It's been a little while since my last post, this is mainly because I have been involved in a fishing competition and wanted to detail it all in one post. But due to it being summer and my angling addiction is in full swing, it has left me a lot to cover! I hope you will humour me as I go through a really enjoyable few weeks fishing.
The competition mentioned was the third Osborne & Cragg Tackle Shop Lure Fishing Comp. This one was more focused on the size of fish than a pure species hunt like ones before. With added points for biggest fish of each species and a prize for biggest Wrasse, Bass or Pollock, I was hopeful of using the knowledge I had built up recently to win one of the prizes. I had my eye on largest Wrasse and (obviously) the species prizes.
First trip was out on the South Hams rocks in search of 'Nuclear Sub' sized Wrasse. I love the rocks and gulleys on this coast and have my favourite spots, but with Olly as accomplice we thought it was worth trying somewhere new. Prepared for wet weather we walked out along the coast path much further than we usually go. Making our way, quite awkwardly at times, down to a likely looking gulley it looked like it had potential, with the bonus of crystal clear water. I had a hit on my first cast but I was being greedy, using a much larger than really necessary Crayfish imitation. The fish wanted it but couldn't get it's mouth round the lure. Olly cast to the same spot and quickly had a fish, he was using a cheap scented shad that always worked so well before. The fish fought bravely but was soon in the net, about a pound and a half, a decent start but turned out to be Olly's only Wrasse of the day. I changed to a more sensibly sized lure and quickly had my first of the day. We moved around spots and the sun decided to scorch its way through the dense clouds, leading to us sweating in our supposedly sensible attire. Olly switched to a small shore jig on his LRF rod and managed a couple of Pollock, I had numerous battles with Wrasse but the big pigs didn't show. We did get the pleasure of seeing a Grey Seal plundering it's way through a gulley very close in though, they are such a pleasure to see and I never get bored of seeing one. With decent weather, a good few fish and a seal encounter it wasn't a bad start.
My next trip out was a couple of hours LRFing around Millbay in Plymouth. My main target was a Scorpion Fish (they have become quite an obsession for me recently). As I fished my small jighead around with an ecogear lure on, I quickly became distracted by the sheer amount of Shanny's around on the harbour wall below me. I needed one for the competition and quickly caught three, measuring the biggest and then returning it. Shanny satisfaction settled, I moved to the other side of the promenade. Whilst attempting to tempt a small Ballan into taking my lure a large shoal of Smelt moved in. I had never seen a Smelt in the flesh before but recognised them and they pounced on my lure, pulling at it but unable to take the hook. I quickly formulated a plan. I tied a size 20 hook onto a short length of fluorocarbon, which then tied onto the eye of the link swivel above the lure, onto this tiny hook went a minuscule piece of isome. Luckily the shoal hadn't moved far and one of them rapidly snatched the tiny bait, a second later I had my first ever Sand Smelt in my hands. I know to the average person a small silver fish wouldn't mean much, but as someone who's always been fascinated by everything in water, catching unusual fish, no matter how small, gives me great joy. To top it off in my own species challenge a Smelt is worth the same as a Wels Catfish! Anyway, I returned the Smelt and couldn't catch another, I had spooked the shoal. With nothing else showing much interest I went home.
I had my mind on doing some light jigging off the rocks around Heybrook Bay. Ellie was keen to join and hopefully boost her total. We arrived to find the water significantly choppier than expected. It didn't look great for light lure fishing but we persevered and made our way down onto the rocks. The waves were quite intense at ground level and it wasn't looking good, that was until I spotted a rockpool that was sheltered from the worst of the waves. I wondered if a Giant Goby might reside under the large rocks there, I had heard they were quite common around the area, so I lowered my light shore jig into the water to see if it got any attention. As soon as it touched the water a Giant Goby appeared! I quickly changed my jig to a jighead with an small ecogear lure on it. With Ellie watching in fascination I lowered it in and moved it steadily up and down... Fish on! With pretty much zero fight it was in my hand, my first ever Giant Goby. Ellie wanted to try for one so I handed her the rod, within seconds she had one of her own, which quite humorously wouldn't let go of the lure, leaving it looking like it was smoking a cigar, a gangster goby. We had three more and it was surprisingly easy, fascinating to watch though as it was all happening in a beautifully clear rockpool. We moved back onto the jigs after that but the waves had us beat.
