LRF sessions.

Been out on a couple of LRF sessions recently, and learned a few things which has added another dimension to one of our venues.

The first spot produces fish on the flood tide, normally there are a few School Bass and Polllock to be had and the odd Garfish is normally present though these are often seen but not caught. Once the tidal flow slows here the sport normally drops off which is around high tide. This is the signal to move to a second spot a five minute walk away. Things have changed at this second spot in the last couple of years since a breakwater was put in place and reversed the tidal flow here. The venue would fish on the flood before the breakwater was put in place but now it fishes on the ebb instead. This has also had the effect of creating a slack area where the fish hunt during the fiercest part of the run off which forces any baitfish into this slack area for the predators to prey on. We only just discovered this on the recent sessions and I made the most of it a couple of nights ago when I had a dozen schoolies to over a pound and several small Pollock. I had lots of taps and lost fish too.

All my fish came to Eco gear aqua Strawtails which have been a firm favourite amongst my friends and I for several years, however this excellent range of lrf lures has now been discontinued , which is a total travesty. I guess the market just isn't there for expensive lrf lures like it once was. I think the Strawtails retailed at around £10.00 a pack for about a dozen which is quite expensive, but there was something about these 2" soft lures that the fish just loved. The Strawtails will outfish any other lure on the market in my opinion and we have proved that many times ourselves. Shame really but there's is nothing I can do about it. We have a limited supply to keep us going probably for this season but after that they will be no more...Long live the Eco gear aqua Strawtail...

The good news is I will soon be stocking a range of soft lures from Crazy fish, a Spanish company that are making waves in the European Ultralight market and now pushing into the UK. The range is extensive and having used them myself I know they are very effective. I prefer scented lures which is what the Crazy fish range is, carrying a Squid scent which not only attracts the fish but makes them hold on longer when they take the lure.

In addition to this I am having a dedicated website built where I will be stocking the Crazy fish range as well as other Soft lures and accessories including weedless hooks, Jig heads, texas and dropshot weights and other terminal tackle items. Watch this space for the announcement of the launch which will be in the next few weeks.

Until next time thanks for reading and tight lines.

Chris

We've had some fabulous weather recently which has raised the sea temperatures enough to see a few fish start showing inshore. Following on from the last entry our best laid plans have had to change slightly due to a shocking lack of Sandeel availability preventing my friend and I pursuing any Ray fishing, yes we could use other baits but we would not have anywhere near the same results. Instead we have been out on Fly and Lure with reasonable success.

Another LRF trip produced some nice Pollock to around the 2lb mark which was great fun on the ultralight gear and a strong tidal flow! The fish crash diving underneath the pontoon I was fishing from making the reel make that - zzzz - zzzzz - zzzz sound as they made a bid for freedom, and the rod at full curve, epic fun!!

 

 

The next trip was on the fly and though it was a bit of a struggle I did manage a few Basslings plus a fish of about 1 3/4lb but at least it was a start!

First proper Bass Lure session of the year again produced a few sporadic fish to about 3lb which was very satisfying and a promising start for the mark I fished which has been very unproductive for the last few years compared to when I first started fishing it and my friends and I were getting good numbers of Bass on most sessions. 

As you can see I have started using the action camera as much as possible to record some of the sessions. I find this a lot easier than trying to use a normal camera to take still photos while fishing and reduces the time the fish need to be out of the water. I can take an instant photo on the action cam if need be. Hopefully I will have enough to make a short film by the end of the season.

So what's next? More fishing of course! hopefully plenty more fly and lure action when tides and weather permit.

Until next time, tight lines.

Shop expansion- Fly and Lure!

For the last couple of years I have been beavering away building up a small business selling High quality Saltwater and Predator fly tying materials which is beginning to pay off. The business is expanding as word gets around about the high quality products I sell as well as the outstanding service I pride myself on providing to my customers, many of which are returning time and again.

I am now diversifying into the Lure side of things, as a passionate lure angler as well as fly fisherman this feels like a natural progression, and I am excited at the prospect of this expansion.

I hope to obtain some prestigious accounts and establish relations with some of the premier suppliers and manufacturers in this field and provide the kind of service to Lure anglers as I have been to fly anglers.

