Taking The Mullet For A Spin

My target - the thin-lipped mullet.

The grey mullet, a group of fish that I both love and hate, none more so than the thick-lipped variety. Thick-lips grow to rather generous weights and fight like Floyd Mayweather. They are plentiful in our estuaries and are easily found by the roving angler. Yet, if you have any knowledge of angling at all, you know they are a nightmare to catch! They filter feed through their unusually shaped mouths and they tend to feed aggressively only in short spells, on certain points of the tide. If you are a sucker for punishment (I am) then these are the fish for you. Having put in time and commitment I was lucky enough to catch a few last year.

A local Plymouth thick-lipped mullet caught last year, they will take bread but not lures.

In Plymouth we have fantastic numbers of thick-lipped mullet, yet their thin-lipped cousins are a bit of a rarity. Thin-lips grow to a lower maximum size than the thicks and tend to be a little more enthusiastic about fresh water, travelling far up-river in their search for food. The thin-lips are also significantly easier to catch, due to the fact they can't resist a baited spinner! Despite this, I had never caught a thin-lipped mullet before (despite a few tries and missed opportunities!), so I was keen to finally tick one of my wishlist. It was obvious I would have to travel farther afield, there was only one place to go, Weymouth harbour.

Weymouth is a two hour-plus drive from Plymouth but I'm lucky to have friends in the area, giving me the perfect excuse to fish it when I can. Although I don't know the place like the locals, I'm starting to get a fair idea of the hot spots. One thing I do know is that the upper harbour is mullet heaven! Thin-lipped mullet of all sizes cruise about in the shallows, giving me a perfect opportunity to target them. With these in mind, me and dad brought out the customised baited spinners and got to work.

What is the 'baited spinner'? 

If you aren't aware of this contraption, and honestly this catches almost everything that swims, let me enlighten you. You can buy these in most tackle shops but I prefer to tie them myself. Firstly take a high quality spinner like a Mepps, don't go cheap you will regret it when it doesn't spin! Then use a pair of pliers to snap off the treble hook. This leaves a hook-less spinner. You then tie a length of line to it using your preferred knot. You can use any line but stiff hook-links work best. I use 25lb test Fluorocarbon as I find it's less susceptible to twist and tangling. I have heard of people using pike trace wire to great effect for the same reason. Either way I aim to have a length of around six inches from spinner to hook. This seems to work best for me, although be ready to change it if bites aren't coming so readily. Hook wise you can use anything from a size 12 to a size 6. again it depends on if you're missing bites. I always prefer to go smaller, so a long shank size 12 is my go to hook for mullet. Bait the hook with a small section of ragworm, running the worm up the line until the hook is at the very end, this will get you maximum hook-ups. To catch mid-water species like mullet and bass use a steady retrieve through those layers. For bottom dwellers like flatfish and wrasse, try a stop start retrieve along a fairly clean bottom. Honestly you will be amazed by how many species you will catch. 

We arrived at the harbour and were not let down by the mullet. There were many swimming about, including some very decent sized fish of around four pound. At first I was determined to catch a mullet using an artificial worm like Isome, but after a few casts and many follows without a bite it was clear only the real stuff would do. A quick trip to the ever reliable Weymouth Angling Centre (dodging the various stag do's on our way) provided us with the fresh live ragworm we needed.

My first ever thin-lipped mullet.

The transformation in our fortunes was startling. On most casts we were getting follows and delicate takes. I did notice that they often go for the spinner blades, ignoring the bait. This is definitely an avenue I would like to pursue in the future, catching a thin-lip on a unbaited artificial, it does happen so it's worth trying myself. Both me and dad were making strange and bizarre noises as we watched the fish follow then turn away at the last second. Casting and retrieving were also made difficult by a metal fence, probably put up to deter anglers like ourselves, but we worked around it, entranced by these fish.

The dreaded railing that would likely deter most other fishermen...

Finally a fish snapped fully at my bait, hooking itself in the process. There's no need to strike with this method as the fish pulls against your retrieve anyway. It wasn't huge and I have to say I was a little disappointed with the fight, the mullet didn't try to run like a thick-lip, it just wallowed and flipped about. My trusty gilly reached down over the fence and netted my first ever thin-lipped mullet and I beamed with happiness. I love that feeling of catching a new species, a previously unknown creature now in your hands. I quickly discovered that, unlike the hardier thick-lips, thin-lips readily shed their scales, so I was extra cautious when handling it. I removed the spinner and quickly returned it to it's harbour home.

Sun shining, a new species, that's my kind of Saturday.

Dad soon had a hook up from a much larger fish, unfortunately no sooner had he hooked it that it turned and snapped his braid! We couldn't believe it. I felt terribly guilty as he was fishing with my back up reel, with much older braid on it. Just goes to show we're not all perfect and you should replace your line regularly. A lesson learned. It put a slight downer on proceedings as we had plans to leave soon anyway, this only being a quick trip in between visiting friends.

