Happy new year to everyone and best wishes for 2023. I really don't know where December went as work and family have kept me very busy. Moreover, the cold and windy weather hasn't exactly spurred me on towards fishing... I've had a few sessions here snd there with good results but not the long sessions I'd like.
Back in December, I made an exploratory trip to Bracadale with mixed results. It was a lovely day out but I'd have far better fishing over my patch... A few quick shore sessions provided some good eaters but it wasn't until yesterday that I had a proper fishing session.
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| Usual size. |
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| Some lovely coalies lately. |
I set off with dad and this was his first trip on the tinnie. Weather was OK with an incoming tide and a fresh southerly that felt warmer than the past few weeks.
We fished a sheltered spot first and got hungry fish straight away! Dad managed some good eaters and a couple bigger ones that were released. I got a few too and then got cut off by a good fish. Unfortunately a seal came for a visit and the bites dropped. Decided on a quick move and I started with a topwater. The Autowalker got hit almost instantly and I realised there was a shoal of coalies pushing bait up the reef. Time for fun... Rigged an Autowalker for dad and after showing him the retrieve speed, he started catching pounder coalies one after the other!
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| Dad started with a fatty. |
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| He's in! |
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| Loads of them on the Autowalker. |
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| Good size coalie. |
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| Nice coalie on the Autowalker |
There were some better ones among them and I had a cracking slap on the lure from a nice fish that weirdly didn't stick. I kept using the lure and catching a few fish until at some point realised that my middle hook got broken back when I had that strike! Mad coalies... I switched to a Lucky Craft Gunfish imitation to gove thdm something different and kept getting hit. It was great fun giving the lure a couple twitches and then getting some takes while it was resting. Most fish wanted it moving though. The hook up rate was somewhat reduced on this lure despite the 2 trebles. There's definitely something about the hook configuration and flowing action of the Autowalker that gets more hookups I feel.
In other news, I decided to treat myself to a new reel before Christmas... I did my usual research but nothing jumped to me on my price range. I wanted something more stepped up than the Sedona but not as expensive as the Stradic. In the end I settled for a Shimano Nasci C5000 XGFC at about £75. Typically smooth straight off the box, hopefully it'll take the punishment. I was really wanting to try a non shimano reel but at that price range and with the specs offered on the Nasci... I remain a shimano fanboy still! The cheapo Sedona has been excellent so far and there's no reason that the Nasci won't be as good. Thankfully, with most of my fishing done from the boat these days, the need for bulletproof reels has lessened and sturdy, well made cheaper reels seem to be fitting the bill ok.
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| Another one... |
The cold and snowy weather could really move away now and would love some settled conditions in the next few weeks as dad wants to get out on the tinnie again! Let's see how it goes.
Tight lines!
