Weedless Flies

I've been thinking for a while about tying up some weedless flies, having had so much success on weedless lures it seemed a logical step to replicate the same results using fly fishing gear. One particular species that responds well to weedless lures fish in amongst structure such as weed and rocks is Wrasse. To hook a Wrasse on fly gear would certainly be an interesting proposition as they are renowned as power house fish that test your tackle to the limit. So I set about making some prototype weedless flies based upon what I have learnt from lure fishing, and this is what I came up with :

Pretty funky eh ?

The Clouser style design puts the weight where you want it ready to deliver the fly down into the danger zone, the stiff mono prong weed guards should deflect the majority of obstacles and the use of a purpose design weedless worm hook should make the design work more efficiently. I don't think I'm far off with this design but I may add a bit more weight to the bottom of the hook to ensure it sinks positively and gets down quickly.

I look forward to testing these on a few fish in the near future, once the water warms enough to bring the Wrasse inshore and within fly casting range.

It's been a long time....

...but somehow I seem to be drawn back to the salt. I've missed it for sure, but some back problems precluded me from fishing it the rest of last year and I had to revert to some less physical and less demanding coarse fishing. I'm not better but I have realised my limitations physically and I can still enjoy all that the salt has to offer as long as I don't over do it.

So what a diabolical winter we've had, storm after storm, floods, gales, lightning and thunder at a time of the year when you would least expect it. And then a few weeks ago it calmed down and now we have had one of the warmest springs for many a year. The sea surface temperature has been double what it was this time last year and now we are only days away from the magic 10 degrees ! The question is, will the fish arrive early or will we still have to wait until April ? I know we're not far away from April now but will three weeks make any difference ?

My friends and  I went and did a recce trip last Sunday to a new spot that one of my mates had found on some maps, and I must say it really looks the part and has everything that is needed to make a good recipe for catching some fish. I look forward to testing this one out and it is not so demanding as far as access goes so I should be able to manage it ok.

Hopefully we will have a good, hot and not too windy summer this year and will find plenty of shoals of marauding predators herding the baitfish inshore ready for a good scoffing ! I think I may well put the effort into fishing more early mornings as well this year, crack of dawn early, as this is usually when the wind is at it's least for the day, the reason for this is that I want to try and use the fly a lot more this year rather than lure fishing, as I think it is the ultimate way to catch fish in the sea.

I've missed this...

 

To that end I have been busy tying flies and I have built myself a new fly rod in readiness which I will tell you about in the next blog entry, but for now that's it, I'm back, I'm keen and hopefully some when in the near future I will be bent into a feisty bar of silver !

 





 

 

 

 

 

 

 







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......

What a year!!

You know, this year I have enjoyed my fishing probably more than any other. I have certainly had the best years fishing in terms of numbers and average size of fish in the Salt.
So why is that? Well a major component has been the adaptation of HRF and LRF fishing methods, they are just so effective. I have so enjoyed learning the basic techniques this year, which of course you have to be able to do for them to be so effective, if you are unable to understand the fundamental reasons for fishing lures in specific ways, then they will be no more useful than any other method of fishing. I have to thank the guys over at Jersey Bass Guides for bringing HRF and LRF to the mainstream, they certainly captured my own imagination, and that of my two friends. For many years I had been in a sort of void with my fishing, due both to my personal situation, and that my fishing had grown stale and unimaginative, most of the time I would just be going through the motions. I would go so far as to say that my rejuvenated enthusiasm for fishing has also had a marked effect on my personal life as well, because now I have much to look forward to when not combatting the day to day mundane which enables me to cope better, be more organised and more confident in myself.
The Saltwater fishing has come to a temporary halt for now, for no other reason than, as an allrounder I have set myself the target of catching myself a big Roach this winter, and yes it's probably a little more comfortable to sit inland at this time of year rather than out on the coast...MEOW!
But seriously in previous years I would not have had the enthusiasm for this task that I find myself with at the moment, again much to do with my new found drive. LRF techniques have opened my mind to appreciate fishing delicately for smaller species, and this has spilled over to the coarse fishing, I can once again appreciate an 8oz Roach for what it is and not just another nuisance silver fish. 
Back to the Salt... I'm really excited at what next year might bring in the Saltwater, all the new marks we discovered this year ( driven by HRF and LRF ), hold so much potential and promise, we still have an awful lot of learning and perfecting to do, merely scratching the surface of the possibilities this year. Returning to the Kayak fishing, again driven by HRF and LRF, also holds many possible scenarios for some great fishing. The Fly fishing for Bass was more or less put on hold this year while we learnt a new craft, but learning what we have has really put it back in the picture for next year as a viable way of catching some big Bass and some brilliant sport!
I really can't wait, so much to do and learn and so many good times ahead, those lovely sunsets, superb atmospheric evenings and nights, days out afloat on the kayaks and good company, and of course a rod in your hand, bent at full curve, reel screaming as a good Bass tries to regain it's freedom....who could ask for more?