To begin with I have stocked my Ebay shop with a few items including two types of Ultralight soft plastics, jig heads and some braid while I build a dedicated website to accommodate a shop. If you would like to view the items with a view to making a purchase and support this venture then please visit the links below.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Soft-Lures-Dropshot-LRF-Texas-Carolina-Vibro-shad-15pk-various-colours-/322517652858?ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Soft-Lures-VIBRO-FRY-Dropshot-LRF-Perch-Pike-Wrasse-Bass-CHOOSE-COLOUR-/322511943446?ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Jig-heads-3-gram-size-6-hook-Perch-Pike-Bass-Wrasse-/322518708263?ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

 

 

 

All the above items are of a high quality that I have carefully sourced and tested myself.





If you are in the UK and into your Ultralight fishing then please take a moment to visit the shop and test my service, I guarantee you won't be disappointed! In the unlikely event that you are I will happily give you your money back!

Keep checking back to the shop from time to time as new items will be added, they will also be posted here as they arrive in stock.

Thanks for reading, tight lines, and if you have any questions or need any help then please leave a comment.

Chris

First LRF session of the year

I would have like to have kicked off the new season with a few fish on the fly, but the tides haven't really worked in favour of that so last night owing to a drop in the wind I decided to have an LRF session at a local pontoon with my two boys and my fishing buddy. We haven't really fished this venue properly before, just an odd quick dabble a couple of times so it was a pleasant surprise when we all started getting bites and catching fish from the off. There were clearly a number of small Pollock present and none of us really struggled to catch fish but my spot that I picked seemed to be the killer spot where the majority of the fish wanted to be. I ended up with over a dozen fish to a selection of different lures but the one that shone through was a small bright orange curl tail grub which the Pollock kept nailing time after time.

This one took a liking to a Reins Aji king 2", and was my first fish of the new Saltwater season.

 The majority of the fish however fell to this little orange curl tail grub from AGM products.

Youngest son snapped Dad and big brother concentrating on catching the next fish !

It was a great little session to get the season underway and I was like a kid in a candy store even though the fish were small it felt that good to be back catching fish from the salt on the ultralight gear. Seeing my two boys catching fish gave me a lot of joy as well, and they had a lot of fun which of course is always the ultimate aim !

Youngest son showed his artistic talents by taking this photo of one of big brothers fish !

Festival disruption causes fishing chaos !

It's Festival time over here on the Island at the moment and thanks to the disruption it causes, my eldest son had the day off school today....so naturally he and his mate wanted to go fishing!
I said o.k I would taxi them to where they wanted to go, and decided to throw my gear in the car as well, just in case...as you do !
Things started off slow and the first half of the session leading up to high tide was a wash out with very little evidence of any fish present. A few nibbles from tiny Wrasse and Gobies all of which resulted in zero hook ups. I suspected that all this could change on the ebb and as I had to leave and go and pick up my younger son who still had school today I left my eldest and his mate to carry on. I returned about an hour or so later and found that my prediction had been correct and the fish had switched on during my absence. My eldest reported two Bass and a Pollock and lots more fish present, this being bolstered by a large flock of gulls working nearby too.
I parked the car up, retrieved my gear from the boot and re joined the boys on the Pontoon.

The water was full of pin fry which the Bass and other fish were merrily gorging themselves on, The trouble was, despite having my best selection of LRF lures with me, It was hard going matching the hatch due to the miniscule size of baitfish that the predators were preoccupied with ! In the end a 5 gram metal was as near as I could get and I managed to hook a little schoolie in short order but it was still hard going despite large numbers of fish present, the problem being the overwhelming amount of free food available.

In the end though we managed a few Bass, some Pollock and a Mackerel between us and my youngest son did me proud by being photographer for the session ! 

 

Action as a Schoolie takes the Metal !



 

The Mackerel were happy with Plastic !

 

Number one Son bags a Pollock

Still slow

A couple of recent LRF sessions have yielded a few fish, though it's still been hard work for the time of year. The fish just don't seem to have established themselves in any numbers yet as in previous years at this time.
Anyway the first session saw me take my kids to a little pontoon the other night that is generally a great little venue for LRF. We managed a few Pollock between us during a dusk period in the tide, though the window and feeding spell was very small and there didn't seem to be any real numbers of fish like there can be here.

