T Jetty Richards bay

Posted on July 29, 2009 Filed Under Fish, Fishing | Leave a Comment

Wrasse fishing from the shore

Wrasse fishing Fishing for Wrasse Interested in some great sports fishing? looking for regular catches then Wrasse fishing is for you. Done right, the humble Wrasse can provide you some top quality sport which will leave you wanting!!!! Want to know more…. Read on. The Wrasse There are a few species caught here in the UK waters . as follows : Ballen Wrasse – Heavy built fish with small mouth, with thick rubber lips and armed with teeth. Colouration varies with age and sex. Young fish are generally a shade of green, with older more mature fish a reddish brown / dark green, with lots of small white spots. Sometimes dark bars or lateral white banding may occur. Feeds on mollusc’s: crab, shrimp. Lives in rocky areas with heavy weed, loves gullies and over hangs to hide in. Cuckoo Wrasse – Similar shape to the Ballen Wrasse, but generally a bit finer (longer and thinner) with a longer more elongated mouth part, containing sharp teeth! Colour changes with age and sex. Females and immature males, are generally a yellowish brown to red, with 3 dark marks  on the base of the rerar section of the dorsal fin. Fins edged in pale blue. Mature males are striking with bright blue heads and sides, and into the first of the dorsal fins. The blue edging of the other fins also tends to be greater, when compared with that of the female, or immature males. The colouration of the mature males head, tends to be replaced by white, during the mating session. The top and bottom rear thirds are a strong yellow colour. Habitat is similar to the Ballen Wrasse, but I have caught them more often higher up in deeper water (edge of deep drop offs etc).  Feeds on the same foods as the Ballen Wrasse. Corkwing Wrasse – The most common species in the UK and the fish you are most likely to catch from the shore. Very similar to the Ballen Wrasse, with thick set body, head and neck and similar mouth part. The gill coverings on these guys have spines, be careful! Colouration is highly variable, although usually green to greenish brown, with darker pigmentation along the back and top sides, pale belly, with body scales highlighted by brownish dots or marks. A black smudge is to be found in front of the fin rays of the tail, below the lateral line. There is often a crescent shaped dark patch behind the eye. Males have blue to green, wavy lines on their head. Fishing methods for Wrasse You need to make a careful selection of the mark you are going to choose to fish for Wrasse from. Clean unbroken ground will not hold any wrasse, unless its on the edge of a reef or similar underwater feature. Rough broken ground, covered in weed and full of nooks and crannies is the best Wrasse fishing ground. Take a look at google maps to find hidden underwater reefs and fish holding areas . It might be worth snorkeling your ground, if you are fit and it is safe to do so. I have seen many 6lb plus Wrasse 5 feet from the shore in 6 feet of water…. With the above in mind, your tackle wants to be clear from the bottom, presenting your bait about a foot off the rocks. Float fishing tackle is the best choice in my opinion. You can test your rig at depths, until you find the bottom, then shorten the rig to present your bait just above the bottom. It will snag occasionally, but that’s hard fishing for you. The other advantage with a float set up is if allowed to drift in the wind or current you will cover a huge expanse of ground. Remember that the tide will effect the depth you are fishing!!!! Bait can be most things, but rag and crab have produced the best results for me in Cornwall. Consider what Wrasse eat, how they are formed and you should draw the opinion that any mollusk would be a suitable choice for the Wrasse – try it! Keep your baits small as smaller wrasse will pick at the bait and never find the hook point. Wrasse Rig Your rig should be made of tough line. 20 – 30lb fluro Carbon is a good start with size 2 carp hook (they are strong and small!!). You need the heavy rig line to avoid loosing fish in the rocks. use a reasonable sized float, so it can been seen clearly at range. Many add a few red beads to the hook length as they feel this gives an added edge to the catch rate. Wrasse bites are normally very rattly . Give them plenty of time to mouth the bait, but as soon as you think they are hooked, play them hard as they will dash for the safety of the rocks. Play them hard initially to get them high up in the water column, then get them to shore as quickly as possible, they will kick up a stink and make great sport. You need some forceps, in case they swallow the hook – those Wrasse have great TEETH!!! You might want to have a look at this article – Wrasse fishing from a kayak NB the set up can be a bit lighter from boats and kayaks, because you are pulling the Wrasse directly away from the rocks Related Posts: Wrasse fishing on the Kayak Kayak Fishing trip Fishing articles Fishing tips for beginners part 11 Beach casting and shore fishing Berry Head, Devon, South Hams shore fishing