This larger specimen topped off the day nicely. 

My mood was quickly lifted though by another great take, this fish putting up a much better fight. Still not thick-lip standards but great fun. I enjoyed watching it twist and turn in the shallows beneath me, it's silver sides flashing back the May sunshine. Eventually it came to the net and I had a better specimen, although still only around a pound or two. After he was returned though the fishing switched off, as if the mullet just decided 'we're not hungry anymore'. The wind was picking up and the tide was quickly retreating, it was our cue to leave. A new species ticked off that's left me excited to try it again!

As always, thanks for reading and please check out my Facebook page for regular updates and blog posts.

Summer's Long Goodbye - Pen Rods, Gnomes & Mullet

With autumn fast approaching, it's easy to feel the panic of summer's inevitable demise. The night's are drawing in, wind and rain are becoming more frequent, it would be easy to get disheartened. But that would be ignoring what are probably the most productive months of the year, in both salt and freshwater. In the sea, the summer species are still here and they're also being joined by the winter rabble - the whiting, pouting, cod, big pollock and herring. In the rivers and lakes, pike and perch are starting to pile on that winter weight, the cooler, clearer water putting lure fishing right at the fore of the modern angler's mind. For the opportunists out there this time of year can reap great rewards. I'm a greedy angler, the more variety the better, so bring on the autumn, lets see what we can catch amongst the falling leaves.

Two weeks ago I had a fantastic Sunday's fishing, one of those days that make the Monday at work so much more bearable, not because I caught huge fish (though I did miss one), but because of fantastic company and truly entertaining fishing.

It started with a pen rod in hand. I had entered myself into a pen rod competition and to be completely honest had forgotten about it. Sunday was the final day of the competition and an alert came up on my Facebook with interesting news, it was a species comp' and the winner currently stood with four species, a figure I knew I had a great chance of beating. I already had plans to fish with Olly later in the day, so I decided to head out in the morning with the pen rod (looking quite ridiculous in the process) and try to tempt as many species as possible. Using a heavy in-line lead and a small hook baited with Power Isome, I managed to land five species in a very short amount of time. The highlight being when a huge shoal of mackerel moved in, chasing the baitfish shoals in the low water, they're such a pleasure to watch and I managed to land one! What a nightmare it was on the pen rod too, my drag gave up on me as I tried to lift it up the harbour wall, so I ended up handlining it the rest of the way. That fish, combined with black and rock gobies, corkwring wrasse and whiting put me in the lead of the competition. I had to meet up with Olly so I left there and bought some more mackerel and ragworm from Rob's Tackle & Bait, handily open on a Sunday.

In high spirits I met up with Olly to discover we had quite a gang of us going fishing, with Shane, Louise and Zoe all deciding to give it a go. Rame was to be the venue for our angling that afternoon, and I figured I should be able to get another species for the competition too. We arrived and made the thorny and slippery descent to our favourite mark. Olly was targeting a dogfish as he hadn't caught one yet, the rest of us were just content with catching anything. Whilst we set up it was obvious there were a lot of fish in the area, fish surfacing everywhere and dark shadows of baitfish were right near the surface. Zoe, Shane and Olly all tried various lures with no success, the fish seemed a little too small even for mini sandeel lures. The bigger fish were out of casting range for LRF tackle so I encouraged Shane to use a heavier Dexter Wedge to get amongst them. Still no luck though, I asked if I could give it a go as I didn't bring my usual lure set up, graciously he said yes. After a couple of fluffed attempts I managed to achieve the perfect cast, bringing it through the swirling shoal, fish on! Expecting a mackerel I was delighted to find it was a herring, my first ever. Unfortunately it wasn't in the best of health so I decided to use it for bait. Meanwhile Olly had his first fish of the day, a small bull huss, the first of what would end up many that day. I set a rod up on the bottom with half of the herring whilst I used my pen rod to catch my sixth species, a tiny pollock. I started to try for the herring and mackerel with the pen rod, during which a bass of around four pound followed my lure right to the rocks, I doubt I would have got that in on the pen had it taken it! I was setting up another rod when my herring rod went, I had set the drag loose to stop it getting pulled into the sea but it nearly went anyway, it was a huge bite and I leapt across the rocks to hit it, unfortunately I struck into nothing, I had missed the fish. The fish must have been on for around five seconds but I was too far away to strike it properly, I was pretty gutted to say the least. I speculated it was either a decent bass or huss, either would have been very special. I moved on though and got much more heartening news through that I had won the pen rod competition. We spent the rest of the evening catching small huss and mackerel.