The second session was the same story really, visited another normally fun little LRF venue which is the entrance to a harbour mouth where large groups of schoolies gather at the right stage of tide and we have had some hectic fishing here at times on the ultralight gear. Last night however it was again hard work. There were obviously some fish present as the first bite came just on the dot of the flow picking up but this proved to be a false indicator and the bites were few and far between though both myself and my mate did manage pound plus fish each which was nice. Didn't get a picture of those one's though as the light was fading by then and I didn't want to spook any more potential fish with the flash as we were wading waist deep in the water and it had been hard enough work as it was ! So here's a pic of the first fish, only a half pounder but fun nevertheless...

I

Big Hammer, small Wrasse !

Popped out for quick LRF session this evening and managed to catch this very striking Ballan Wrasse. I ditched my favourite Ecogear strawtails for this one and instead opted for a Big Hammer curltail grub cadged from my youngest sons lure stocks !

It's been very slow here and many of our summer species are still to put in anything like a consistent appearance, there are odd pockets here and there but nothing like we would normally expect for the time of year so I was very pleased with this fish !

 

 

His first Bass !

Once again I woke up to good signs yesterday, on opening the kitchen blind all was fairly still outside, although dull. Checking my weather resources on the Net, it seemed we would have a good chance of getting out for some fishing this evening. The only sticking point being that the wind which would be light NE for most of the day would be switching to SW for the evening and picking up slightly. As a contingency, two plans were made in the event that this would happen. If the wind remained as was, then we would head out to the back of the Island for some HRF Wrasse and Bass, however if the forecast was right, as most of our shallow north coast marks would still be heavily coloured, we would head to a Pier on that side of the Island for some LRF. Note, at this point was no heavy rain forecast...
Three o' clock in the afternoon arrived and with it came some light drizzly rain. OK fair enough it wasn't up to much so carry on regardless with the plan.
Between five and seven in the evening the heavens opened and it lashed it down! At what point was that forecast? I wondered...I also noted the wind had switched to a brisk SW...
Plan B then, and I concurred this with my mate via text. Our south coast venue involves a treacherous cliff path trek to the beach and the heavy rain ruled this out alone for safety reasons.
Hoping the rain would ease, we decided to still proceed to the Pier, we just had to get out.
As the plan had been revised My eldest Son was to accompany us as he really enjoys the LRF.
Having collected my mate, at which point the rain seemed to abate, we headed off to the Pier.
Conditions looked good on arrival, wind a little brisk but at least it would'nt be in our faces.
First drop in and it seemed there was little flow, a crucial factor when fishing the Piers both for presentation and for the fish to be feeding. I switched us over to a carolina from a jighead to see if there were any Wrasse or Scorpions about on the bottom, but strangely we remained biteless, most unusual...
After a while I suggested to my Son we try another spot near my mate, who was bait fishing off the front of the Pier, for a while until the flow picked up and we would be able to fish our present spot properly.
A few little bites from the new spot had us hopeful of a fish or two but after a while we were still fishless, but the flow appeared to be picking up and the floating weed was now beginning to move.
Back to our previous position then, but Son was getting bored and starting to ask when we were going. I told him to be patient as I was sure we would catch something....
At last a bite came, I wasn't sure what it could be at first and then surprisingly a Bass of about a pound appeared on the surface, good start !
And what a start, to a surprisingly good evenings fishing considering the slow beginning.
With a bit of coaching my Son managed to bag a small Pollock, which immediately re awoke his interest, and he began fishing with renewed enthusiasm and focus. He's been keen to catch a Bass for a while now, and I had promised him, that this year We would make sure he caught one.
By now the tide had picked up nicely and presentation was a doddle, cast out, swing with the flow and retrieve steadily. We were back on the jigheads and the good old Ecogear Aqua Strawtails In Orange were threaded on the hook. It seems that not only do Pollock like these, but Bass are rather partial to them too !
From then on the action was steady and we got plenty of bites, I organised it so that we took turns to cover the area where the fish were hitting the lure until we had a fish and then swapped over until another fish was caught. Coaching my Son he hooked into another fish, Bass on ! The little Calzante Lrf rod hooped over, with the fish taking line,  Son was very excited but played the fish nicely on the light gear and very soon he was grinning widely while posing for a picture with his very first Bass ! Yes! I was so pleased for him !
This continued for the next hour or so, with us taking turns to catch fish, I ended up with seven Bass from a pound to a pound and a half, along with a couple of Pollock, and Son managed two Bass of the same size and four Pollock, So nine Bass and half a dozen Pollock between usmade for a very good nights fishing in the end !
During this session I was using Fluorocarbon mainline fot the first time in the form of Berkeley Trilene, in 4lb breaking strain, and I have to say it performed very well. Very strong, knots well, and is thin and limp but very abrasion resistant. It was definitely less affected by the wind than braid would have been and allowed better contact with the lures. Bite registration was very good with an excellent hook up rate. So a great session all things considered, and well worth the effort of taking a chance on the inclement conditions.
Oh and of my mate who was bait fishing? He blanked ! sorry Mr B ;-)  LOL !

