30/10/2015 - Species hunting in the Haven

We were down in Wales for the half-term, so took the opportunity to try and add to my sea species tally. Got some quality ragworm from John at Raven Trading in Pembroke Dock (Raven Trading) ready for the next day, but woke up to find it pouring with rain and blowing a gale. Didn't fancy sitting out in the elements, so the first trip was delayed until the following morning. However, in the interim I managed to persuade my teenage son, James, to accompany me - no mean feat given that it meant him leaving his pit at 0700 hrs! When we got down to Hobbs Point on the Haven, the car park was roped off - the reason becoming clear later. Set the lad up with a two hook flapper, while I fished a scaled down "one up, one down" rig. I was first out of the blocks with a male corkwing wrasse - a new species for me.

This was swiftly followed by a couple of small, but hard fighting pollock.

James was having trouble converting the sharp jabs and rattles he was getting into hook-ups, so we swapped rods while I re-baited for him. Seemed to do the trick as he was soon into the first of many fish of the morning - a fat rock goby.

The reason why the car park was roped off soon became apparent when a crane turned up to remove the floating, mooring pontoon for the winter. 

Didn't put the fish off as we continued to catch pollock and gobies (and crabs...) until the tide turned and the resulting current temporarily pushed us over to the quieter water on the other side of the boat ramp. I'd seen this area at low tide a couple of days ago and knew it to be shallower and mostly mud with a thin film of algae, which was absolutely covered in the marks left by grazing mullet. With that in mind I changed the ragworm hookbait to thin strips of squid. However, the gobies seemed to like this just as much until eventually James shouted he'd got something different. Turned out to be a sand smelt - again a new species (for him!).

About an hour into the ebb the current had died down sufficiently for us to move back to our original position, where we carried from where we had left, catching even more gobies, pollock and the occasional small coalfish.

Unfortunately the bass and ballan wrasse that I've caught previously at the venue never turned up. However, when it came to go home I had to admit that the lad had given me a good thrashing. Probably something to do with me unhooking fish (and crabs....) and re-baiting for him every five minutes! Despite this, the next morning he returned true to form and refused to leave his bed, so I was off down the Haven by myself. Whilst I was able to concentrate a lot better on the job in hand, it was more of the same, with the bigger fish being conspicuous by their absence. The crabs were a particular problem, something I've not experienced before, coming up two at a time sometimes and including some hand-sized velvet swimmers.

These are meant to be good eating - by the Spaniards anyway - so I might take a pot with me next time, even if it's just to thin the buggers out a bit! I did manage to add to the species tally with a couple of poor cod and catch a sand smelt of my own. However, the bass and wrasse eluded me.

The greedy crab population might have been one reason, but another revealed itself as I was thinking of packing up. I'd just seen a disturbance on the surface out of the corner of my eye and was scanning the area at the bottom of the boat ramp when a common seal popped up! He didn't hang around once he'd seen me, but I took that as signal to head for home. That's the sea-fishing tackle packed up for another year, but hopefully the zander gear will be getting a regular run out over the next few weeks as I try and catch a river double. 

22/10/2015 - Zander (but mostly pike!) sessions

Had a couple more sessions out on the River Soar for the zander, but you can probably tell from the title of the post that this didn't go entirely to plan! The first was on a navigable section of the river, one I normally fish at the back end for the pike. The odd photograph and snippet of information indicated that zander were present and of reasonable size, but gave no clue as to how prevalent they were. Got there late afternoon while it was still bright and sunny, so found a swim and waited for the boat traffic to die down and the sun to dip below the trees before casting in. Put one bait over to the boats and one down the middle and settled down to wait.

The downstream rod started knocking just as it was getting dark. However, the culprit turned out to be a small pike. This was repeated a few minutes later, only this time I slashed my thumb to bits (again!) unhooking it and then, whilst bleeding profusely and looking for something to staunch the flow, somehow managed to tread on and break my glasses! With no more action forthcoming it was a bit of a disaster, made even worse by the fact that I did my back in a couple of days later and everything - work, cycling, fishing - had to be shelved for three weeks. Needless to say, once I'd got the all clear and had been discharged by the physio, I was itching to have another go, so took the fact I was working down at Rothley for the day as an opportunity to have a couple of hours on the river on the way home. Again, it was bright and sunny when I got to the river, so had a leisurely wander downstream and was pleased to find that "pole position" was vacant. Popped a couple of dead baits out into the usual spots thinking an early bonus pike might be around and wasn't disappointed when the downstream rod started nodding a few minutes later. Turned out to be a nice double of 13lb 12oz that gave me a really good scrap on the feeder rod, going through my other line in the process!

