would call cold. We tried our first spot without any taps or enquiries of any kind from fish so we moved to another spot further along which is a small pontoon and we were all into fish virtually straight away! Our LRF fishing has always been very competitive which makes it even more fun and the banter flowed and fish were landed. Small Bass and Pollock were in residence and though the sport lasted only a short time it was a great re introduction to Saltwater and I really can't wait to get back out with my new found enthusiasm I am raring to hit the Salt hard this year!

We have some Ray fishing planned for the next trip with the temperatures forecast to rise in the next few days we are hoping these large flat fish will come inshore at a shallow venue we like to fish for them. This mark produces mostly Small eye or Painted Rays and Spotted rays but there is also a chance of an Undulate and the odd Turbot. Following on from that I am hoping to get out on the Fly and of course some more Lure sessions. As the water temperature rises and the fish come closer inshore seeking the warmth of the warmer shallow water this will become viable. I can't wait and hopefully if plans are fulfilled this year there will be much more to write about here and I hope you enjoy reading about it.

A small but welcome first fish of the year from Saltwater.

LRF = Fun !!

I really don't seem to be able to get into any serious fishing campaigns yet this year, I have no idea why to be honest, but thank goodness for LRF, because when you are as lost as I am at the moment it comes to your rescue...

For once everything was right, tide, wind, general weather patterns and on the spur of the moment as is often the case with me at the current time I decided to go and tackle a local pontoon with my eldest son. It wasn't long before we were into fish and Bass at that. They were a reasonable stamp too which made the whole thing even more fun on the ultralight gear, as they tore off down tide under out feet seeking sanctuary under the pontoon. In the end we had a number of them along with a handful of Pollock too. Very enjoyable all in all and much needed under the circumstances until I find some mojo to do something a little more serious, but then fishing is meant to be fun and LRF is just that all way...

Too busy playing a fish to read the sign...

First LRF session of 2012!

I'd been keeping an eye on the tides with a view to a possible session or two, and last night a nice little window opened up and on the spur of the moment I decided to nip out for a quick session !
Having collected my mate on the way, we arrived to find flat calm sea, and no one around, dark was just beginning to set in and the setting looked perfect for a few fish. It felt a bit strange at first as I set up the gear, but I opted to fish an Ecogear aqua strawtail in red, on a small shirasu jighead, perfect for 'swinging' in the flow and fishing OTD.
It was apparent on the first cast that we were a little early, as this venue relies on the tidal flow to bring bites from the resident fish population, and it was about half an hour or so before the jigheads began to be pushed along and we were able to present the strawtails effectively in the flow. As if by magic the fish began to appear, as some tiny Pollock hit the plastics. Sport was a little sporadic and I was definitely a little rusty, but It began to come back to me and I nailed a couple of slightly better fish, on an orange coloured strawtail, the best going about 12 oz's, which put up a good fight on my Graphite leader Calzante lrf rod !
Altogether my friend and I managed five fish apiece, as well as a few missed bites, the fish did seem quite lethargic probably due to the water temps being around 8 degrees at the moment, the air was certainly cold and we decided to call it a night when neither of us could feel our hands anymore!
I had a great time and it reminded me just what I had been missing out on while I had been neglecting the salt in favour of freshwater.
I had hope to venture out again this evening to one of the piers, but that's not going to happen now as overnight the wind has picked up and it's blowing a hoolie now!
Really looking forward to the next session now and many more after that as the season proper gets underway.

Roll on the spring!

It's been a funny old few months since I last wrote in this Blog. I've been fishing, but not in the salt, which I think may have been a mistake. Whilst I thought I was enjoying what I was doing in freshwater, It seems in all honesty I was just going through the motions this winter. I thought by setting myself some targets, i.e a big Roach and a big Perch, that it would keep up my interest, and, whilst it worked to begin with, I am now struggling to muster any enthusiasm for it anymore. It seems freshwater definitely does not hold the interest for me it once did....
The whole saltwater experience, encompassing HRF, LRF and Fly fishing have really got under my skin. The techniques, the tackle, the sport, the magnificent raw environment and scenery, and almost no competition for 'swims' or someone ruining your day by casting at you, across, you and / or just being a general nuisance cocking up your chances of a few fish!

Unfortunately we are at that time of year in the salt where fish are harder to come by, paricularly Bass, as they are spawning offshore and only a few fish are venturing closer in now and again when conditions suit them. Even Lrf'ing for the smaller species can be tricky. I'm waiting for a decent enough tide to try a bit of Lrf at the moment. Hopefully a few fish will put in an appearance.

In the meantime obviously my thoughts have turned to preparations for the coming season, and as a result, I made the decision to sell my Kayak, the proceeds of which have gone towards the purchase of a new HRF rod in the form of a Century HPR lure rod, I chose the popular all round 7' 3" EBT model, as this will cover most if not all my wading and shore fishing requirements. Obviously I cannot give a proper review of the rod until I have used it extensively, but my friend has this model also and used it a lot last season, and from what I have seen it promises to be a superb tool for the job, and will hopefully help to improve my lure fishing skills as well as assisting me in catching a few more fish. Credit to Keith White and the gang over at JBG extreme fishing, who helped design and field test these rods extensively, these guys know their stuff and the input into these rods make them one of, if not The best lure rods on the market. There's lots of new soft lures I want to try this year, along with some new ( to me ) techniques, so I'm really looking forward to this season. Our first season was very good so all being well this one should be even better now we have a better understanding of what we are doing, and the places we are doing it.

I also want to try and utilise the Fly rod a bit more this year when conditions are suitable, as I believe there is some superb sport to be had fishing like this at some of our venues.

Lots of new venues are going to be explored this year too, as well as getting to grips with some newly discovered one's from last year, we really aim to maximise on the potential of these spots whenever possible, and find the best methods to use to catch the fish, whether they be Bass or Wrasse, or any of the other species available.

I'll be keeping a close eye on the sea temperature in the coming weeks, waiting for those steady 9's to appear, although it has been a very mild winter so far compared to the last couple of years and as I said there is the odd few Bass putting in an appearance already, so just maybe that time will come a bit sooner rather than later......

Looking forward to many evenings like this......