As this will probably be my last blog entry on this side of things for this year, I would like to wish all who visit this blog either regularly or occasionally, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, and fish filled, New Year!


Please don't forget to visit my Coarse fishing Blog to see how I am progressing over the Winter!

Soft Plastics HRF and LRF

As much as my friends and I love fishing the Fly, and we will fish it as often as humanly possible, sometimes the weather conditions are just not conducive to persisting with the method, and so we look to alternative methods or other types of fishing in order to continue catching. For a while now I have been keeping in touch with the latest developments in fishing soft plastics, particularly those that are finding their way here via Japan and America, I am talking of course about HRF and LRF, ( Hard rock Fishing and Light Rock Fishing ). Both these methods facilitate fishing for many Saltwater species with light tackle using soft plastic lures and jig heads. At first glance both methods seem to indicate a fairly specific way of fishing, particularly as they both specify Rock Fishing in their title. The casual enquirer might take it as read that these methods are suitable solely for, Rock Fishing, but look beyond this, and with a little imagination the same methods can be used just about anywhere. This is the conclusion that Myself and my friends have come to and we have looked at ways we can adapt the tactic to suit our own fishing and available types of venue. Utilising this way of fishing will not only allow us to continue fishing for our favourite species when Fly fishing is not possible but also opens up a whole new world of possibilities regarding targetable species, whilst still maintaining the light sporting element that we have come to appreciate from the Fly fishing. We have much to learn and I forsee a new and steep learning curve ahead, a challenge that we relish. There is much more to say about the method, and there will be much more to report in the coming months, but this evening we took our first steps towards getting to grips with this new and exciting method.

With one last small window in the tide and conditions being really not Fly fishing friendly, a last minute decision was made to have a dabble with the soft plastics. The venue would be the same one that was the scene of our success yesterday evening on the Fly, as it is a reliable testing ground due to the numbers of fish that are normally present. Not really knowing what to expect we began fishing, and to our relative surprise the fish immediately showed an interest in our offerings. We had many seemingly tentative bites on our lures but nothing positive that we could connect with, so we began to chop and change and experiment with different patterns in an effort to find exactly what they wanted. Eventually we settled on a worm imitation and immediately found success as we began connecting with some more postitive bites. By this time the light was fading fast, but we continued on in to dark to test the 'into darkness' capabilities of the method. I am pleased to say that the fish continued to show interest in the baits until well into dark, and seemingly had no trouble in detecting and attacking out lures despite the apparent, ( to us ), darkness. All very interesting and exciting and a great result for a first outing on a new method. I have to say we are really buzzing about the potential of the soft palstics after this and we cannot wait to see exactly where we go from here. In the meantime heres a pic of the proof of the pudding....

Only a little chap, but we did have fish to around a pound as well to the same lure setup, and in almost complete darkness.

