Time to Teach!

It's the summer holidays and the kids have broken up from school....what a nightmare! Lucky old Teachers eh? Now it's my turn to become a Teacher, because my kids want to go fishing and good old Dad has been promising them that he will take them during the holidays, so it's time to make good on my promise and do just that. The trouble is that a lot of what I do in my 'normal' fishing these days really is just not suitable for me to include them in at the moment. Often I am either climbing down cliffs, deep wading, or out in the Kayak in pursuit of my quarry, not really the sort of thing that young children want to be doing! I'm sure they would love it really but obviously their safety as well as enjoyment is of paramount importance, and for that reason I will be changing tack a little and I am going to take them Coarse fishing instead. A lot safer, a lot more comfortable and a darn site easier for them to learn the ropes and enjoy what they are doing, and of course a change for me is as good as a rest! I'm looking forward to it, I love the Coarse fishing but prefer to pursue it in the winter months when things are looking rather more bleak out on the coast, and turning out to fish on a cold dark winters night isn't so appealing as it is during the lovely long, light, warm days of summer. Call me a coward, put me in the MEOW (making excuses or whining) club, but honestly and truthfully I want to still enjoy my fishing so the arrangement suits me just fine. I will still be challenging myself by setting myself some targets for the winter, just the same as I do in the summer. This year I really want to concentrate on the Rivers, for Chub and Roach, but more on that later ad nearer the time. At the moment it's all about the kids and securing their future as Anglers, not that I would force them to follow after me, but one of my boys is already a reasonably accomplished angler and keen as mustard and the other is also looking like joining his brother, their two sisters are also happy to go fishing whenever Dad can take them as well so it all works out nicely and it's their choice. My job is to make sure they enjoy the experience, and naturally myself and their Mum are proud to see them doing well and enjoying themselves, what more could you ask?

So expect a little bit of a mixed Blog for a while, because I will still be doing my own stuff on the coast in between when I can, but obviously not quite as much, and I hope those who read or follow my witterings enjoy reading the Coarse stuff as much as the Saltwater.
In the meantime here's a pic of a Bass I took the other night, along with a Wrasse and Mackerel and a lost Bass as well, Hrf certainly served up some variety that evening and it goes to show that not just Wrasse are on the menu...

'Quick' Kayak session

Another quick session, this time on the Kayak at a venue I have been keen to fish for a while to explore the Wrasse potential. Initial results were very promising with plenty of bites despite a difficult drift, resulting in 3 Wrasse boated along with a School Bass all in about an hour and a half. Lots of ground to go at and I would be staggered if there were'nt some biggies lurking down in the depths...
Also first time I have caught on paddle tails, Reins Rockvibes seem to work well here.

First LRF Corkwing

First Lrf Corkwing Wrasse, caught along with a Ballan, a Scorpion and around 10 Mackerel.

July catch up.

Okay, quick catch up . So we've been out, my friends and I, we have caught some fish, but it's been a bit of a struggle, Bass, Wrasse have been targeted from both shore and Kayak. My best Bass of late was a fish of around 2 1/2lb the other evening, and my friend was lucky enough to land a clonker of 5lb 3oz while out with his new Century HPR lure rod on it's maiden mission, a very nice way to christen such a prestigious rod. My other mate bagged a 4lb plus. A blank on the local pier, which hurt, I hate piers...while fish were clearly and visually in evidence, but we couldn't catch one. Been out on the Kayak this morning, conditions started off ok but started to deteriorate making presenting to the targeted Wrasse very awkward and I managed only one small Ballan. Not very good is it? so what am I doing wrong? The answer i think is not much, you can only catch what is there, and if the fish or the weather or tides or any of the other pieces of the puzzle aren't in place then it's not going to happen either way. I don't like to make excuses, and often I will over analyze a session if it hasn't gone well, but when you look at the dismal weather we have had for July...lets hope August and September make up for it!

Mr B's 5lb 3oz and New Century HPR lure rod

'Quick' LRF

Had hoped to do another Yak session yesterday evening, but the wind had other ideas and did a one eighty later in the day scuppering my plans. So it was a quickie session at a little LRF venue we have discovered, where a few species are on offer to the light gear. I think we were only there about an hour and a half but I managed 7 or eight of these little fella's and missed a whole lot more.

Afloat again!

Well, it's certainly been a year for mixing it up, new methods new techniques, some old style fishing and a return to the water, on, not in! I'm talking about a return to kayak fishing. The new HRF and LRF techniques I have been using this year lend themselves very well to fishing from a plastic tub, access from the shore to prime ground for Bass and Wrasse and all the other species available on these methods is sometimes difficult if not frustratingly impossible. We tried the kayak fishing last year but with normal spinning and fly fishing techniques, but I personally didn't get on with it, and so I sold my kayak. Since using the new methods however, I realised just how much more effective they could be if I were to get afloat again, and so I began to reconsider. The truth was that the one I bought last year was totally unsuitable for the job. Too big for me personally to handle, both on and off the water and totally the wrong shape with very limited room making it very uncomfortable to spend long periods in. What I needed was a smaller lighter craft, built specifically for fishing, and easy for me to handle.
I began to research and looked at all the usual suspects including Ocean Kayak, and Wilderness kayaks. I paid careful attention to the details and assessed which had the best features to suit my needs. The Tarpon range by Wilderness seemed to be exactly what I needed, and the smallest craft in the range at 10 feet seemed ideal. After a lot more looking around and some emails and phone calls I eventually found and ex demo model at a very good price...

The day after I collected it from the dealer my friends and I went out to try our luck at our favoured spot, but, due to the conditions it was apparent that we would not be able to fish so we took to some sheltered inshore estuary water to just have a paddle and get used to the kayaks once again, ( my other mate had just bought himself a kayak too ). We spent a nice couple of hours paddling around the estuary looking at the wildlife and dodging the small sailing craft whizzing backwards and forwards across the water!
Suitably re aquainted with the vessels the next day came with better and calmer conditions with the sea being a lot more settled so we were able to take to the water at our venue of choice.
Wrasse were the target over some very rough and broken bouldery ground. My friend had managed a good session there the weekend before so we hoped for more of the same but it seemed the fish were in contrary mood and bites were infrequent and difficult to hit. trying different lures and rigs I eventually managed to connect with a Wrasse, the only one of the evening and very welcome it was too! Only a small fish but proof and justification that getting afloat could and will pay dividends when the fish are in a feeding mood. Hopefully there is more to come and we shall have access now to the prime ground and be able to capitalise on our opportunities. I am very pleased so far with the Tarpon, it is everything I wanted, light, easy to manouvre and very comfortable thanks to the seating system, and it has lots of storage options and room to work from as a fishing platform.