The Wrasse were still playing on my mind, I was sure I could catch a bigger one. So me and Olly headed back out to the South Hams gulleys to my favourite mark. It involves a bit of a steep descent but the risk of falling is worth it - Lots of Wrasse, well lots in good conditions. These were not good conditions, lots of waves and heavy rain showers with zero clear skies. We persevered though mostly out of pure desire to make the most of a joint day off work. The session before I had good results on a texas-rigged Savage Gear Sandeel, not my usual selection but within two casts I had an angry Wrasse on the line. After the fish doing it's best impression of a motor vehicle, I had it under control and in the net. Two and a half pounds, a great start. I soon had another smaller fish then a nicer more brightly coloured one. Olly had a small one too, but then started to struggle, I was getting hits but Olly had no interest. His frustration grew. After a bit of lunch he got back to it and then I heard those magnificent words, 'Fish on!'. After a minute of 'wrassling' he had it in the net. A bright green beauty of a fish, Olly's mood was significantly lifted but with the rain coming in heavy and the tide receding, it was time to move on. Looking for new spots on the walk back we noticed a large rockpool, it looked full of potential for a Giant Goby, a fish Olly hadn't caught yet. We set up his LRF rod and he lowered the small lure in, it didn't take long for a Goby to take notice, it snatched at the lure and Olly quickly pulled it out of the pool. He then followed it up with a couple more. We forgot about the rain and caught many, the best fish being a dark and beautiful little thing, with electric blue edges to its fins. It must have been breeding colours, certainly the best looking goby I've ever caught. After that we headed home, a productive session in tough conditions.
Realising I wasn't likely to catch the biggest Wrasse I decided to focus on the species count, something I've obviously been doing all year with varying degrees of success. In a quick pre-work LRF'ing down Millbay, I managed a couple of tiny pollock, some Corkwrings and a Goldsinny. I also bumped into Maurice Minchinton who I'd seen a lot of on the facebook page, Plymouth LRF. A lovely chap and great to talk about the local fishing marks and techniques. He was also taking part in the comp but wasn't holding back information selfishly, happily telling me where I'm likely to find that fish I've been desperate to catch - the Long Spined Sea Scorpion. Alas I didn't end up catch one but I'm sure on a better day I would have.
I also got back out on the rocks with Robbie. I hadn't fished with him properly in over a month and it was a great couple of hours. He was late of course and I had already had my first Pollock by then - caught on the trusty LRF Shore Jig. I caught 7 Pollock in the hour or so we were there and Robbie also got one, though he spent most of the time after larger specimens. A seal also treated us to an appearance right in close to the rocks, which topped off the evening's fishing nicely.