Still locked in attack mode!

The Blood on the Gill cover is mine..ouch! those are sharp !

Lovely irridescence along the back of the fish...

Pollock of around a pound and a quarter.

A very happy chappy !

Yummy ! Strawtails !

Note the Fluorocarbon on the spool, very impressed.

The weather seems to be very changeable at the moment, this morning here it is blowing a hoolie, rattling with rain and quite mild. Yesterday evening however was very different, bright but cool with fresh breeze. Despite this we decided on another Lrf session on one of the local piers, ( we have three to choose from ). My eldest son accompanied me this time keen to expand on his ever growing sea species list.
I set us both up with carolina rigs to start off to see if there were any bottom dwelling species about. Sections of Gulp! sandworm on a size 8 hook were offered to any prospective diners.
My son got a bite on his first drop in which he missed but the next try produced a new species for him in the form of a fiesty little Scorpion that kept grunting!  ( note the section of sandworn still in its mouth, it didn't want to let go of it's meal ! ).

No more bites were forthcoming on the bottom so we changed to OTD techniques, a 2gram jighead with a size 4 hook, and the lure was changed to my favourite of the moment, an orange Ecogear strawtail. A succession of small Pollock fell for the strawtails for both of us, pretty little fish covered in speckles.

Then unexpectedly, something a little more fiesty hit the lure, and my first Bass of the year was landed. Only a fish of about a pound, but on lrf gear great fun !

Soon the tide went slack as high water came and the bites tailed off. By this time we were both quite cold and decided to call it a night. No doubt we could have caught more if we had waited for the tide to turn and the fish to come back on the feed, but being a school night and the fact it was already quite late, that wasn't an option !

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!

Wrasse-ville, Lrf !

Lrf techniques never fail to surprise me about just when and where fish can be caught. Last weekend I fished a new spot with my eldest son and we had a good little session in the time we were there. My mate had tried it the day before and had come away with 40 odd fish so credit to him for having a go here. My son and I came away with nearly 40 fish between us so it is a very prolific spot. Most of the fish are Wrasse, a large percentage being Corkwings but a few Ballans thrown in too, also there are Pollock here too and we had a few in our tally.
Another thing that surprised me is that we caught the majority of the fish no more than a few feet out into the water, and its only really a normal beach to all intents and puposes, though there is deep water close by. It was great fun especially for my lad, so I now have a couple of places I can take the children where they can catch in relative safety and enjoy the joys of lrf. My boy remarked how he could really feel the bites through the rod and braid as I had recently passed my old Sakura Shinjin lrf rod onto him as I had upgraded to a Graphite Leader Calzante. He certainly had no trouble connecting with the bites and was putting me to shame in the early stages! I blame it on my reactions being slower as im a lot older...lol
Looks like the Whiting have arrived here now as there have been a few reports of them here and there, so we will be targeting these as soon as we can find a viable venue from which to catch them, another species to add to the diverse list of captures on Lrf, including Crabs that seem to have a liking for Gulp Sandworms!

A pretty little Corkwing Wrasse.

One more..

...Session last night resulted in another four fish for me, the biggest this time going 4lb 4oz. Thats 15 Bass from this spot for me this week in four 3 hr sessions, a very nice result in less than ideal conditions with the bright moon and I look forward to seeing what this venue has to offer when it all comes together properly!

4lb 4oz

Inspired late season Bass session.