Posted on July 28, 2009 Filed Under Fish, Fishing, Fishing Trips, Lake Fishing, Sea Fishing, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Heavyweight Bass Fishing Record Broken by Paul Elias. PART: 1

Part: 1 of 3: Paul Elias did something on Falcon Lake that nobody, including himself, thought possible. He averaged nearly 7-pound bass over April 3-6 to capture the BASS all-time heavyweight record. See, for the first time, every bass he pulls into the boat (and some he missed), and an interview with Elias that walks you through his emotions on the final day of the Bassmaster Elite Series Lone Star Shootout presented by Longhorn. Did he think he had enough to win? What did Aaron Martens …

Posted on July 28, 2009 Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Contribute to wild-salmon recovery by taking home six hatchery coho

VANCOUVER, Wash. – Anglers planning to fish for salmon on any of the eight tributaries that flow into the Columbia River below Bonneville Dam can expect good fishing for hatchery coho. Starting Aug. 1, when fall salmon fishing opens in the Columbia River Basin, anglers fishing those rivers will be allowed to catch and keep up to six adult salmon per day, provided that at least four of them are hatchery-reared coho. No wild coho may be retained.

Posted on July 28, 2009 Filed Under Fish, Fishing | Leave a Comment

lake roy bass – CapMel.Com Fishing Forums

Florida Fishing Information from Capt. Mel Berman. A total resource for all of your Florida Fishing needs.

Posted on July 28, 2009 Filed Under Fish, Fishing, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

A night in watching the box – weather and tides online

Jim O'Donnell takes a look at some of the most accurate weather forecast web sites for anglers both ashore and afloat.

Posted on July 27, 2009 Filed Under Fishing, Fishing Diary | Leave a Comment

Day off in Holyhead!

Mike Thrussell and long time friend and WSF Member, Colin Albert take shelter from the recent bad weather by fishing Holyhead Breakwater.

Posted on July 27, 2009 Filed Under Fish, Fishing, Fishing Diary | Leave a Comment

Lucky Luggage!

After last weeks blog full of doom, gloom and depressing results it is nice to be able to start this weeks with some tales of joy for a change. I received some new luggage courtesy of Mosella last week, and before I say anything else I must sing its praises. I’m not just saying this because I am sponsored by them, it truly is the best luggage I have ever got my hands on. The material is thick and robust, the zips are the best I have ever seen, and the design makes it easy to carry everything all in one go. I must admit, before I got it I was a figure of ridicule, as I looked like a bit of a tramp on the bank. I had some old Shimano luggage I bought second hand about three years ago. This carried my pole, I had a Milo ready rod case housing my feeder rods, my carryall couldn’t fit my pole rollers in it so I carried them on top, and I had a separate Maver bait bag. With the Mosella luggage all this is gone, as the roller bag and the bait bag are designed to fit inside the carryall, and the holdall has the ready rod carryall built into it making life, as the meerkat would say, Simples! Lucky Luggage Another great thing that comes with the mosella luggage is good luck- or at least it did for me, I won the first two matches I fished when I had it on the bank! The first was at Wiremill Dam, a place I fished a lot as a youngster, but somewhere I haven’t been a lot in recent years. It has recently been taken over by Chris Keeling, who has done a great job of tidying the place up. It is probably the best roach venue I know, So I decided to base my attack around catching the redfins on the pole. With 17 anglers putting in an appearance there was a good turnout, and with the venue being relatively small we didn’t have a lot of room. I was into small roach from the off, and from what I could see there wasn’t a great deal being caught, so I plodded on. I was catching them between a foot and 18 inches deep, and ringing the changes with the depth kept bigger fish coming. I also managed a bonus bream and ide on a short line I fed on my top 4 . One thing I did learn is that I didn’t take nearly enough bait, I fed a pint and a half of maggots, and I could have easily fed 4 pints if I had had enough with me, and I reckon I could have caught nearly twice as much. The more I fed, the more I caught. Fortunately though, the 23-00 I caught was enough to take the honours, and the winner take all pot that went with it. Double Trouble The following night was the usual weekly open match at Carterhall, and I was pleased to draw peg 15, the same peg I had been on the previous week. Now was the time to put right where I went wrong and win from the peg instead of coming second! I fished maggots on the long pole shallow, choosing to fish away from the island instead of up to it as I did the previous week. This worked a treat, and after a slow start I was putting a good ide in the net every chuck. I was really having to blast the maggots in to keep them feeding though, I was basically having to draw the fish off the island, but once they were there they fed very confidently. My young nemesis Jake Dye was also catching well however and had also taken an early carp, and I knew I would have to keep fish coming to beat him. I ended up with abut 50 ide, and when the scales arrived, they pulled them round to 33-12-0. This was enough to beat Jakes 27-2-0 effort and win the match. Back Down to Earth… On Sunday, I decided to take a trip to Hallcroft, and I wish Id never bothered. The wind was against me, and I couldn’t present my bait properly, but I still fished a bad match, trying to make my shallow and margin lines work and neither of them did. I ended up with two skimmers a roach and a perch. Awful business!

