Happy New Year and best of wishes for 2017!
I am now back home in Greece and yesterday managed the first little session for 2017.
We're having a pretty cold winter (-5C) and things have changed from the last time I fished here at this time of the year but slowly I hope to get good idea about the available fishing now.
Yesterday I fished at Keramoti harbour and the target was bass. It was a calm and relatively mild day and I arrived an hour or two before sunset in order to have a good 'feel' for the place and the fish movements. There was plenty of fry in the water and diving birds feeding and occasionally I'd see small bass groups moving around. I wasn't expecting big fish but was hoping for anything and had the ML setup with me.
I settled for a previously overlooked slim paddletail from Pontoon 21, the Attira. It has a lovely subtle action and on a 7g darting/standup jighead gives a lovely presentation similar in size and colour to the baby mullet milling around.
After spending some time at various points and corners of the harbour I moved to the ferry terminal soon after getting dark. I was working the lure on a medium retrieve with frequent touchdowns and finally got a take near the bottom and the first fish of 2017 was on the cement! A hungry little basslet...
Quickly released I kept fishing and had a few more takes but they didn't commit.. I later realised that most of these sharp takes were from diving birds! 😆
A ferry had just anchored and was using its thrusters to adjust. The area of disturbance can be a good spot to fish and it proved true this time as another basslet hit my lure. There was a short time of activity and I tried some different lures and presentations but apart from some bumps I didn't get another fish. Stubbornly I stayed on till later on after having some coffee to warm me up (the convenience of harbour fishing...) but things got really quiet and decided to call it a day.
I think next time the LRF/UL setup might be more appropriate for this mark... In order to get bigger fish I think a visit to somewhere more remote is needed. But first we need the latest snow and freezing temperatures on the forecast to clear!
Tight Lines for 2017!
Gear used.
Rod: Spro Mobile Stick 80MH
Reel: Shimano Stradic ci4 2500f
Mainline: Duel Hardcore X4 PE 0.8
Leader: YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocarbon 8lbs -12lbs
Lures: Pontoon 21 Attira 7g standup jighead.
I am now back home in Greece and yesterday managed the first little session for 2017.
We're having a pretty cold winter (-5C) and things have changed from the last time I fished here at this time of the year but slowly I hope to get good idea about the available fishing now.
Yesterday I fished at Keramoti harbour and the target was bass. It was a calm and relatively mild day and I arrived an hour or two before sunset in order to have a good 'feel' for the place and the fish movements. There was plenty of fry in the water and diving birds feeding and occasionally I'd see small bass groups moving around. I wasn't expecting big fish but was hoping for anything and had the ML setup with me.
I settled for a previously overlooked slim paddletail from Pontoon 21, the Attira. It has a lovely subtle action and on a 7g darting/standup jighead gives a lovely presentation similar in size and colour to the baby mullet milling around.
After spending some time at various points and corners of the harbour I moved to the ferry terminal soon after getting dark. I was working the lure on a medium retrieve with frequent touchdowns and finally got a take near the bottom and the first fish of 2017 was on the cement! A hungry little basslet...
Quickly released I kept fishing and had a few more takes but they didn't commit.. I later realised that most of these sharp takes were from diving birds! 😆
 |
| First fish of 2017! |
 |
| Another basslet... |
 |
| Nice presentation.. |
Tight Lines for 2017!
Gear used.
Rod: Spro Mobile Stick 80MH
Reel: Shimano Stradic ci4 2500f
Mainline: Duel Hardcore X4 PE 0.8
Leader: YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocarbon 8lbs -12lbs
Lures: Pontoon 21 Attira 7g standup jighead.
Nice one, it was speedo weather here yesterday, 8c :0) I like the look of that lure.
ReplyDeleteWe now got snow as well Martin!
DeleteIt's certainly effective where something subtle is needed.
All the best
Hi Man,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing so many fantastic fishing topic. I just started light lure fishing in New Zealand, micro lure fishing is not quit popular here, especially from the shore. And then I found your blog. Why is your blog with a NZ ended address http://luremaniac.blogspot.co.nz? Or it is just a mirror of blogspot. I was pretty excited to assume some expert here can ask for coaching, and then found you are in UK. haha...
All the best man. Keep sharing...
The principles are the same everywhere pal. You'll soon adapt your gear to your local species and conditions. As you say that was just the mirror..
ReplyDeleteAll the best with your endeavour! I'm sure NZ has more than enough predatory fish l!