An inspired suggestion by Mr B had us heading to a new mark a couple of nights ago, in search of some Bass. On arrival it was clear that it had all the necessary hallmarks of good Bass ground, structure, Current and shallow enough for us to wade. Dusk was setting in fast due to the cloud cover that evening, and the timing felt just right as it was the tide had just started to push in creating a nice rip line around the feature we had chosen to begin on. First cast, a few turns of the reel handle and bang I'm in straight away! Like I said, Inspired Mr B ;). It had been a while and we had struggled to find any good Bass fishing since earlier in the year, our early season mark had been seemingly deviod of fish save for a few small schoolies here and there in recent times, and the weather had been too rough to target the areas 'out back' where we knew the bigger fish were. It looked like things were possibly about to take a turn for the better as I landed a fish of around a pound. Successive casts produced a couple more fish of the same stamp, and then there was a little lull. As darkness fell, I hit into something that felt a bit better as it tore off with several yards of line, Oh how I had missed that feeling, and without even realising it! Moments later a half decent fish came into view and I handed out a fish of around three and a half pounds. A while later another decent fight resulted in another fish of slightly lesser proportions probably an upper two pounder. A few more smaller fish and my tally stood at six Bass and Mr B had managed one, ( due to some 'technical issues'!). Things seemed to go quiet after that and with just the odd tap from small fish, possibly Pollock, we opted to try another spot for half an hour and then call it a night. The new spot produced some bites, but again seemingly not from Bass, so we toddled off home very pleased with our new venue.
Of course we had to have another go the next night, ( last night ), this time we were joined by Mr H. No two nights are ever the same and tonight was definitely a different night, the sea was very calm and the tinge of colour of the previous evening had dropped out and the water was quite clear. With it being a big moon phase I prayed for some cloud cover, as to date I have never done particularly well on bright clear nights in the salt. Well I got my wish as darkness fell and a bank of cloud covered the sky overhead, obscuring the bright moon. No first cast fish this time and after a while I began to feel that it wasn't going to happen. Now we had been wading fairly far out up to this point and had heard the odd fish splash behind us in some much shallower water. Yet again in another inspired move a cast behind us by Mr B had him engaged in battle with a good fish, and clearly not the Mullet we assumed they were! The fish charged around in the shallow water creating a lot of commotion. Eventually it was in the net and a fish in the upper three's was being admired. We continued for a while but I wasn't feeling it so went off to investigate another spot for a while, but returned still biteless to find Mr H had bagged a fish of a couple of pounds and Mr B also had taken another couple of fish, so it looked like I had missed out by not sticking around.
Some time later it seemed that things had definitely quietened down and a move was in order for the last hour of our session, my two companions focused on one spot and I opted to try another, as yet unfished one. Cutting a long story short I saved a blank by bagging three Bass in the new spot to around two and a half pounds, but my companions failed to catch in their area but Mr B did lose a good fish. And that was that...
Only it wasn't! Third night and we were faced this time with clear skies and a very bright Moon..would they still play ball?
In short, they did for a very short while, and the two fish that came to me and the one to Mr B all came from maximum range and the deeper water as opposed to the close in shallow areas we had caught in the nights before. They were obviously reluctant to come in too close at this stage, perhaps later on in the tide they would briefly venture in, but the cold was getting the better of us this night so we called time and took away some new information from this session. Traditionally we  had never done at all well on a full moon phase and clear conditions, but it seemed tonight we had proved that it was possible to catch in the bright conditions but that cloud cover during such phases is preferable. 11 Bass  in three sessions is a good result, factor in Mr B's 5 fish and Mr H's 1 fish and we have 17 fish of good average size in the 3 sessions, each lasting around three hours. Pretty good fishing in my book, in probably less than ideal conditions,  I feel that this venue has much more to give, how much more this year I do'nt know, the weather is closing in and temperatures are set to drop this week, but if at all possible we will do our best to keep trying for as long as we can...

Hot October action on the Pier!

Phew! that was a hot day, 1st of October and Temperatures in the high twenties! Bizzare but beneficial to the fishing, especially the species hunt contest between my mates and I...
Two of us fished today, we started off on the front of the Pier and bagged a couple of Bream and Gobies, but it seemed slow and so we moved to another spot on one side where it is a bit shallower and there is a weed bed to attract the fish. It turned out to be a good move because he action was fast and furious from the start. First up were the Wrasse, that seemed almost suicidal, as I caught fish after fish, and in the end lost count how many I had, but it must have been around twenty. There were plenty of predators around as well, including Garfish of which I managed to catch one to add to my species hunt list. Small pollock were also putting in the odd appearance and my mate also had a couple of Mackeral. Late in the session we had an unexpected capture in the form of some Smelt, a welcome surprise addition to the species list, and a nice change from the expected captures.
A great day out during which we chopped and changed methods regularly to search out the various species that were present and maximise on the sport. 