More fun at the Beach

Had another short session at the weekend with number one Son in tow with his spinning rod. We spent about an hour fishing but with no joy, and then the wind decided to become awkward and fly casting became a bit dangerous! So we thought we would turn over a few rocks and see what life might be lurking underneath them. Amongst the Shrimp, tiny Crabs and miniscule Ragworm was this critter, a Common Prawn or Palaemon Serratus.

I took some Macro shots of it with a view to tying up an imitation to try at some point. Although this is only a small specimen for the species, as they can grow to 8-10cm, many Saltwater fish must include these in their diet as they are packed with protein.

Fun at the Beach!

Went out for a couple of hours Saltwater fly fishing in the evening over the Weekend, not much in the way of fish caught but good company made up for that and a bit of seashore exploration during the biggest tides of the year kept us entertained. Pokeing around in the pools revealed several variety's of Shrimp, plus some baby Wrasse which was a surprise, as was the huge field of Razor Clams. The real treat of the evening was the little Dunlins that landed right next to us and allowed us to take their portraits. Pretty little wading birds still in their white and grey winter plumage.

This picture is courtesy of my mate Mr 'B', who is getting a reputation as something of a specialist when it comes to photographing ornithological specimens up close!

A bit of practise

After last weeks miserable failure we were looking forward to some more settled conditions for this mornings session. The winds had switched to a Westerly direction for the latter part of the week and were brisk but forecast to relent for the weekend. Come friday they had indeed eased but switched back to a South Easterly. Not ideal for our choice of early season venue, and confidence dropped. Still, there is always a chance and the morning dawned bright and calm, so we ventured out for a couple of hours,if only for a bit of casting practise and some fresh salt air with which to fill our lungs. Despite the gentle cool breeze, it still felt warm and we enjoyed the feel of the water and the chance to cast a fly line properly once again, a few 'weed fish' had us momentarily catching our breath occasionally while we hoped they would turn into a Bass, but we were kidding ourselves of course. Sea temperature is around 8 degrees centigrade at the moment, opinion varies as the optimum temperature for the fish to begin feeding in earnest, but personal experience with both salt and coarse fishing leads me to believe 10 degrees is a realistic starting point. The good thing is that we are no too far away from that starting point.

'Four inches longer....

...and with a rattle!' I wasn't in the best of moods, and the comments from a dog walker about how our flies were too small compared to the lures he had been catching Bass on last summer, were enough to make me wince. 'You catch them on flies?' he questioned, while his canine companion chewed on my mates hand. We tried to explain the sporting virtues of catching even smaller fish on the fly, but I got the feeling he was missing the point. Amazing how many people do, still all the more for us!
I'd pulled myself from the bed at 06.30 on a sunday morning at the insistance of my mates, despite letting them know of my reservations that a brisk north easterly wind was not going to be very helpfull when casting a fly line, especially on our first outing of the year. Basically I was told to 'man up', so I did, just to humour them. Ten minutes after walking down to the freezing shore line, we retreated back to the cars, tails firmly between legs. 'Told you so', I said. They just scowled back at me. I de togged and sat in the car looking smug. On the way home the sun mocked us all by poking through the thick cloud.....

 This is all firmly tongue in cheek, because actually we had a good laugh about it all, as we always do, no matter what happens on a session. We're all so desperate to make a start and get fishing this year, and in reality we are probably at least a month away from any meaningful sport. We will continue to try our hand with regularity now, despite this mornings debacle, as long as the weather is actually conducive to casting a fly!!

Loomis, Orvis, Orvis, the Tackle Tarts are in town,...nice gear,shame they can't catch fish!!