Looking at the results coming in on Facebook it was clear I wasn't going to win the species count either! A couple of the guys were smashing out the rarer species for fun, with Topknot, Gurnard and Garfish all making appearances. I knew I was unlikely to catch up with them but I wasn't going to give up on it. So I made my way out to Mount batten Pier early, I couldn't sleep as I had been watching the referendum results come in, the weather was as groggy as me, the rain drizzling moodily. I had intended to try for a Tompot Blenny then try jigging afterwards but that quickly changed, as I saw what was below me in the water - thousands of Sandeel. They were bunched up against the pier wall and it was obvious predatory fish must be very near, this suspicion was confirmed when I watched a large Mackerel lunge into the shoal. It was strange to see a lone one but it was much larger than your average 'Joey'. I quickly changed to a little metal Jig, as I was tying it on I watch a group of Launce (Giant Sandeel) attack the shoal, it was fascinating to watch even through the drizzle. I launched my lure out and had a couple of hits - some I could even see below me, but no hook ups, the Launce carried on smashing into the shoal but I couldn't get one, the height of the wall from the water made fishing the Jig awkward and I struggled to get a consistent presentation. The Sandeel split up and it was all over, I had apparently missed my chance which was disappointing. I moved back onto a small Jig head with Isome and caught a couple of Shannys, such a reliable fish! With the tide receding, the tip of the pier looked promising for jigging so I tried that again. Within minutes I hooked a fish, after a strange fight I got it in to find it was one of the Launce! My first ever. Only problem was it dropped back into the water before I could take a photo, since I was on my own it meant it didn't count in either the Lure Competition or The Challenge! I was a bit gutted and it got worse... I kept trying for another but had no luck, then I cast again and CRACK my line snapped, I looked at the tip of my rod and that was also gone! The line must have wrapped itself round the tip and the weight of the lure (only five grams) snapped it off. I was really pissed off with myself now, the first time I had ever snapped a rod and it had to be my Shakespeare Agility, my favourite. I headed over to Osborne & Cragg and after some debate bought the HTO Rockfish 73, at £30 a reasonably priced replacement and almost exactly the same as my now deceased Shakespeare. So not a great day all in all.
My last session was another go after the big Ballans in the gulleys again. I must have have still been emanating negative energy because I blanked, something I haven't done Wrasse fishing in ages. Olly, Ellie and Shane all caught though so it wasn't a wasted trip. I finished the Lure Competition with a bit of a whimper in the end, but it had been fun to take part in and I had learned a few lessons along the way. The winners in the end were:
Mark Gliddon - Species Hunt (12 Species = 24 Points)
Well done to those guys and I'm looking forward to the next one! Hopefully with less broken rods and more species from myself...
After that the totals are:
Ben - 25 Species - Perch, Roach, Bream/Roach hybrid, Mirror Carp, Pike, Rainbow Trout, Common Blenny, Corkwring Wrasse, Tompot Blenny, Ballan Wrasse, Rock Goby, Ghost Carp, Black Goby, Pollock, Goldsinny Wrasse, Golden Rudd, Golden Orfe, Blue Orfe, Golden Tench, Crucian Carp, Sand Smelt & Giant Goby
Ellie - 21 Species - Golden Rudd, Rudd, Roach, Gudgeon, Perch, Pike, Corkwring Wrasse, Pollock, Mirror Carp, Ghost Carp, Black Goby, Tompot Blenny, Long Spined Sea Scorpion, Ballan Wrasse, Common Blenny, Golden Tench, Golden Orfe, Bronze Bream, Crucian Carp, Common Carp & Giant Goby
Olly - 18 Species - Perch, Rainbow Trout, Pike, Rudd, Roach, Mirror Carp, Common Carp, Pollock, Ballan Wrasse, Goldsinny Wrasse, Common Blenny, Shore Rockling, Corkwring Wrasse, Golden Rudd, Blue Orfe, Golden Tench, Sea Bass & Giant Goby
Will - 14 Species - Rudd, Roach, Gudgeon, Pike, Tompot Blenny, Corkwring Wrasse, Common Carp, Mirror Carp, Common Goby, Ballan Wrasse, Dogfish, Golden Rudd, Golden Tench & Golden Orfe
Robbie - 12 Species - Perch, Mirror Carp, Roach, Rudd, Eel, Ballan Wrasse, Topknot, Crucian Carp, Common Carp, Golden Rudd, Blue Orfe & Pollock
Shane - 8 Species - Rudd, Roach/Bream Hybrid, Crucian Carp, Pollock, Shore Rockling, Common Carp, Mirror Carp & Roach
Zoe - 5 Species - Pike, Goldsinny Wrasse, Rock Goby, Ballan Wrasse & Long Spined Sea Scorpion
Grant - 2 Species - Ballan Wrasse & Tompot Blenny
As always thanks for reading and please check out fishingtails.co.uk where I'm now a contributor.