100th Post, and a nice little session..

This will be my 100th post since beginning this Blog, so thankyou to all those that visit for taking the time to read of my adventures in angling!

Had a nice little LRF session the other night on which I was accompanied by my ten year old son. Now it's not very often I can take the kids Saltwater fishing due to the nature of what I do most of the time, but this time we were fishing a spot that is plenty safe enough for them to fish and enjoy themselves. It's a fairly new venue and one we have fished only once or twice before, with little success, but this was the first time we had fished it after dark, and what a difference! The place was alive with fish that night, Bass, Scad, and Pollock were all caught in fair numbers and between three of us, ( the third being my mate ), we had over twenty fish in a couple of hours fishing. I showed my youngster the ropes and left him more or less to his own devices and he manged four fish off his own back, one Scad and three Pollock, making mr very proud! Sadly I had forgotten the camera so there are no piccies, ( idiot!), but we had a great time thanks to the obliging fish. Whether this venue will prove to be a consistent one is yet to be seen, but no doubt we shall be visiting it again sometime over the next few weeks and months.

Back at last and into the LRF!

Wow! thats probably the longest break I have had this year in the Salt, what atrocious weather we've been experiencing in britain! I have been fishing but in freshwater with my children, as you can see over on the other Blog. Finally though we managed to find some windows in the weather and have been making hay and doing some LRF sessions, and we're seriously getting into this side of things now! The little species hunt competition between my friends and I has been hotting up a bit and it's a close run thing at the moment! Loads of Wrasse have been coming ashore along with Bass, Pollock, mackerel, Scad, Bream, Gobies, Scorpions, Blennies...and several more, in fact the more we practice the techniques of OTD, swinging, twitching, dead stick, the more we are realising which methods will produce what species and are able to taget them specifically. Of course the more we practice the better we get at them as well. Whats more apparent is that seemingly there may be no fish on a given mark, yet if you fish the correct techniques and baits, magically the fish will suddenly appear!
With the onset of autumn I had envisaged an early switch to Coarse fishing, but it looks like that has changed a bit, with the results we have been getting in the last few sessions in the salt. Make hay while the sun shines, or while the fish are there is the order of the day! I do love the Saltwater fishing now since adopting LRF and HRF, it's hard not to when you are catching fish session after session while the bait anglers are struggling even though the fish are there. Patterning is key, and giving the fish what they want in the way they want makes the difference to catching and blanking. There's still a lot of learning to do, and still a fair bit of fishing left this year so I'll keep fishing and reporting as long as possible from the Salt until such times as a full switch to coarse fishing for a while is necessary.

Big Pig!

We've been waiting for another opportunity to venture out on the Kayaks my friends and I, and yesterday morning we took a chance on the weather and got afloat again. We were a duo for this trip, myself and Mr B, and the target was Wrasse, hopefully as big as possible !
Upon arrival conditions didn't look too bad in the bay we were launching from, but once afloat and reaching the boundaries of the bay we were met with some swell. It didn't seem too bad so we made our way towards the area we intended to fish. As the tide pushed in, it brought with it some larger swells, sometimes probably topping four foot, which  made the fishing quite difficult, but despite this we carried on. Persistance paid off and eventually I managed to land a small Pollock, not the target species but a result never the less, next I hooked a small Wrasse, of which bites from these were plentiful but with only the one hook up, so they were playing hardball and using the conditions to spite us eh? Again perserverance rewarded me with a better and harder fighting fish. At first I thought I had a good wrasse but it turned out to be  Bass of around 2lbs. All the fish falling to a gold legend Rockvibe fished on a Carolina rig.