Spent a few minutes sorting out the "knitting" and re-tackling both rods as a result. However, a short while later the downstream rod was off again, resulting in another double of 11lb 1oz that coughed up a dyed, red sprat in the landing net. Had managed to unhook the first one without any mishap, but returned true to form when I caught my middle finger in the second pike's gill rakers - more blood!

Got runs at regular intervals after this, netting three jacks before hooking into another decent fish just as full darkness was approaching. A flying treble caused me a few problems at the net before I eventually had another double of 12lb 8oz on the bank.

Was running out of bait and heading towards last knockings when something tore off with the downstream bait again. This time it was what I was after - a zed of 6lb 13oz. A bit better looking than some of the examples I've had recently with all of its fins intact.  

Packed up after this and headed home. Wales for half-term next, so planning to get some sea-fishing done. After that, more short evening sessions after work and hopefully a few more zeds!

25/09/2015 - An unusual treble

First zander trip of the season on the River Soar and I probably couldn't have chosen less suitable conditions - a low, clear river and a bright, sunny day. There were two others on the section when I got there in the late afternoon - one chap had just set up after the barbel and the other had been chubbing, but had struggled all day. My favoured swim was empty. However, it was far too early to think about putting any baits out, so I messed about with the float rod for a couple of hours, catching bleak after bleak with the odd small chub and dace mixed in. Waited until the sun had dropped and river was in the shadow of the embankment behind me before putting two deadbaits out into the pool. Was getting a few strange pulls and taps on the downstream rod that made me think of crayfish and I was just about to wind it in to check the bait when a couple more determined taps signalled a fish. Not my target species, but at least a jack to start proceedings.

Failed to connect with the next run, winding down and striking into thin air despite the line initially fizzing off through my fingers and the hooks coming back bare. However, when a further opportunity presented itself not long afterwards, the strike was met with firm resistance. This turned out to be a rather empty zander of 5lb 12oz and another one with "frilly" fins, possibly just natural wear from being in the river?

Missed another run after this, but the one immediately afterwards may go a long way to providing an explanation. Responded to a tap, tap on the rod top by opening the bail arm and feeling the line out between my fingers as usual. However, when I wound down and hit the fish all hell broke loose. I was getting such weird feedback up through the line that I thought that I was fighting a fish through a snag on the bottom. The reason became obvious when, after making some headway, a decent eel popped up, gyrating madly on the surface. I'd only just hooked it on the bottom treble and it had then rolled on the line. Took a few minutes to free it from the unholy mess it made of my landing net, but eventually weighed it at bang on 3lb.  

The Soar has turned up a few big eels in matches recently, including one of 5lb 11oz in a Riverfest qualifier (Eels galore on the River Soar). Could they be the reason for some of the mysterious, unhittable runs I've been getting? Apart from completing an unusual predator treble, it also gave me an opportunity to practice my snake wrestling........unsuccessfully!

11/09/2015 - Earning my stripes

Back home and no trips to the coast forthcoming until October, so my thoughts have turned to river predators. Had a "trotanoster" session on the River Soar to see if there were any perch about to kick things off. Upon arrival, I found that I had the whole stretch of river to myself, so was able to wander up at leisure to my favoured swim downstream of a weir on a nice, natural section off the navigable channel. Obviously hadn't been fished much judging by the undergrowth, so I nearly trod in the plastic tub filled with what looked like cat food in the middle of the path - curious!  

River was low and clear and I could see large numbers of silver fish hanging off the cabbages and streamer weed. As soon as I got the float rod going it was a bite a chuck, mostly from chub and dace, but also bleak, roach, small perch and skimmers.  Could just make out a pale, torpedo ghosting around the swim, so wasn't surprised when the water erupted in front of me as a pike tried to snatch the roach I was lifting out of the water. He stuck around for a bit after that, hanging just under the surface and taking a mild interest in every fish I put back, before finally drifting off and leaving me alone.  As soon as I'd got a few baits together I dropped the paternoster onto the crease between the flow and slack area to my right. Wasn't long before the tip jabbed down and the indicator smacked into the back rod rest. This carried on happening on a regular basis throughout the session - unfortunately, whilst it was down to my target species, they were not the size I was after!

Had eight of the little buggers and numerous stolen or mangled baits before the rod tip went over again I was into something more sizeable. I knew that this was a better perch from the head-banging and so it proved. A very hollow and slightly battered old warrior, but my first 2lb+ perch of the autumn at 2lb 4oz.

Quickly popped another bait out in the expectation that he'd have a companion with him. Again, it wasn't long before the rod started tapping and then hooped over. However, I knew from the solid weight that it wasn't a stripey, confirmed when a spotty missile (possibly my friend from earlier) went airborne and tail-walked through the swim. Eventually got him under control and in the net, where I tried to unhook him, rather than take him up the bank.

