Cyprus Expedition 2: Saltwater.

After the first few days and the disappointments in the freshwater, I was in need of a morale boost. We had planned to fish with my friends Aggelos and Soulis in their local marks and they informed me that Cornetfish (Fistularia commersonii) and the silver cheeked toadfish (Lagocephalus scelaratus) had recently appeared in the area and in good numbers. I didn't get too excited though as I'm aware that the sea around most of Cyprus is relatively poor and didn't expect large numbers of fish. Thus we met up with the guys early in the morning of Sunday and headed straight for the mark in Soulis car.
The mark is near a power station and there is strong current generated by the station's outflow. This attracts bait fish and the predators follow... We picked the most favourable spots and started casting. I was using slim soft plastics of 2"-3" on 1.5-3.5g jigheads. From the first casts we all started getting bites and fish on our lures! It was madness and exactly what I needed after the previous hard days. We were on the right spot on the right time and the fish were feeding like crazy! I caught my first Cornet fish and was amazed by the alien look of this fish.. I was even more amazed by the amount of slime that covers them! Something that my friends forgot to mention... But I couldn't care less as I was catching fish! The Cornet fish is a good fighter and at times resembles garfish during the fight although it can move in all directions like an eel! What Ive noticed about them though, is that they would painstakingly observe the lure at times before committing, especially the larger ones. At first light they were relatively easy to catch but as the sun got higher they became more fussy and cautious. They have very good eyesight and I suspect the increased light levels made them more wary to our lures. Moreover after a few fish were caught on a given lure/presentation the rest would soon wise up to it and a change in presentation would have to take place for the bites to resume. This again is explained as they hunt in loose packs and observe the lure all together. Thus as the sun got higher I had to use more realistic colours and lighter jigheads (slower fall rate) to get more bites. Moreover a change to darting jigheads and or cheburashka with the respective change in rod movements/cadence brought more bites. They would generally hit near the bottom but especially later on they could be caught even on minnows worked with plenty of jerks near the surface. They are meant to take metals as well but my friends told me that it might be a bit early in the season for such fast presentations. They would hit one type of metal lures though, blades, and some of the biggest fish were caught on the ecogear ZX30 and 35. Another interesting thing about this fish is that its almost impossible to take a good photo! The camera just couldn't zoom in them properly. 

What a fish!

Eye of the predator..

They can even change colours..

Impossible to zoom on!

Pampos with a good one on the jerkbait.

After catching my fair share of Cornetfish, I noticed my friend Pampos started catching large toad fish on his jerkbaits. Seeing that they would hit so high in the water column and on such flashy lures with erratic retrieves I tied on an lipless cranckbait (that I bought for bass!) and started working it near the surface with lifts of the rod tip. I got a bite and after a few more turns of the handle, a solid take. This was a big fish and definitely not a cornet fish as it was not thrashing about, instead I could feel it thumping its head and moving slowly. I pumped the fish in with the rod bent in an unreal curve and soon a large toad was in the net! The lure popped out of its mouth straight away and in close inspection I could see that the trebles were ruined by the toadfish dentistry! We caught some more toad fish and lost even more from bent hooks, cut lines and ripped softplastics...
The toad fish would hunt in groups in all the water column and they preferred slow but intense actions in the presentation. It was very surprising that some fish would come in like bricks yet others would make sizzling runs on even tight drags! It became apparent that if you allow them some time to turn away from the shore and even more so when the pack is following the caught fish, they would then start to run!
What an unusual bunch of fish!
At some point I got hit OTD on a cheburashka rigged with a 7.5cm ribster and with the rod bent whole I felt that the fish was getting in a snag.. Perplexed as to what it was, I pressed the rod even harder and soon started gaining on the fish. A last attempt to hide in the rocks under my feet failed and I hoisted up a beautiful dusky grouper! It was my biggest ever and after a few pics was returned in the sea.

A pig in the net!

 

Trebles destroyed!

A stunning fish!

In the following days we made more forays in various harbours and we managed to find the smaller cousin of the toad fish with the beautiful green eyes. Some scorpion fish and unbelievable amounts of gobies completed the picture. 2-5g Cheburashkas, #10 longshank hooks and Isome along with tiny paddletails did the business.

Poser goby..

A new lrfer!

Green eyed piggy!

I love scorpion fish!

Aggressive goby.

Baby toad..

Goby central...

The tiniest grouper Ive ever caught!

So all in all another wonderful experience in Cyprus. The fishing was tough but considering the conditions I believe we found the best action we could! Many thanks yet again to my Cypriot friends and especially Pampos, Aggelos and Soulis as without them this trip would've been impossible.. I'm already planning for my next visit there and hopefully the bass will play ball then..
I will post some action packed videos soon!

Tight lines!

Gear used.
Rod: Spro Mobile stick 80 UL
Reel: Shimano Stradic 1000 fc
Mainline: YGK G-soul x3 PE 0.4
leader: Sunline FC guide special fluorocarbon, 6lbs
lure: various

Expedition Philippines!