My companion and I had all the while been targeting different areas to one another, with Mr B focusing on some deeper water. I had just taken a break to re tackle after a loss and turned around to see My friend well and truly bent into a serious fish. His HPR was doing battle with an unseen monster so I turned my boat around and began to paddle over to him to lend a hand. Now let me tell you, this fish was doing some seious crash diving in it's attempts to reach sanctuary back on the bottom, some 30ft below! Just before I reached him, which took a few minutes, I watched him net a good fish, not sure if it was a Pollock or a Wrasse, I called and asked what it was? "A Wrasse" he stated with a big grin on his face!
I pulled alongside and stared unbelievingly at the net, and laying in the bottom was a very big Pig!
The fish was accurately weighed and after the net was deducted  weighed in at 4lb 6oz and was an absolute beast of a fish! Now Mr B is six foot two, ( and eyes of blue! ) with hands like clubs, but this fish still looks big in the pictures despite the ample frame of my friend, so you can see it is a genuinely big fish...It doesn't look like it but we were riding some good swells while trying to get the pictures of this magnificent creature, so getting reasonable photo's was a result in itself here.
Well done to my good friend and well deserved, ( even if it was caught on a metal ;) ! ) and it also means we have actually managed to pin down an area where we might get some more fish of this stamp or bigger, it comes as no surprise though really as we thought this spot had all the hallmarks of a big Pig producing area. All thats left is to work on achieving the target of presenting the lures effectively to them and catching them consistently if possible...
Not long after this conditions became too much and so it was time to call it a day, just riding the swell to dismount on the shore was a trick in itself but we manged it with no mis haps thankfully!

4lb 6oz, A genuine big Rockfish

Sakura Stingray SGS 702 M

I've been meaning to review this rod for a while now, I took a punt in buying it when I first started fishing with the soft plastics at the beginning of the year, and Im pleased to say it is serving me very well.
At seven feet in length and built on a nice slim dark blue and grey blank, when coupled with a 2500 or 3000 sized reel it feels light and well balanced in the hand. The balance point when set up with a reel is just in the centre of the front screw down winch grip. The taper on the 5-21 gram rated blank is super fast and initially the rod feels very stiff and capable of working hard lures effectively. Despite the stiff feel, the tip bends very nicely and progressively through to the middle of the rod where the super stiff butt takes over and gives the rod some real power for dealing with bigger fish. Feedback when working both hard and soft lures is good, the tip, although stiff, is sensitive and when fishing for Bass there are no issues with feeling exactly what is going on at the other end as the the fish bites the lure, I can most of the time, tell exactly when to strike. The rod works very well with soft plastics fished Texas and Carolina styles and plenty of feedback can be felt when making bottom contact. I must admit to having some issues when fishing for Wrasse in the beginning, I just did not seem to be able to read the Wrasse bites and failed miserably to hook up. Of course at first I thought perhaps the rod wasn't right for the job and that the tip may be too stiff, but eventually and predictably it turned out to be my lack of experience in fishing for the species that was the problem, and I have now taken a good few Wrasse on this rod and in fact I would say it is ideal as it has plenty of stopping power for when they are diving hard towards any structure. You cannot use too soft a rod for these fish and truthfully I would not want to go any lighter than this rod for fish of even half a pound as they would easily get the upper hand on any lesser tool!
So onto the build and finish of the Stingray.
Understated it is not! it has quite a 'blingey' finish compared to some other models on the market but it is quite tasteful and I like it, I've always had a thing for slightly overstated rods and I like contrasting whippings like the gold and silver ones that are featured throughout on the Stingray. The EVA handle is of the Fuji IPS type but used in reverse here with a matching winch down reel fixing finished with an aluminium ( i think ) collar as is the EVA butt.
Rings are Fuji SIC single leg throughout and each ring whipping is finished in black thread with the silver and gold tipping. There is also a nice ( and blingey!) woven carbon effect feature on the butt section next to the reel seat, this contrasts nicely with the metallic blue finish on this section of the rod, the tip section being in plain un-ground grey carbon. 
Thats it really, there's not much more to say about the rod except that as a tool to do a job it does it well, and at a reasonable price too. I am extremely pleased with mine and have caught many many fish on it this year so far and I have no designs on changing it at the moment. I am not known for my ability to look after my equipment and so far it's standing up well to the abuse I give it, having had a few knocks in my clumsy hands! To summarise I would say this is a great HRF rod, especially for the newcomer, it's well finished, durable and does the job perfectly well.

'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.