Unfortunately he span on my hand, driving two, long teeth on his lower jaw into the ball of my thumb. Aside from the copious blood at the time, I've still got a numb thumb, so I'm hoping he's not done me some nerve damage. My stupid fault if he has! Fished on until dark, catching a few more silvers on the float, but had nothing more on the paternoster - not surprising given the disturbance from the pike. Wandered back the the car by the light of the head torch, noting on the way that the plastic tub was now empty. Even more curious!

31/08/2015 - A mixed bag

After the success with the triggerfish I headed back to Pembroke Dock for a couple more sessions, but for slack water at high tide. Tactics and bait were exactly the same, a two hook flapper baited with raw prawn and/or a strip of squid dropped down the wall to see what was about. The bass certainly seemed to like the prawns as I had three plump specimens on this bait. It's been good to see that the bass size and bag limit is being publicised at various places around the county and whilst the biggest was probably just over the new minimum size of 42 cm it went back nonetheless. 

Spikeys

I've had a few wrasse at this venue in the past, so wasn't surprised that a nice ballan eventually turned up one morning, again on the prawn. The ones I've had before have been quite drab, but this one had fine blue detail to the edge of its fins and irridescent green spots on the tail.

Rock pig

I'd been alternating between prawn and squid strip on the top hook, so when I hooked into a hard fighting fish I was pleased that a) it had actually taken the squid and b) the fish in question was a good mullet. I see plenty of these on the surface further up the estuary, but this one had taken a bait in 20 feet of water!

Stripey

Perhaps if I'd had some ragworm then I would have had a few more fish, but I was happy enough given that I only had a very short fishing window each morning due to the spring tides. Milford Haven has an extreme range of nearly 8 metres on springs, meaning that there's a lot of water moving through it and that slack water doesn't stay "slack" for long! In order to stretch out the sessions I'd therefore taken a couple of lighter rods to use for LRF or scaled down bait tactics for mini-species in the quieter pockets of water.

LRF heaven

The most successful tactic of the two was a scaled down one up, one down rig with very short, 6lb fluorocarbon snoods and size 10 wormer hooks baited with scraps of prawn or squid. As usual the rock gobies were all over this, including some real "monsters".

Fatty!

I had so many of these that I almost overlooked the fact that I also had a solitary black goby in amongst them all.

Similar....but different!

Not a lot else managed to beat the gobies to the bait other than a couple of micro-pollock and a slightly bigger fish which, upon closer examination of the lateral line, I decided was a juvenile coalfish.

No kink = coalie?

Did have a couple of surprises. Had a thump of a take on a tiny bit of squid in some relatively shallow water next to the car ferry ramp from what turned out to be a big mackerel. This gave an excellent account of itself on the light tackle (and later on my plate!). Swapped over to small metal lures at this point, but there didn't seem to any more about.

Breakfast sorted!

Another fish that took a liking to a tiny bit of squid and gave me a similar run around was another mullet. I've not got around to specifically targeting these yet, so hopefully they will be equally obliging when I do so.

Oi, read the script!

One bonus from my last session was that I managed to glean quite a bit of local knowledge from a friendly native, including the location of a bait and tackle shop that I'd been driving straight past on the way to the venue. Next time!

27/08/2015 - Trigger happy!

Ever since I came back from Gran Canaria I've been hankering to get to the coast for more sea fishing. Chance finally came with a trip down to Pembrokeshire for the last week of August. I'd been watching the tides carefully and the first morning gave me an opportunity to fish low water at a mark that was becoming known for an unusual species at this time of year. My usual bait supplier was out of ragworm, so I had to make do with some frozen squid and some raw prawns from the supermarket - not a hinderance as it turned out. Got to the mark and had an exploratory drop down the side of the wall to find I was fishing in about 8 foot of water, instead of the usual 20 ft.

Sitting on the dock of the bay

Baited up my simple, two hook flapper with prawn and dropped it down the wall. Didn't have to wait long before the rattles started and was a bit over eager, striking into thin air. Next drop down was met by something more positive. Was expecting a small wrasse to pop up, so was over the moon when it turned out to be my target species - a perfect, little grey trigger fish.

Get in!

Took a quick snap and dropped down again and soon had another enquiry that put a proper bend in the rod. Again, I was expecting a wrasse as the fish fought like stink to get down to the bottom. However, one of the local boat owners turned up at this point and I think we were both surprised when another trigger fish finally rolled into the landing net.

Cracker!

Next fish was a bit of an anti-climax as a little rock goby managed to snaffle my bait. However, next cast I was into another battle, with the fish banging away on the end of the line like a perch and making short, determined runs to the bottom. Turned out to be yet another trigger fish - the biggest of the morning and easily over 3lbs.