The biggest surprise came last though, as Olly's rod started tapping away very unlike the huss bites we had enjoyed all day. He struck into a very different feeling fish and Shane's rod went too, there was a moment of confusion until we realised Shane's had just got tangled with Olly's (leaving Shane a tad disappointed). Olly's fish revealed itself to be a couches bream! A great surprise and a new species for Olly. During the commotion of landing that fish, a wave nearly washed the net into the sea, leaving me no choice but to jump in after it! Luckily it was still on the rocks but I was soaked! After all that excitement it was time to go home, a couple of new species, lots of laughs and winning the competition. That's a good day's fishing to me.

Olly fished again the next night in a different spot and managed a small conger eel, another new species for him.

My next trip was fishing the River Culm near Exeter with Adam. He had never caught a pike and I really wanted a lure caught chub. We met up at Exeter Tackle Shop and headed to the river. At first it was a little uninspiring, with no sign of fish at all. My little plugs were getting zero attention from the chub in the water, if indeed there were any there at all. I decided quickly that pike would be a better target, certainly a fish I'm a lot more knowledgeable with. I was using my favourite Crazy Fish Vibro Worm in pink and yellow. It didn't take long to get a hit from a good fish, unfortunately in typical pike manner it shook the hook after ten seconds. It was a start though and followed that up with a smaller jack shaking the hook in similar time right at my feet.

Wanting Adam to catch his first pike I gave him my lure to try. I moved onto a red senko on a weedless hook, experimenting with American bass tactics. Adam soon had numerous hits from a hungry fish, he finally hooked it and got to experience the raw animosity of an angry summer pike. Summer pike are lean and athletic, they are certainly bulkier in the colder months but are simply much more fun in the summer, though being delicate fish at the best of times, you really have to look after them once they're on the bank, don't be afraid to rest them in the landing net to let them get their strength back. Adam's first ever pike was a great fish, at around five pounds still a jack but considering my first pike was around thirty centimetres it was an excellent start.
We moved up and down the stretch, finding that the fish were quite predictably on the bends, perfect ambush areas. I soon had a pike of my own on the red senko, only a jack of a pound or two but as it was a fish on a new technique I was pretty pleased. It was obvious that the more traditional paddle tails were much more effective though. Adam managed to follow his pike up with a decent perch of over a pound and then we had to leave. Unfortunately it was only a short trip but it's got me excited for the upcoming pike season.

The next week was spent fishing short LRF sessions when I could with Olly, Shane, Louise and Ellie. Olly managing to get even more species under his belt - long spined sea scorpion, rock goby and tompot blenny all being caught by him, he's really got to grips with LRF recently. My favourite fish of those trips being a chunky little pout and the moment, whilst reeling in a large tompot blenny, that a bass almost snatched my fish! 

I don't get to fish enough with Robbie, ironic considering he runs a fishery. We did however manage to steal a couple of hours after work one day, to try a mullet spot he's been told about. So off we went armed with our coarse fishing tackle and a loaf of bread. The spot was on the River Plym where the river floods with the tide, bringing with it large shoals of thick lipped mullet. We set up and managed to find a lot of feeding fish (not always easy when mullet fishing). They were happily taking our bread offerings and we were slightly optimistic. What happened next was quite predictable, hundreds of missed takes, frustration and heart in mouth moments, yet zero fish hooked. Then the tide turned and I knew that they can be easier to catch on the outgoing tide (in theory). Rob proved this to be correct as he hooked one, only small but we were still overjoyed to get it on the bank. A bold little thick lip, Robbie's first of the year. Try as I could I couldn't get one, but I knew with more subtle tackle and a slightly larger hook I would have a good chance when I tried it again.

The mullet would have to wait though as I had a pen rod meet to partake in. Meeting up with Age Lundstrom and friends who, particularly Ben Grout, were dressed brilliantly like gnomes! I felt quite underdressed wearing only a beanie hat pulled up gnome style, but the guys didn't seem to mind. Age had put on the whole competition with generous help from Sea View Angling Tackle Shop. The prizes were fantastic and the beautiful Major Craft LRF rod and HTO Rockfish reel I won is something I will get so much use out of. Age is a keen writer himself and will share his full write up of the events soon, so I won't get into too much detail here. Just a quick word from me to say thank you Age and Sea View for putting on such a great competition.