Posted on July 27, 2009 Filed Under Fish, Fishing | Leave a Comment

Durable Water Repellency Treatments

You’ve probably seen high-end fly fishing clothing advertised with “100 DWR” or “30 DWR” ratings lately. What is this, some esoteric new ‘guy version’ of Egyptian cotton thread count? Actually, it’s a measure of the number of washes the garment’s “durable water repellency” treatment can take. DWR is what makes water bead up on (rather than soaking out) your high-end garments. Ned Hutchinson of Cloudveil explained DWR to me as being “like a forest.” On a molecular level, the DWR coating has a series of tiny, round, water-repellent spheres, which make up a “canopy.” The canopy stands above the exterior layer of the breathable fabric on a set of tiny “trunks,” just like a forest. When a droplet of liquid water hits the DWR treatment, it gets caught in the “leaves” of the canopy and cannot penetrate to the actual fabric, making water bead up. In short, this DWR coating is like a layer of Scotchgard (actually itself an early DWR treatment) built into the fabric. In the last few years, DWR coatings have been improved; instead of 12 washes, they can now take 30 or even 100 before they break down. You’ll know your DWR coating has begun to fail when you see “wet out” or dark splotches on your breathable fabric. The best way to prevent this is to keep the garments (including waders!) clean. Follow manufacturers’ instructions to prevent dirt and grime from breaking down your “forest canopy,” thereby making your breathables stay drier longer. Do you lather up in TurtleWax before fishing in the rain? Know of a better way to prevent wet out? Let us know in the Comments section!

Posted on July 27, 2009 Filed Under Fish, Fishing, Fishing Trips | Leave a Comment

Better to be lucky than good…..