Chunk!

I was please with the first one....but three in four casts? They are really interesting fish. Mostly grey, but with varying amounts of striping and a flash of azure blue when they "cock the trigger" - the small, spiny dorsal fin. Also have some impressive dentistry for crushing shellfish....and fingers as I nearly found out when one gave me a warning "snap" of the jaws when I went to take out the hook!

Flash

Went a bit quiet after this, so scaled down the rig and fished slivers of squid to see if there were any mini-species about. After a procession of rock gobies and suicidal micro-pollack I packed up and headed home for lunch - mission acomplished!

BOOM!!

   

14/06/2015 - Gran Canaria LRF, Part II

Decided to stay local to the hotel this time and headed down to the beach at Taurito. From our balcony I could see that the left hand side of the beach was fringed with rocks that extended around the corner of the bay. When we got down there I noticed a local fishing off them, chucking out what looked like big lumps of bread under a float. Saw him catch what looked to be a small bream, so settled in a diplomatic distance away from him. The rocks didn't make dropshotting a viable option this time, so I also set up with a float with sections of Markyu Isome and Angleworm on the hook. Cast out as far as I could into the onshore breeze and let the float drift back towards me over the rocks. Wasn't long before the float was dipping and bobbing under as fish attacked the bait. However, I failed to contact anything with the hook coming back baitless. Eventually sorted this out by keeping the line tight by very slowly retrieving the float and feeling the bites through the braid. Initially found that the usual culprits, the wrasse and the damselfish, were responsible. However, had a take on the drop from something that shot around all over the place. Turned out to be a small Derbio.

Slab of silver.

A few casts later and something grabbed the bait as it was coming in over the rocks. This was also a different species - a Lizardfish.

Red eyes and needle sharp teeth.

Had another one of these along with more wrasse and damsels before heading back to join the others for cocktail hour. Stu had been out snorkelling and reported seeing several, decent bass right close in to the beach. However, due to another local law - no fishing off the beach - these were also out of bounds!

Next day Stu and Dunc were booked in for a watersports package, so after waving them off to their potential doom on the parascending boat, I again headed off across the rocks. This time I headed further around the corner and found some deep water close in suitable for dropshotting -  next to a sewage outlet pipe from one of the hotels! This really turned out to be damselfish corner. I must have had two dozen of them, including the biggest of the trip. 

Damsel PB!

Rob came snorkelling over at one point to see how I was getting on. He was doing some underwater filming on the GoPro, so I promptly caught a damsel for the camera! I also had a cracking example of an Ornate Wrasse with claret and blue bands behind its head - a true Villa fan!

Real Villain.

Had been snagging up in the rocks, so was trying to limit lead loss by gently feeling the rig down to the bottom and then lifting up 6 inches as soon as I felt the lead hit bottom. Had done this a couple of times when the bait was taken with a real thump. The fish charged around under my feet for a bit before popping up onto the surface. Was pleased to see that it was a different species - a European Parrotfish.

Pretty Polly.

Got back to the others to find that Dunc had been hand-feeding the bass with bits of frankfurter sausage out of his potato salad! Tempting as it was, I didn't have a go for them. Rules are rules! I also understand that these European bass aren't indigenous anyway and are escapees from the various fish farms ringing the island.

Our penultimate day was also spent down on the beach at Taurito. While the others went swimming and snorkelling again, I headed off to try for something a bit different. Found a platform where I could again access deep water and put on a small paddletail. However, I couldn't get the required distance against the onshore breeze, so swapped it fairly quickly for a 7g silver Snapper Zapper casting wedge. Something slashed behind it on only the second retrieve. Next cast it was taken by something that shot off like a startled rabbit. Saw a long silver shape twisting in the clear water and its identity was confirmed when it went airborne. After a bit of a tussle I had a decent Garfish on the rock next to me.

Acrobat.

Took a quick snap and popped him back hoping that there were some more about. A few casts later I felt something bump the lure a couple of times before it was taken properly. Didn't feel a big fish, but I was more than happy when it turned out to be a small barracuda.

Predator in miniature.

Popped him back in and cast over the same area. In the next ten minutes I had another eight around the same size. Each time I would feel the lure getting bumped and knocked as it came through a particular area. Stu happened to come snorkelling around the corner as I caught what turned out to be the last one. When he swam over he said that he reckoned there was a shoal of at least 200 of them in front of me. However, as quickly as they arrived they were gone and, apart from a small Lizardfish, that was the end of the action. Headed back to the hotel for the last time only really having scratched the surface over the few days I'd been fishing (on one snorkelling session alone I counted 16 different species of fish). However, I'd had a great time and a few beers were consumed that night. Anyway, who knows...my licence is valid for three years?!

 Thanks Gran Canaria!