The competition mentioned was the third Osborne & Cragg Tackle Shop Lure Fishing Comp. This one was more focused on the size of fish than a pure species hunt like ones before. With added points for biggest fish of each species and a prize for biggest Wrasse, Bass or Pollock, I was hopeful of using the knowledge I had built up recently to win one of the prizes. I had my eye on largest Wrasse and (obviously) the species prizes.
First trip was out on the South Hams rocks in search of 'Nuclear Sub' sized Wrasse. I love the rocks and gulleys on this coast and have my favourite spots, but with Olly as accomplice we thought it was worth trying somewhere new. Prepared for wet weather we walked out along the coast path much further than we usually go. Making our way, quite awkwardly at times, down to a likely looking gulley it looked like it had potential, with the bonus of crystal clear water. I had a hit on my first cast but I was being greedy, using a much larger than really necessary Crayfish imitation. The fish wanted it but couldn't get it's mouth round the lure. Olly cast to the same spot and quickly had a fish, he was using a cheap scented shad that always worked so well before. The fish fought bravely but was soon in the net, about a pound and a half, a decent start but turned out to be Olly's only Wrasse of the day. I changed to a more sensibly sized lure and quickly had my first of the day. We moved around spots and the sun decided to scorch its way through the dense clouds, leading to us sweating in our supposedly sensible attire. Olly switched to a small shore jig on his LRF rod and managed a couple of Pollock, I had numerous battles with Wrasse but the big pigs didn't show. We did get the pleasure of seeing a Grey Seal plundering it's way through a gulley very close in though, they are such a pleasure to see and I never get bored of seeing one. With decent weather, a good few fish and a seal encounter it wasn't a bad start.
My next trip out was a couple of hours LRFing around Millbay in Plymouth. My main target was a Scorpion Fish (they have become quite an obsession for me recently). As I fished my small jighead around with an ecogear lure on, I quickly became distracted by the sheer amount of Shanny's around on the harbour wall below me. I needed one for the competition and quickly caught three, measuring the biggest and then returning it. Shanny satisfaction settled, I moved to the other side of the promenade. Whilst attempting to tempt a small Ballan into taking my lure a large shoal of Smelt moved in. I had never seen a Smelt in the flesh before but recognised them and they pounced on my lure, pulling at it but unable to take the hook. I quickly formulated a plan. I tied a size 20 hook onto a short length of fluorocarbon, which then tied onto the eye of the link swivel above the lure, onto this tiny hook went a minuscule piece of isome. Luckily the shoal hadn't moved far and one of them rapidly snatched the tiny bait, a second later I had my first ever Sand Smelt in my hands. I know to the average person a small silver fish wouldn't mean much, but as someone who's always been fascinated by everything in water, catching unusual fish, no matter how small, gives me great joy. To top it off in my own species challenge a Smelt is worth the same as a Wels Catfish! Anyway, I returned the Smelt and couldn't catch another, I had spooked the shoal. With nothing else showing much interest I went home.
I had my mind on doing some light jigging off the rocks around Heybrook Bay. Ellie was keen to join and hopefully boost her total. We arrived to find the water significantly choppier than expected. It didn't look great for light lure fishing but we persevered and made our way down onto the rocks. The waves were quite intense at ground level and it wasn't looking good, that was until I spotted a rockpool that was sheltered from the worst of the waves. I wondered if a Giant Goby might reside under the large rocks there, I had heard they were quite common around the area, so I lowered my light shore jig into the water to see if it got any attention. As soon as it touched the water a Giant Goby appeared! I quickly changed my jig to a jighead with an small ecogear lure on it. With Ellie watching in fascination I lowered it in and moved it steadily up and down... Fish on! With pretty much zero fight it was in my hand, my first ever Giant Goby. Ellie wanted to try for one so I handed her the rod, within seconds she had one of her own, which quite humorously wouldn't let go of the lure, leaving it looking like it was smoking a cigar, a gangster goby. We had three more and it was surprisingly easy, fascinating to watch though as it was all happening in a beautifully clear rockpool. We moved back onto the jigs after that but the waves had us beat.