After the gnome-based hi-jinks, it was time to try for the mullet again. This time I was armed with a much more sensitive float and a strong size twelve hook, having found the eighteen's used before to be too small. I had picked up Ellie from work and knew we only had a couple of hours before
A) the sun would be setting, and
B) Ellie would be fed up and ready to go home.
So no pressure then!
The water was more low and clear than the session before and the fish weren't there in numbers, but they were bigger. We started feeding up the swim heavily with bread and they quickly destroyed our offerings. The usual missed takes were still in full effect, the fact you can see them taking the bait actually works against you, I find you strike too soon. So I tried my best to be patient. I waited for the float to go down before I struck and bingo, fish on! What a feeling after all the frustration and disappointment. Ellie rushed to get the net but I couldn't force it, the fish darted all over the river in front of me, taking line at will, I did not want to lose this fish. Luckily the hook held strong and it was in the net! Contrary to popular belief, the mullet's mouth is actually extremely tough, the hook was right on the tip of its bulbous lip, a hook hold like that would have pulled out instantly if they were the marshmallow-mouthed fish of popular opinion. The fish was no monster, but the combination of relief of landing one, the fantastic fight and the beauty of the fish itself, meant I couldn't remove the smile off my face if I tried. We returned the fish to the water and it obviously informed all it's shoal mates, because the fish seemed to vanish. We wondered up and down the stretch looking for them but couldn't find any in a feeding mood, this didn't bother us too much though, Ellie was keen to go home and I had caught the prize I had set out for. Proving an hour in the right place is worth days elsewhere. I can't wait to catch more.

Totals after that are:

Ben - 44 Species - Perch, Roach, Gudgeon, Rudd, Bream/Roach hybrid, Mirror Carp, Pike, Rainbow Trout, Common Blenny, Corkwring Wrasse, Tompot Blenny, Ballan Wrasse, Rock Goby, Common Carp, Ghost Carp, Black Goby, Pollock, Goldsinny Wrasse, Golden Rudd, Golden Orfe, Blue Orfe, Golden Tench, Crucian Carp, Sand Smelt, Giant Goby, Long Spined Sea Scorpion, Lesser-Spotted Dogfish, Bull Huss, European Eel, Topknot, Common Minnow, Three Spined Stickleback, Sea Bass, Mackerel, Bronze Bream, Whiting, Dragonet, Brown Trout, Koi Carp, Scad, Pouting, Couches Bream, Herring & Thick Lipped Mullet

Olly - 31 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, Bull Huss, Gudgeon, Crucian Carp, European Eel, Ghost Carp, Poor Cod, Mackerel, Scad, Couches Bream, Conger Eel, Rock Goby, Tompot Blenny & Long Spined Sea Scorpion

Ellie - 25 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, Bull Huss, Three Spined Stickleback, Mackerel & Sea Bass

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

Shane - 14 Species - Rudd, Roach/Bream Hybrid, Crucian Carp, Pollock, Shore Rockling, Common Carp, Mirror Carp, Roach, Bull Huss, Lesser-Spotted Dogfish, Corkwring Wrasse, Common Blenny, Mackerel & Giant Goby

Robbie - 14 Species - Perch, Mirror Carp, Roach, Rudd, Eel, Ballan Wrasse, Topknot, Crucian Carp, Common Carp, Golden Rudd, Blue Orfe, Pollock, Mackerel & Thick Lipped Mullet

Head over to www.fishingtails.co.uk for quality articles and fishing reports.

As always, thanks for reading. 

  

Leicester Pike & Plymouth Dragons

I have chosen recently to wind myself up targeting mullet again. It's like winding back to my teenage years, chasing girls who I know in the end will just reject me, it's bloody agonising! I will get the better of these fish eventually, but I'm not expecting miracles. Luckily enough I have had some small successes targeting other species too, which keeps the spirits up. This post is about them.

Ellie is originally from Leicestershire and last Thursday I finally got to meet her extended family. We had set aside a day to try some fishing too, targeting zander and pike. Staying in Hinckley, I found out that the Ashby Canal nearby was free fishing and had a population of 'zeds', so figured it was worth a try. We soon learned why it was free fishing, the canal is the colour of rich brown soup, churned up constantly by boat traffic. We didn't feel confident. After blanking for two hours in a couple of different spots we left it and had some lunch with Ellie's grandparents instead. A much more worthwhile endeavour.
After more entertaining family greetings (and fantastic home made indian food!), we decided to give a stretch of the the River Soar in the east of Leicester a go (after asking advice in a local tackle shop, always a good idea when you don't know the area). It was early evening and if there was any time we could potentially get a zander it was then. We arrived at a very inviting stretch, where a marina inlet caused a fork in the river. Though it was weedy it looked like a great fish holding area, and so it proved to be. I was using my LRF gear, casting a five gram jig head with a Crazy Fish Vibro Worm in peach and custard colours, it looked fantastic in the clear water. On my third retrieve I saw a pike miss my lure then snatch it at the second attempt. It went off like a rocket, diving in and out of the weeds, taking line. I've had pike on light tackle before but, even though this wasn't a large fish, it pulled like few pike I've ever had the pleasure of hooking. After about a minute of adrenaline fuelled action it was in the net, at between three to four pounds, not a monster, but certainly my favourite pike of the year so far. The funniest part was, in Ellie's excitement to get the net, she had reeled in her rod quickly and netted my fish, it was only when we put the fish on the landing mat, that she realised she had caught a pike too! On the end of her plug was a pike only just bigger than it, she quickly put it back in the water, feeling terrible she hadn't realised she had hooked it. We got the pictures of both though and they swam away fine, we both laughed at how we had a double hook-up without even realising it! After that entertaining start we were hoping for more, but as is often the way in fishing, those proved to be the only fish of the evening. We didn't mind though, we were truly knackered after a long day and headed back to the hotel in fine spirits.