Witherington farm Open- Barnmoor lake- 25/7/09 After not fishing atall for almost three weeks I was raring to go this weekend,especially with the prospect of a match double-header. After umming and arring for a while about where to fish I eventually settled on the open at Witherington Farm on Barnmoor Lake. This is the only lake I have never fished at the venue, and speaking to a few people before hand that wasnt necessarily a bad thing! I called up on the Thursday and booked myself and Nick White in, and with 15 anglers fishing the 20 peg lake it shouldn’t be a bad match. I arrived at the venue at around 8 o’clock and as always had a quick wander round to get a mental picture of where I would like to draw. There is a central island which would obviously be worth a chuck on certain pegs, and the only real flier I could see was peg 16 that had the island within pole reach (16m or so). Whilst wandering around with Nick we heard a shout of ‘morrrning chaps’ from peg 9 on Sellwood where Nick Lund (nicky-the-bricky) was setting up. It turned out he had a day booked with England International Des Shipp. (I later heard someone on Barnmoor remark ‘look over there,it’s Des Shipp with a sinking ship’). After chatting with Nicky for 10 minute’s or so we headed to the cafe in readiness for the draw. Into the bucket I went and out came…..peg 5. It didn’t mean alot to me but I soon found out I was in the middle of the island on the near bank. Arriving at the peg I surveyed my options and decided on a few different approaches. After borrowing Nick’s extension I plumbed up at 17.5m (more like 16.5 with the short 4) towards the island,and although I was still some 3m or so off I felt sure I would catch the odd fish here. The peg was also very flat which made things easier. My rig for the long line was a 4×12 KC Chimp on 0.16- Size 2 Tubertini 175 matched to red vespe bi-core. I also set up a line at 13m where I had the same depth but would be predominantly looking for skimmers. For this line I assembled a 4×12 KC Chimp,0.16-0.14 and a 16 B911 matched to yellow Drennan Bungee. I decided to use 0.14 as there was every chance of picking up a carp on this line. My final pole line was the margin to my left. The next angler was pretty close but there was actually a spare peg between us so I set up a 4×10 Scone GAZE on 0.18- Size 3 Tubertini 175 and Wilkie orange. Finally I set up a small inline method feeder with an 0.18 hooklength for fishing to the island. For bait I had a tin of corn,a tin of 6mm meat,some damp micro pellets and skretting pellets in sizes 4, 6 and 8mm. I also had a tub of 8mm Ringers boilies for the method. The all-in was called at 10.15 and I cupped in some meat and pellet at 13m before casting the method tight to the island. I decided not to feed the 17.5m line until I went on it as I was expecting things to be pretty tough. After 6 casts in 30 minute’s without so much as a liner I dropped in at 13m with a 6mm cube of meat and went 15 minute’s without a bite. Hmmm….not exactly going to plan!Nobody was really catching bar the odd small skimmer so I put 4 cubes of meat in a cad-pot and shipped out to 17m with a single grain of corn. After 3 or 4 minute’s of lifting and dropping the float dipped and yards of elastic streamed from the pole. The fish kited to my right and actually caught the line of the guy to my right who was fishing the method to the island. After a lot of hassle I eventually slipped the net under a plump 7lb mirror (and a method feeder!) I have to say the bloke was very good about it all, I believe his name is Mayo?Anyway,cheers mate! I then repeated the process but couldn’t buy another bite and things were pretty grim all around. I felt the method wasn’t right so switched to a small cage feeder with a 12 inch hooklength and a single grain of corn. After a few minute’s the tip flew round and I soon had a 2lb skimmer in the net. A few casts later and I added a small carp of around 2lb. I then added a couple of small carp and although it wasn’t fast and furious I was catching more than anyone else on the lake. After a while the feeder line died and with no signs on any of the pole lines I decided to change tactics. I switched to a bomb with an 8mm pellet and would constantly ping 2 or 3 6mm pellets over the top. I attached a new hooklength containing a size 16 Guru QM1. I have heard great things about these new hooks so was looking forward to trying them. After 5 minute’s the top flew round out of the blue and I lifted into resistance before the fish fell off after a second or two. Nick had told me that he was yet to lose a fish on the QM1’s so I was a little surprised. The regular feeding was bringing a few fish into the peg although I had to get my cast within 6 inches of the island in order to get bite’s. It took a lot of discipline to retrieve the cast when it fell a foot or so short but it was worth it as I picked up a few smaller carp. I lost another two fish on the QM1’s before switching back to Fox Series 2’s. I still lost a couple of fish on these and I’m not quite sure what was happening. There was also an underwater obstacle as twice the tip flew round and the hooklength was sheared clean around half way along. I was getting quite frustrated but managed to pick up the odd fish. I went around 40 minute’s without a sign at one point so scaled down to an 18 PR36 and a 6mm pellet and within minute’s I added a 4lb ghost carp. Fordy was also at Withy for the day as he was fishing with Des and Nicky and wandered past and kindly bought me a cold can of coke from the cafe- cheers mate! He said that I was winning the lake and there was about an hour or so left. Despite rotating all my line’s I didn’t manage to add another fish,although I did lose one more which was very frustrating. The all-out was called and I wasn’t in the best of moods. I felt sure I had thrown the match away through lost fish and the chap to my left had caught a lot of skimmers and my clicker was on 20lb exactly. After packing away the scales got to me and the guy to my left weighed 21lb exactly. I was therefore surprised when my carp and two skimmers went 26lb 12oz. The clicker only works if you click the correct amount of times! I followed the scales round and there was a 24lb followed by Nick weighing 20lb exactly. He had struggled all before switching to the bomb and tea-bag late on to catch a couple of carp. He had lost a lump which would prove costly as he was beaten by a pound into 5th and they paid the top 4. This was particularly frustrating for me as we split our winnings when fishing together. As it turned out my 26.12 was enough for the win followed by 24,22,21 something and 21. It had been hard for most but by ringing the changes I had managed to just about do enough. I headed to the cafe and picked up £90 before giving half to Nick and heading home. I don’t think I fished a particularly great match as I lost alot of fish and I’m at a loss as to why. Still,I’d rather fish poorly and win than fish like a pro and come nowhere!

Posted on July 27, 2009 Filed Under Fish, Fishing | Leave a Comment

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