The Wrasse were still playing on my mind, I was sure I could catch a bigger one. So me and Olly headed back out to the South Hams gulleys to my favourite mark. It involves a bit of a steep descent but the risk of falling is worth it - Lots of Wrasse, well lots in good conditions. These were not good conditions, lots of waves and heavy rain showers with zero clear skies. We persevered though mostly out of pure desire to make the most of a joint day off work. The session before I had good results on a texas-rigged Savage Gear Sandeel, not my usual selection but within two casts I had an angry Wrasse on the line. After the fish doing it's best impression of a motor vehicle, I had it under control and in the net. Two and a half pounds, a great start. I soon had another smaller fish then a nicer more brightly coloured one. Olly had a small one too, but then started to struggle, I was getting hits but Olly had no interest. His frustration grew. After a bit of lunch he got back to it and then I heard those magnificent words, 'Fish on!'. After a minute of 'wrassling' he had it in the net. A bright green beauty of a fish, Olly's mood was significantly lifted but with the rain coming in heavy and the tide receding, it was time to move on. Looking for new spots on the walk back we noticed a large rockpool, it looked full of potential for a Giant Goby, a fish Olly hadn't caught yet. We set up his LRF rod and he lowered the small lure in, it didn't take long for a Goby to take notice, it snatched at the lure and Olly quickly pulled it out of the pool. He then followed it up with a couple more. We forgot about the rain and caught many, the best fish being a dark and beautiful little thing, with electric blue edges to its fins. It must have been breeding colours, certainly the best looking goby I've ever caught. After that we headed home, a productive session in tough conditions.
Realising I wasn't likely to catch the biggest Wrasse I decided to focus on the species count, something I've obviously been doing all year with varying degrees of success. In a quick pre-work LRF'ing down Millbay, I managed a couple of tiny pollock, some Corkwrings and a Goldsinny. I also bumped into Maurice Minchinton who I'd seen a lot of on the facebook page, Plymouth LRF. A lovely chap and great to talk about the local fishing marks and techniques. He was also taking part in the comp but wasn't holding back information selfishly, happily telling me where I'm likely to find that fish I've been desperate to catch - the Long Spined Sea Scorpion. Alas I didn't end up catch one but I'm sure on a better day I would have.
I also got back out on the rocks with Robbie. I hadn't fished with him properly in over a month and it was a great couple of hours. He was late of course and I had already had my first Pollock by then - caught on the trusty LRF Shore Jig. I caught 7 Pollock in the hour or so we were there and Robbie also got one, though he spent most of the time after larger specimens. A seal also treated us to an appearance right in close to the rocks, which topped off the evening's fishing nicely.