I certainly would like to try around the Leicester area again, it has some fantastic fishing available, but money, time and the reality of a full time job are always against me unfortunately, but I was happy with the result of a cumulative of three hours fishing that day.

My next trip was after those dastardly mullet again. I know there's probably somebody reading this who's really adept at catching mullet of both types, I'm not there yet, but with all this practice I hope to soon be. One thing I've taken away from it so far is location is everything, spinning for thin lips is much easier if you can see the groups of them and is in slightly deeper water, where they are more confident. Whilst thick lips just require patience and a large amount of groundbait.
Ellie has been desperate to catch a schoolie bass, not even a big one, just a schoolie, apparently she just loves the name. I knew exactly where to take her, Kingsbridge. It turned out to be a good idea, as baited spinners proved lethal for them, Ellie caught one on her first cast and as the tide came in we must of had nearly forty by the end. Only tiny fish really, but it ticked off the schoolie bass for her and it was great fun, even if the strong winds made casting sometimes very difficult. I also managed to hook a thick lipped mullet in the back accidentally in the shallows, it then did its best impression of a bonefish as it shot off, I managed to get it in eventually but as I reached for it in the mud, it snapped my line! Completely my own fault, I left my net with Ellie and rushed it, at least I could feel better that the hook was barbless and would easily fall out of the fish. I cursed myself for being an impatient idiot though, a rush of blood to the head happens to everyone at some point I suppose. Catching bass after bass got a little monotonous in the end and we had one last try at the top of the creek, where I watched a large thin lip bite the end of my ragworm but miss the hook... After a couple more bass giving me false hope, I decided I had tortured myself enough and it was time to head home.

A couple of days later I fancied winding myself up some more. I figured Tamerton Creek in Tamerton Foliot could have some potential for mullet. I arrived near high tide to find the place pretty much deserted, only a few small fish cruising around. I float fished some bread for a while but realised I was wasting my time, somewhere else had to be more fruitful. Millbay would be my next target, usually there are hundreds of mullet there. When I got there though I couldn't see one! These fish don't play by any rules. There were quite a few anglers about float fishing and chucking feathers and I figured I could always try on the bottom for a flatfish or gurnard. I had a spinner set up for mullet just in case and a few ragworm (that mostly were a little too big for the tactic), so I decided to try along the bottom, using the spinner as an attractant for the trailing live ragworm. Finding a quiet spot I quickly caught two hard fighting pollock, no great size but they really go well on LRF tackle. A young lad came along asking for advice so I stopped for a bit to help him out, he was after mackerel, he only stayed for about fifteen minutes though and as soon as he left they arrived! Baitfish leaping clear of the water as they chased them to the surface. I cast to them and immediately had a fish on, only a small one but I love the way they zip around even at that size. Unfortunately with the mackerel there it didn't take long for the feather chuckers to start casting over my head, a couple of them were pretty decent guys who were very interested in the technique I was using, but another seemed to be trying his best to stamp all over my gear, which as you can imagine got annoying quick. He soon left though and the other guys stuck around with some decent conversation. I was very slowly dragging the spinner along the bottom, stopping occasionally. It really worked well and I had a fish nearly every cast including a couple of new ones for me, The usual suspects were there, pollock , rock goby, and ballan wrasse, but some surprised me like a small silver eel (luckily it was easy to unhook), a couple of small whiting (which I was completely unexpecting) and a fish I have been trying to catch for a while now, a dragonet. When I caught the dragonet I probably looked quite silly in front of the guys, getting very excited about such a small unassuming fish, but after targeting them a couple of times I had caught one, which felt great. It had turned out to be a very productive hour or so, seven species, still no mullet, but there's always next time.

Totals after that are:

Ben - 37 Species - Perch, Roach, Gudgeon, Rudd, Bream/Roach hybrid, Mirror Carp, Pike, Rainbow Trout, Common Blenny, Corkwring Wrasse, Tompot Blenny, Ballan Wrasse, Rock Goby, Common Carp, Ghost Carp, Black Goby, Pollock, Goldsinny Wrasse, Golden Rudd, Golden Orfe, Blue Orfe, Golden Tench, Crucian Carp, Sand Smelt, Giant Goby, Long Spined Sea Scorpion, Lesser-Spotted Dogfish, Bull Huss, European Eel, Topknot, Common Minnow, Three Spined Stickleback, Sea Bass, Mackerel, Bronze Bream, Whiting & Dragonet