A cracking Three Pounder

A window in the weather presented itself yesterday evening, after a couple of days of quite windy and showery conditions, things settled enough for us to get a few hours in on the Kayaks again. The evening was overcast, quite humid, and almost no wind at all. I suggested that We try a spot that We would normally fish by wadeing, but using the Yaks would allow us to remain in place during the whole flood Tide, instead of having to retreat like We normally would due to the deepening water. Choosing to anchor up around 100yds from shore and sitting sideways on the Kayaks with our feet hanging over the side, It wasn't long before We were into the first fish of the evening, What was immediately apparent was that there was a better average stamp of fish around this evening, most of the Bass were in the pound to pound and a half bracket and gave superb accounts of themselves on Fly tackle, in the clear water beneath the boats, a wonderful sight, I can tell you! About an hour into the session I struck into what was obviously a better fish, that fought really hard for a few minutes, and gave Me a thrilling few moments before revealing itself on the surface to be a fish of around Three pounds! After a few quick pictures the fish was returned and swam away strongly. I ended up with around a dozen fish for the evening, all over a pound and up to the three pound mark, and my friend also took several fish to around two pounds, so all in all a good evening and well worth launching the Kayaks for.

Upon our return visit this evening, to the same venue, this time with the Fly gear, we were greeted with the wonderful sight of the years first Bass Blitz. Gulls were excitedly flapping about and diving over the top of the area joining in the free for all. Many of the fish were just out of reach of our casts but a few came within range of our Flies and several Fish were landed to around a pound and a half. As the tide Ebbed and the Fish moved out of range altogether, we followed it out over the top of the feature, treading very carefully and only advancing forward as the water shallowed up and we could easily make out the bottom in the clear water. It was a lovely evening following the warm overcast muggy day, the sun put in an appearance and so did some more Fish including Bass and Pollock again, all super sport on the Fly rods!

You can just make out the Gulls sitting over the Fish in this Picture

It's been a week of Ebb tides here this week, so We have been off in search of a new Venue that We can catch Fish from on the Ebb. We have plenty of Venues that fish well on the flood but finding one's that fish well on the Ebb can be tricky. Different places tend to fish at different states of the Tide and this seems to be even more of an issue with an Ebbing tide. So, with this in mind, off we toddled this evening to our prospective spot. Now this spot is a considerable walk to get to, and over very uneven, ever changing ground which makes it even more hard work! The spot is part of a major feature and there are many smaller features within the main feature, making it a very interesting prospect. It is also not an easy one to fish from the shore, much care and keeping an eye on the Tide is required to fish it safely and efficiently. Anyway the experiment paid off because Several Bass were landed along with some small Pollock, which was a good result and very promising. We approached this venue with Spinning gear this time, simply because I find I can cover more ground and much quicker than with Fly gear in order to locate prospective areas from which to catch Fish, once these areas are pinpointed We can then think about trying to fish them with Fly gear.

I look forward to tackling this venue with Fly Tackle, particularly for the Pollock as, so far, We haven't found many places where it is possible to take Pollock from the shore on the Fly.

I used two Lures this evening, the first was a Sidewinder Blood head, which has been catching a few Fish for myself and My friends lately, and the second was the ever faithful Dexter Wedge which has literally caught Me and my Friends hundreds of Fish over the years.

I'd also like to add that at last the weather has picked up as well, Winds are now predominantly West and South West, and this week temperatures have broken into the 20's several days running, hopefully pushing up those all important Sea Temperatures by a couple of degrees.

New season, New Line, old Fly.

Well, it seems that the season is now well under way over here, and though the Bass are not here yet in the huge numbers of summer proportions, there are still plenty to go at and We seem to be getting into some on a regular enough basis. There is an upshot to not having large numbers of Fish around yet in that so far We have been able to get through to a better stamp of Fish. During the Summer months this is more difficult due to the vast shoals of smaller Fish that are resident inshore. Whilst these are are enormous fun on Fly gear, being a specimen Angler I yearn for the Heart Pounding, Adrenalin pumping fight that big Fish give you. To that end We will be attempting to seek out the better Fish this year, and being more single minded in our approach, as well as trying out new venues and Fly patterns.