Looking at the results coming in on Facebook it was clear I wasn't going to win the species count either! A couple of the guys were smashing out the rarer species for fun, with Topknot, Gurnard and Garfish all making appearances. I knew I was unlikely to catch up with them but I wasn't going to give up on it. So I made my way out to Mount batten Pier early, I couldn't sleep as I had been watching the referendum results come in, the weather was as groggy as me, the rain drizzling moodily. I had intended to try for a Tompot Blenny then try jigging afterwards but that quickly changed, as I saw what was below me in the water - thousands of Sandeel. They were bunched up against the pier wall and it was obvious predatory fish must be very near, this suspicion was confirmed when I watched a large Mackerel lunge into the shoal. It was strange to see a lone one but it was much larger than your average 'Joey'. I quickly changed to a little metal Jig, as I was tying it on I watch a group of Launce (Giant Sandeel) attack the shoal, it was fascinating to watch even through the drizzle. I launched my lure out and had a couple of hits - some I could even see below me, but no hook ups, the Launce carried on smashing into the shoal but I couldn't get one, the height of the wall from the water made fishing the Jig awkward and I struggled to get a consistent presentation. The Sandeel split up and it was all over, I had apparently missed my chance which was disappointing. I moved back onto a small Jig head with Isome and caught a couple of Shannys, such a reliable fish! With the tide receding, the tip of the pier looked promising for jigging so I tried that again. Within minutes I hooked a fish, after a strange fight I got it in to find it was one of the Launce! My first ever. Only problem was it dropped back into the water before I could take a photo, since I was on my own it meant it didn't count in either the Lure Competition or The Challenge! I was a bit gutted and it got worse... I kept trying for another but had no luck, then I cast again and CRACK my line snapped, I looked at the tip of my rod and that was also gone! The line must have wrapped itself round the tip and the weight of the lure (only five grams) snapped it off. I was really pissed off with myself now, the first time I had ever snapped a rod and it had to be my Shakespeare Agility, my favourite. I headed over to Osborne & Cragg and after some debate bought the HTO Rockfish 73, at £30 a reasonably priced replacement and almost exactly the same as my now deceased Shakespeare. So not a great day all in all.
My last session was another go after the big Ballans in the gulleys again. I must have have still been emanating negative energy because I blanked, something I haven't done Wrasse fishing in ages. Olly, Ellie and Shane all caught though so it wasn't a wasted trip. I finished the Lure Competition with a bit of a whimper in the end, but it had been fun to take part in and I had learned a few lessons along the way. The winners in the end were:
Age Lundstrom - longest bass (54cm)
Steve Butler - longest pollock (56cm)
Rob Eastman - longest wrasse (51cm)
Well done to those guys and I'm looking forward to the next one! Hopefully with less broken rods and more species from myself...
After that the totals are:
Ben - 25 Species - Perch, Roach, Bream/Roach hybrid, Mirror Carp, Pike, Rainbow Trout, Common Blenny, Corkwring Wrasse, Tompot Blenny, Ballan Wrasse, Rock Goby, Ghost Carp, Black Goby, Pollock, Goldsinny Wrasse, Golden Rudd, Golden Orfe, Blue Orfe, Golden Tench, Crucian Carp, Sand Smelt & Giant Goby
Ellie - 21 Species - Golden Rudd, Rudd, Roach, Gudgeon, Perch, Pike, Corkwring Wrasse, Pollock, Mirror Carp, Ghost Carp, Black Goby, Tompot Blenny, Long Spined Sea Scorpion, Ballan Wrasse, Common Blenny, Golden Tench, Golden Orfe, Bronze Bream, Crucian Carp, Common Carp & Giant Goby
Olly - 18 Species - Perch, Rainbow Trout, Pike, Rudd, Roach, Mirror Carp, Common Carp, Pollock, Ballan Wrasse, Goldsinny Wrasse, Common Blenny, Shore Rockling, Corkwring Wrasse, Golden Rudd, Blue Orfe, Golden Tench, Sea Bass & Giant Goby
Will - 14 Species - Rudd, Roach, Gudgeon, Pike, Tompot Blenny, Corkwring Wrasse, Common Carp, Mirror Carp, Common Goby, Ballan Wrasse, Dogfish, Golden Rudd, Golden Tench & Golden Orfe
Robbie - 12 Species - Perch, Mirror Carp, Roach, Rudd, Eel, Ballan Wrasse, Topknot, Crucian Carp, Common Carp, Golden Rudd, Blue Orfe & Pollock
Shane - 8 Species - Rudd, Roach/Bream Hybrid, Crucian Carp, Pollock, Shore Rockling, Common Carp, Mirror Carp & Roach
Zoe - 5 Species - Pike, Goldsinny Wrasse, Rock Goby, Ballan Wrasse & Long Spined Sea Scorpion
Grant - 2 Species - Ballan Wrasse & Tompot Blenny
As always thanks for reading and please check out fishingtails.co.uk where I'm now a contributor.
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