After three weeks on the island and a few blanks I really missed catching some fish! The bad weather and cold waters seem to have kept the fish away from the shore this year.
The weather has been getting better though and after three continuous sunny days (still cold) I thought to give it another go today, as the sun may have stirred things up a bit. I was mainly targeting wrasse on stepped up LRF gear and thus I selected a mark near my house with deep waters, rocky bottom and sheltered from the cold easterly wind we had today. I arrived approximately one hour after high tide and got fishing straight away.
I wasn't expecting much but thought that I could improve my chances if I used 'searcher' type presentations so that I could cover a lot of water, fast. I prepared a carolina rig, with a 5gr cone weight and an orange bead, followed by a small swivel, 35cm of 15lbs fluorocarbon and a size 2 Nogales Monster Class ultra wide gape offset hook. The lure was a 4" Curly Curly softie by Reins, in Chartreuse silver glitter colour. I begun by casting close-in, as there are two deep gullies but got nothing there...
I moved to fish the head of the rocky outcrop and after a long cast, I waited for the lure to touch bottom on a tight line and started a steady retrieve. I had mostly done stop and go retrieves allowing the lure to stay in one place and move with the flow, but I decided to speed things up this time hoping to tempt a pollock if they were any around. I could feel the lure dragging bottom and as soon as I speed it up I felt something big, fighting in the end of my line.. There was no nibbling and no biting just straight on weight!
The drag was singing and the rod was curved to the limit with the fish giving me a hard fight near the bottom, but slowly I started to gain on it and after a couple minutes I managed to hand-land a beautiful wrasse. I was over the moon as this was my first ballan wrasse and was a decent size as well (more than 2lbs).
I continued to fish but the tide was getting low and the fish became more finicky, as I had a dropped take and a fish follow to my feet without taking. So I decided to call it a day as I was more than happy with my first couple of fish from the Isle of Sark.
I was surprised at the fast presentation that these fish preferred as I thought that they would go for a slower one, something I had read many times over the Internet, but that's why its always good to experiment in order to match the type of presentation the fish want at a particular day...
Moreover the determined manner of attack at the lure without nibbles/bites was very surprising as well and indicates a higher predatory/aggressive nature of these fish than I thought before.
To sum up, it was a very enjoyable short session and hopefully, weather permitting I will get more of them soon!
Thanks for reading and tight lines!
Gear used:
Rod: Shimano Exage BX STC Mini Tele Spin, 3-14g 2.40m
Reel: Mitchell Mag Pro 1000
Mainline: YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocarbon, 3lbs
Rig: carolina, 5g bullet
lure: Reins Curly Curly, Chartreuse silver glitter, 4"
The weather has been getting better though and after three continuous sunny days (still cold) I thought to give it another go today, as the sun may have stirred things up a bit. I was mainly targeting wrasse on stepped up LRF gear and thus I selected a mark near my house with deep waters, rocky bottom and sheltered from the cold easterly wind we had today. I arrived approximately one hour after high tide and got fishing straight away.
I wasn't expecting much but thought that I could improve my chances if I used 'searcher' type presentations so that I could cover a lot of water, fast. I prepared a carolina rig, with a 5gr cone weight and an orange bead, followed by a small swivel, 35cm of 15lbs fluorocarbon and a size 2 Nogales Monster Class ultra wide gape offset hook. The lure was a 4" Curly Curly softie by Reins, in Chartreuse silver glitter colour. I begun by casting close-in, as there are two deep gullies but got nothing there...
I moved to fish the head of the rocky outcrop and after a long cast, I waited for the lure to touch bottom on a tight line and started a steady retrieve. I had mostly done stop and go retrieves allowing the lure to stay in one place and move with the flow, but I decided to speed things up this time hoping to tempt a pollock if they were any around. I could feel the lure dragging bottom and as soon as I speed it up I felt something big, fighting in the end of my line.. There was no nibbling and no biting just straight on weight!
The drag was singing and the rod was curved to the limit with the fish giving me a hard fight near the bottom, but slowly I started to gain on it and after a couple minutes I managed to hand-land a beautiful wrasse. I was over the moon as this was my first ballan wrasse and was a decent size as well (more than 2lbs).
 |
| The mark. |
 |
| What a beautie! |
After releasing the fish I persisted to cast in the same area and by keeping the same pace of retrieve, I managed to get another one. This fish again took the lure in one go and after a good fight where it refused to get far from the rocks throughout the fight (it hugged the rocks surely looking for a snag) I managed to hand-land it as well. It was smaller than the first (about 700g) but really pretty with vivid colours.
I was surprised at the fast presentation that these fish preferred as I thought that they would go for a slower one, something I had read many times over the Internet, but that's why its always good to experiment in order to match the type of presentation the fish want at a particular day...
Moreover the determined manner of attack at the lure without nibbles/bites was very surprising as well and indicates a higher predatory/aggressive nature of these fish than I thought before.
To sum up, it was a very enjoyable short session and hopefully, weather permitting I will get more of them soon!
Thanks for reading and tight lines!
Gear used:
Rod: Shimano Exage BX STC Mini Tele Spin, 3-14g 2.40m
Reel: Mitchell Mag Pro 1000
Mainline: YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocarbon, 3lbs
Rig: carolina, 5g bullet
lure: Reins Curly Curly, Chartreuse silver glitter, 4"
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