Olly - 25 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, Bull Huss, Gudgeon, Crucian Carp, European Eel, Ghost Carp, Poor Cod & Mackerel

Ellie - 25 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, Bull Huss, Three Spined Stickleback, Mackerel & Sea Bass

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

Shane - 14 Species - Rudd, Roach/Bream Hybrid, Crucian Carp, Pollock, Shore Rockling, Common Carp, Mirror Carp, Roach, Bull Huss, Lesser-Spotted Dogfish, Corkwring Wrasse, Common Blenny, Mackerel & Giant Goby

Robbie - 13 Species - Perch, Mirror Carp, Roach, Rudd, Eel, Ballan Wrasse, Topknot, Crucian Carp, Common Carp, Golden Rudd, Blue Orfe, Pollock & Mackerel

Head over to www.fishingtails.co.uk for quality articles and fishing reports.

As always, thanks for reading.

Return Of The Mac

Since my last post I've been lucky to experience some incredibly fun fishing, as always it's not all been smooth sailing, but with mackerel here in vast numbers and schoolie bass plentiful, I can't remember when I last blanked, and as all fishermen know, that is a huge weight off your shoulders.

When it comes to blanking and frustration, there is one fish species that comes to mind... Mullet. They are famously difficult to catch and I would love to say I got the better of one this week, but I didn't. Though it did lead to me catching my first few bass of the year.
Thin-lipped are the much more forgiving of our two common mullet species, they don't grow as large as thick-lips but they will take spinners baited with ragworm or isome. I had heard and read that they can be quite forthcoming on this technique so had to give it a try. After asking around Facebook, a fellow angler called Adam Sharp told me there were plenty of them in Kingsbridge, he was also so sure I wouldn't catch one he wagered £100! With money like that on the table it would be rude not to try, so I finished work and drove the 45 minutes to Kingsbridge. Although the harbour looked inviting, I had my eye on a spot around the corner on a different inlet, it was shallow but absolutely stacked with fish. I don't think I've ever seen so many fish in one place, which makes my inability to catch a mullet all the more ridiculous. I was fishing a modified spinner with a 6 inch trace of fluorocarbon, with a size 12 hook, using isome as the trailer bait. Within five minutes I had a thin-lip on! I saw the flash of the fish sideways as it shook the hook, an annoying but promising start. I had numerous follows but couldn't get another. I did have 9 tiny bass though and lost about 10 more too, they were really pre-school bass, but I didn't mind, they saved the blank and were a new species for me. I knew I had to try again though for those frustrating mullet.
A couple of days later myself and Dad had a joint day off, due some Father-Son time we decided to try again in Kingsbridge. The tide was later in the day so we stopped off for some food first at the Crabshell, fully recommend that place, the fish was superb. Full and ready to go we watched the tide come in up the inlet, with fish topping everywhere. Dad was first to catch, the expected toddler bass. He lost a couple more before I got one, we caught another one each as the tide came in fast around us. I had another set-up with bread for the Thick-lips too, though as usual I couldn't get a bite from them! What had started quite promisingly had petered out a bit really, I regretted not buying some ragworm, isome was fine for bass but not for the tricky mullet. Still, as the old saying goes, 'if you're not catching, you're learning' and that couldn't be more true in this case.

My next fishing trip wasn't really a session at all, it was supposed to be my three year anniversary with Ellie. I planned a nice romantic picnic for her and intended to go to Wembury Point. She told me to take the LRF rod just in case (it's very easy to see how we've lasted three years isn't it?). I had a last minute change of mind and went to Saltram instead. After a walk and some delicious food and wine, we walked up to the salt marsh near the top of the estuary. Mullet are known to gather there and that day was no exception. At the mouth of the river there were thousands of fish at the surface, most likely small thick-lipped mullet. I had the same spinner I had used before, this time baited with Fladen Vermz (still not sold on those, even if they did catch a couple of bass). I managed to spook the shoal and unsurprisingly got no feeding reaction from them. Moving further up the tide-flooded river, the water was murkier and with no obvious signs of fish. Two casts later though I had a massive hit on my lure and a fish was on. After a couple of powerful runs it was tamed and revealed itself to be a lovely sized schoolie bass of around 2lb. I was over the moon, I don't make enough of a habit to fish for bass, and this modest fish was a new personal best! All because Ellie told me to take the rod on our date. Unfortunately she couldn't get one too to top off the day, but we headed home in good spirits nonetheless.