Yesterday I returned from my three week long holiday in the Philippines, thankfully the weather was nice but the temperature was still quite a shock! My main visiting area was the island of Panglao and Tagbilaran city in Bohol Island on the Central Philippines (Visayas).
I haven't heard much about the fishing potential on that part of the Philippines (and in all the Philippines for that matter) but I was sure that the UL/LRF gear would see me catch something. Thus I took with me my two travel rods: The Daiwa spinmatic 6', 4pc, 1-4lbs and the Shimano Beastmaster STC, 2.40-2.70m, 10-40gm. The second rod was taken just in case I could find deeper water or a boat and fish for larger predators.
The waters around Panglao Island are not very deep but the reef is in a short distance from the shore and this attracts many fish. The only problem is that Filipinos just love all kinds of fish and seem to have eaten all the big ones! lol
So on my first visit to the local beach I got my UL gear so that I could see what could be had... We were on a typical beach of the island where the sand meets sea-grass and some rocks after 5-10m from the shore, while the reef can start anywhere from 10-50m away. 
I focused mainly on rocky outcrops on the edges of the beach and used mini carolina rigs with #6 slim offset hooks and SSG shots. On my first cast and after a couple jerks I got the first bite and straight away I knew which species it was... A small garfish very similar to ours had decided to eat the 2" Berkley Fish Fry..

After releasing the garfish I continued fishing and got a sharp bite, I let it develop and after striking I had a feisty fish on the end of my line.. Bringing it in I realised it was a species of wrasse (cigar wrasse) that is very common here.

The protagonist of all the day sessions.

I continued catching some more of these albeit in smaller sizes than the first one until something different hit the lure at high speed. It was a tiny spotted snapper and after a couple casts I got another one. Very aggressive!

Small but fast and furious!

This session was followed by a couple more very short ones in daylight and night time. It was becoming apparent that the cigar wrasse would be the dominant daylight species while at night small cardinal fish (Apogon spp) were abundant.

On the first week of my trip I was planning to visit Balicasag Island where the reef is very close to the shore and its considered a hot spot for snorkeling due to the variety of fish there. Therefore I was planning to do some serious fishing there and took it easy the first few days.
When the day came I was filled with anticipation and excitement! We went on the boat and the plan was that I would fish a few good spots before going on the main island for the day. On reaching the first mark and admiring the clear water and corral strewn reef on the bottom, I begun assembling the rod and in a most unlucky moment disaster struck! The first two sections of my little rod went down a whole on the deck of the boat and into the sea!
I was left speechless and looked like a kid that someone stole my ice cream...! I was even more frustrated when I went snorkeling on the island and saw the multitude of fish swimming a few meters from the beach...
After this mishap I didn't even want to think about fishing! I tried with the heavier gear but to no avail.. After some days though I got an eureka moment! I managed to fit the tip of my Shimano beastmaster to the bottom section of the Spinmatic thus combining the best of the two companies!
Joking aside, the rod  proved adequate and I was back on the fish.

Custom rod lol!

I had a session in Alona beach where although packed with tourists, its a very promising mark with plenty of structure and seaweed. Also there are lots of baitfish around and in retrospect I think I should have put some more time there. I caught a nice variety of fish missing some nice garfish though that kept biting through the line. The highlight of the session was a very colourful triggerfish! there was a shoal of them but they are tricky to catch due to their small mouths and feeding style with small bites. Also they destroy softbaits! The best lures seemed to be small paddletails, twintails and tiny crayfish.

Alona beach

The point I fished.

Absolutely stunning!

Seemed to get the bigger ones from the first casts in the area - classic territorial wrasse.

Had to wade and almost got my smartphone wet!

 What I found very effective apart from the carolina rig was using small tubes with jigheads after I added some liquid attractant in the cavity. If the bites were short, a small hook added on the main one proved successful in catching the finicky fish.

Needs more testing..

..but very effective.

Another good area was the main bridge that connected Panglao with Tagbilaran city, mostly at night.
I fished around the bridge at high tide and when I managed to get past the cardinal fish hordes I got a small grouper (lapu lapu). Tiny padletails, slims and power isome on #8-#10 hooks were very successful.

The bridge

A cracking species!

Devouring and endless!

A welcome but rare surprise.

Paradise..

Need to check it out some other time...

I have to admit that I really wanted to do some more fishing but unfortunately luck wasn't with me.. I hope I can get another opportunity to fish these tropical waters, this time with proper equipment and doubled up! What really amazed me was the willingness of these fish to take a lure and also the much better fighting abilities than our similar fish.. For example the cigar wrasse is similarly built to our Mediterranean rainbow wrasse but it fights so much harder!
It was obvious that the heavy gear was not needed as unfortunately larger fish are not abundant but for the UL/LRF aficionado, Philippines is a very good place to bring a rod.
What I didn't have the chance to explore was the freshwater potential, as Bohol has quite a few rivers, but the access is usually difficult and my accommodation was far from these areas..
I really had a wonderful time there and managed to get a good break from the horrible weather here, moreover I recharged my batteries and I'm now ready to move up in Scotland for the summer season to work (and fish of course!).
By the way, I was feeling restless after the long trip yesterday and paid a visit to the canal with the following results..

A really good way to relax before going to sleep! Will be getting stuck with a few more of these soon.

Thanks for reading and tight lines!


Gear used.

Rod: Daiwa spinmatic 6', 4pc, 1-4lbs later custom made to Shimano Spinmatic!
Reel: Mitchell Mag Pro1000
Mainline: Sunline Siglon Fluorocarbon, 4lbs
Rig: carolina and jighead
lure: Tiny craws good for bigger wrasse, tubes, paddlle/straight tail very effective.