I mentioned in an earlier entry that I was about to change over to a Shooting Head line, which I have now done. I've changed over to a Rio Outbound Integrated Shooting Head line, and I have to say it has made casting so much easier, especially if there is any wind. It has a short 37.5 ft head that is heavier than AFTMA standards and an 82.5 ft running line, which gives it an overall length of 120ft or approx 40yds. Simply the reduction in the number of false casts needed over the course of a session has been a bonus, and there is no need to double haul except on the last false cast before shooting the line. I'm now casting further than ever with a lot less effort which can only be good! Less casting and more time with the Fly in the water Fishing should help to increase My catch rate. Trout lines will do the job, but this is designed specifically for Saltwater Fishing and is easily able to cope with the task.

So far just about all of the Fish we've had have fallen to the ubiquitous Clouser Minnow Fly, Charteruese over White being the winning colour combination. The smaller the better it seems as well early season, Flies tied on size six hooks, proportionally material wise, have done far better than size four or bigger, with one exception, the decent Fish I had the other night fell to a different pattern and larger hook size. But the venue this Fish came from has, so far, not fished particularly well to the Clouser, this may be due to what the Bass are actually predating on here, but time and experimentation will tell. For the most part however, the Clouser is a very successful Fly and is the 'goto' Fly in any box when trying a new venue for the first time. As the season progresses I expect larger sizes to come into their own especially when trying to target the bigger Fish.

Undetered by the absence of a Fly Rod, an Impromptu session this evening with the Spinning gear resulted in a handful of Fish, including Bass and Pollock Though only small, it was a surprising and pleasing result, as we are still being blasted by the cold North and East Winds.

If it wasn't for the fact that it was looking like a nice sunny evening, we might not have bothered at all, but it was better than sitting indoors for another night! As it turned out not only did We manage a few surprise Fish but, I hope you agree, I also managed to get some nice shots of the evening..

Winds of Change

The lone Fish of recent session being landed by My Friend.

So That was that! The Winds are back off the North and East, which for most of the venues I fish is utterly useless! The Temperatures have also taken a nose dive since last week.

The fish are still there but less inclined to feed so well in the conditions.

We have ventured out, but in truth it's been a struggle, one lost fish and one landed. Thats it.

Additionally, I broke my Rod, which is rather inconvenient, though not a total disaster as it's covered by Orvis's 25yr Guarantee, but it still has to be sent back. Luckily it's happened while things are quiet, which isn't so bad as if it had occurred during a good period! Hopefully Orvis will turn it around quickly and normal transmission will be resumed shortly, in the meantime if any windows of opportunity 'pop up', then it'll be be Lures and Spinning Rods that will be the weapon of choice, obviously i'd prefer to be Fly Fishing, however I am flexible enough to change to more appropriate methods when the situation demands. Over the years some great fun has been had on Spinning gear. Rapala's, Dexter Wedges and small white Eddystone Eels have all caught fish for me and My friends. The Mackerel shoals are about the best fun you can have on light Spinning outfits and small flashy Lures, tremendous sport on warm summer evenings on a deserted beach, especially when they're chasing the whitebait right up the shingle at your feet!
I think Mackerel are a tremendously underrated Fish, yes they make great Bait but they are also incredibly hard fighting fish, and on light gear they can make you believe that you have something much bigger on the end of your line! Can't wait to get some on the Fly in the summer, it's gonna be mad! In the meantime it seems patience is going to be the name of the game, the Tides are coming right for some evening floods, (My favourite time), later next week, though the Forecast Winds are still off the North and East, but we'll see if we can muster some Fish somehow either way.

And they're off !!

At last! The Season begins, as if by magic, last night, some Bass appeared!

Deep down I knew it was going to happen, the weekend had conjoured up absolutely zilch from the Kayaks despite our best efforts, but that wind was still in the East.
Come Monday and it was all change, the wind began to turn, clawing it's way round to a Southerly direction, by Tuesday, It was warm and muggy, and Wednesday was even more so. The tides were perfect and I had commented only a few days ago that the Fish may well turn up on these end of Month Springs. All day yesterday I was on edge, trying not to allow my confidence to crank up too far in case I was utterly wrong. But how could I be?, every Angling instinct was trying to scream at me that this was it, this was the day we would start catching in earnest. And so it came to pass...