All through the week it had been obvious the mackerel were back in large numbers, social media was alive with talk of them. So on Saturday, myself and Robbie went after them on Mount Batten Pier. I can only say it was crazy. Fish surfacing everywhere and sets of feathers being flown in their direction frantically. I have never seen fishing like it, the majority of it was good natured though and I didn't see many people abusing the fish too much. I started off on feathers but found them to be too effective. I only wanted a couple of fish for bait, so catching six at a time on unsportingly huge rods was not my idea of fun. I quickly changed over to my LRF set up though and proceeded to catch a fish a cast on my favourite HTO Shore Jig. They are immense fighters for their size and it was great fun, but with fishing so easy it quickly became a little monotonous, so we left. Ellie was at home and really wanted to catch one too, so I dropped Robbie home and picked her up. We got there to find, with the tide higher, the mackerel were pushing the baitfish up against the pier wall and it was an incredible sight, all it needed was an Attenborough narration to make it perfect. Ellie quickly caught her mackerel and we headed home away from the chaos. It inspired me to write a short article about the good and bad side of the mackerel 'rush' on Fishing Tails, have a look here -

http://www.fishingtails.co.uk/the-mackerel-rush-the-good-the-great-the-ugly/

After all the excitement and fun of the sea fishing, I felt compelled to even it up and catch some freshwater species that were on my list. Bream and tench being my desired targets. I had caught both species before at Trewandra Coarse Fishery near Landrake, Cornwall, but hadn't fished it for over a year, so that was where I headed. It's a lovely little lake, well established now and with a great head of carp to 25lb, it also boasts some huge roach (to over 3lb) and tench (to over 6lb). You pay at an honesty box in the car park and quite often you are the only angler there. This time though there were two others fishing it, a chap who was after the carp and a father with his daughter and son, fishing for the carp too on the other side of the lake. I wasn't interested in the carp. I really desired a decent tench but knew they would be difficult. I had two set ups to try during the day, a simple float rig - plummeted correctly so the bait rested just on the bottom - and a small 'bolt-rig' with luncheon meat on a hair. On the bolt rig I soon had numerous hard fighting roach/bream hybrids, so many in fact that I wondered if I would ever catch a true bream! It was on my float set-up that I eventually had my bream - all weight and zero fight, just what I was looking for. With that one off my list I really wanted that tench, but all I could seem to catch was hybrids, bream and roach, superb fishing to be honest and in a couple of hours I probably caught over 20lb of fish, yet not a single tench. I didn't have a huge amount of time to fish either and soon I had to head home. I will have to return at an earlier time for those tincas.

Olly and Shane managed to get out over the last week too, catching Mackerel, with Shane also getting his first ever Corkwring Wrasse, Shanny and Giant Goby, which boosted his total considerably. Not bad going at all for them.

Totals after that are:

Ben - 35 Species - Perch, Roach, Gudgeon, Rudd, Bream/Roach hybrid, Mirror Carp, Pike, Rainbow Trout, Common Blenny, Corkwring Wrasse, Tompot Blenny, Ballan Wrasse, Rock Goby, Common Carp, Ghost Carp, Black Goby, Pollock, Goldsinny Wrasse, Golden Rudd, Golden Orfe, Blue Orfe, Golden Tench, Crucian Carp, Sand Smelt, Giant Goby, Long Spined Sea Scorpion, Lesser-Spotted Dogfish, Bull Huss, European Eel, Topknot, Common Minnow, Three Spined Stickleback, Sea Bass, Mackerel & Bronze Bream

Olly - 25 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, Bull Huss, Gudgeon, Crucian Carp, European Eel, Ghost Carp, Poor Cod & Mackerel

Ellie - 24 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, Bull Huss, Three Spined Stickleback & Mackerel

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

Shane - 14 Species - Rudd, Roach/Bream Hybrid, Crucian Carp, Pollock, Shore Rockling, Common Carp, Mirror Carp, Roach, Bull Huss, Lesser-Spotted Dogfish, Corkwring Wrasse, Common Blenny, Mackerel & Giant Goby

Robbie - 13 Species - Perch, Mirror Carp, Roach, Rudd, Eel, Ballan Wrasse, Topknot, Crucian Carp, Common Carp, Golden Rudd, Blue Orfe, Pollock & Mackerel

Head over to www.fishingtails.co.uk for quality articles and fishing reports.

As always, thanks for reading.

Sunshine, Bass & Mullet Mind Games

I've been quite lucky this week to not only have time off work but also to have such fantastic weather with it. This inevitably has led to quite a bit of fishing time, some quite successful, others not so much. I've tried to vary the fishing as much as possible to try and boost the species total, but this has led to chasing the harder species e.g. Bass & Mullet, and we know how frustrating they can be! We'll start on freshwater though and slightly more relaxed circumstances.

This week I have had one target in my mind - Mullet, but if you know of these fish you know that planning to catch one and doing it are completely different things. Myself, Ellie, Olly and Shane all had Monday off so decided to try for the 'Grey Ghost'. Looe had done the trick for me in the past so we headed there with the intention of hopefully catching one, we arrived to find conditions were not in our favour, a cold breeze and weedy water were no good for the shallow water stalking I wanted to try. I decided there was no point in wasting our time and that Bake Lakes was a better option, it held a few species we all still needed to catch. So that's where we headed. We arrived and set up quite quickly, having bought the bait and licences needed. Me and Ellie fished one peg on Dunes and Olly and Shane fished another. Baiting up with micropellet and sweetcorn the Carp soon bulldozed their way into our swim and got to feeding, with them so focused on micropellet though it took a while to persuade them to take our bait, I was using Isome on a Dropshot rig and Ellie (more traditionally) float with Sweetcorn. Ellie's was first to go though and what a surprise it was... A good sized Bream of about 3lb. We weren't expecting it and the size was much higher than average for the lake, a great turn up for Ellie and a new species for her. She soon followed it up with a Crucian Carp and a Common, taking her to 20 species. With nothing happening on my LRF tactics we switched over and eventually, after quite a few missed bites and the usual Roach & Rudd, I had my own Crucian. I love Crucian Carp, they are such a great little dinner plate shape, give their all in the fight and aren't very easy to catch at times, I was really happy with that result. Meanwhile Shane had a couple of Roach and Carp which were new species for him. Olly had a couple of Carp but he was really after a Crucian, they avoided him all day though. I switched back to LRF and had a ridiculous take! A large Carp stormed off in front of me and my drag screamed, after a good five minute battle it was in the net. An immaculate 8lb Common Carp that couldn't have looked more perfect, some of the Carp in the lake have unfortunately been caught so many times that their mouths are damaged and some scales are missing. That is the reality of a commercial lake that sees so much business, especially from inexperienced coarse anglers that don't always treat every fish like they should. This fish though had obviously been either lucky or wily enough not to be caught much and it was an honour to hold such a pretty fish. We fished most of the day with good success catching varieties of Carp then satisfied, headed home.

Robbie had invited me to fish and do a write up for the new Specimen Lake - Caesar's Palace, the next night. I obviously couldn't resist and I will post that up soon. It was a lovely way to spend 12 hours and ended up in a completely virgin 11lb 2oz Mirror Carp, my biggest fish of the year so far.

I had Mullet on the mind still though.
Looe was worth another try so Ellie and Me went down again. With fish moving in the shallows we cast out our bread baited hooks. Quickly Ellie grew frustrated, I couldn't blame her, Mullet will do that to anyone. She decided to sit it out whilst I persevered, I waited for the tide to bring in the thousands of fish that it does every day. The fish in front of me gave tentative nibbles but nothing concrete. The tide started flooding in and I had completely underestimated the size of it! Washing huge amounts of debris in along with the fish I couldn't get a bait out there long enough to fish effectively. Two guys fishing across from me seemed to have similar luck. I gave up and decided the pub was a better option! A fishing trip is never a bad one when it ends in good company, food and beer, there's always next time.

Olly has recently been eyeing up my LRF gear in some jealousy and decided to buy himself some, well I was going past the tackle shop so bought it for him. I shouldn't really go to Osborne & Cragg in Plymouth because I always take far too much time in there, such is the quality of tackle and conversation. Having met the man behind the 'Duke Nukem' profile picture on Facebook, Andy Smith, I was able to thank him person for the spare spools he gave me the other week. I finally decided on what set up for Olly and then left to try for mullet again up the Plym River. I had overestimated the tides though and there were very few fish to target. I left after 45 minutes as I had promised Olly we would target Bass & Pollock that evening. I'm glad we did. We arrived in our favourite rock mark to beautiful clear waters, things looked promising. I had barely tied my lure on when Olly shouted 'Fish on!' his first cast with his brand new rod! He quickly followed it up with 'It's a Bass' which made the excitement levels jump. On light tackle the Schoolie Bass fought hard and it was a relief to get it in the net. It had taken a 7g Pink & Silver Metal Shore Jig, you couldn't wipe the smile from Olly's face, his first Bass of the year. We quickly took some photos then returned it to the sea. After that we were expecting more action but the only Bass we saw after was one smash my lure right by the rocks then come off, leaving me pretty devastated! Shane caught a little Pollock but as darkness set in it stayed quiet and we headed home. It certainly whet my appetite for more light jigging from the rocks, hopefully with more success next time.

After that the totals are:

Ben - 23 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

Ellie - 20 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

Olly - 16 Species - Perch, Rainbow Trout, Pike, Rudd, Roach, Mirror Carp, Common Carp, Pollock, Goldsinny Wrasse, Common Blenny, Shore Rockling, Corkwring Wrasse, Golden Rudd, Blue Orfe, Golden Tench & Sea Bass

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 - 11 Species - Perch, Mirror Carp, Roach, Rudd, Eel, Ballan Wrasse, Topknot, Crucian Carp, Common Carp, Golden Rudd & Blue Orfe

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.