The evening was very warm and incredibly humid, barely a breath of wind was stirring the trees and flags as we made our way across the exposed mud flats toward the receded channel that remained at low tide. On the other side opposite us was the Sand flats that had rewarded us so richly last year with so many Bass. Its still a little early to be venturing over there, but as soon as we see the first Gulls following the shoals of Baitfish driven across the flats by the Bass, we'll be over there.
For now we were content to target the narrow stretch of water left at low tide, knowing that the less water, the more concentrated the Fish would be as they began to run in on the Flooding tide, if they were here....
Our first casts were across the bottom of the tide, with no response, no surprise there, then, as the water began to make it's way from left to right, flooding inwards at a fair pace, my Fly was hit by a solid resistance, had I tripped a bit of weed?, then the weed began to try and swim away from me, jagging and darting in a desperate bid for freedom, a Bass was on!!
Oh how I whooped for joy as I steered My prize toward Me, Only a Schoolie of barely a few ounces, but at that moment it was the best Fish I'd ever caught, It was the first of a new season and a welcome relief after all the long cold winter months spent day dreaming of the time I could return to the Sea and catch these silvery bars of attitude and pure aggression on Fly tackle, and after weeks of worrying that we may not see any Bass for fear that the cold winter or commercial fishing had taken it's toll on their numbers.

My friend and I went on to take over twenty fish between us, confirming that they were indeed resident in large numbers, and although we didn't take anything larger than 10oz's or so, it was a superb evening and akin to the many similar evenings of last season. I'm looking forward to many, many more...Hooray for the Bass!

April Drought

My good friend and Angling Partner informed me the other day of how many blank sessions I had so far endured since we recommenced Fishing in the Salt. I say 'I', because My friend has managed to catch on two occasions recently! Once on The Fly, and once on a Lure. The Lure caught Fish was a good 3lb'er and was caught from one of our 'Back of the Island' marks. Although they were good captures and well done, they have been slighlty disappointing in that there have been no follow-ups or multiple captures, just two odd fish out of the blue. This shows that they are not present in any significant numbers.

It's been really frustrating as despite the bright sunny weather We have been experiencing lately over here, the Easterly winds that have been blowing for the last few weeks have really kept the Temperatures much lower than they should have been. This time last year things were well under way, and the Fish were already about in considerable numbers, the bizarre thing is that the average Sea surface Temperatures are actually slightly higher than the corresponding time last year.

I keep asking myself if We started too early this year, but to be honest, you have to start somewhen and We could only make a judgement based on last years results. Luckily the Weather forecasters are predicting a change for this coming weekend, with the Wind switching around to a Southerly direction and a significant rise in Temperature. Could this be the trigger to bring the Bass inshore in good numbers? I hope so, because at the moment I'm going a bit stir crazy!

I have a number of Fly patterns that I'm raring to try out this year, and some new materials as well. Nothing fancy, most of My patterns are derived from classic one's and adapted to My own Ideas and findings. Thats the great thing about tying your own Flies, once you are proficient, you can customise to suit your own findings or certain situations and scenario's.

Rest assured I will be reporting back on how they perform plus any tweaks or twists if necessary. One Fly that was very successful for us last season, was a small white one based on a Glass Minnow pattern. It proved to be very effective in the shallow water over some Sand Flats where we discovered vast numbers of Fish chasing Fry inshore on virtually every Tide we fished there.

We tried some of the other usual patterns, but this little one was by far the best for two reasons, firstly, they fished very high in the water, probably no more than a few inches below the surface which was where the Bass were striking, and secondly they were a good imitation of the type of Whitebait being predated on. None of the Fish caught at this venue were big by any stretch of the imagination, but they were fantastic and frantic sport, and each one was handled and returned with as much care and respect as possible.