Fresh marks and more wrasse.

Even though I have been on the island for a good few months now, what amazes me is that there are still marks that I haven't tried out and have a lot of potential as well. Thus on my day off yesterday I visited a mark on the west point of the Island. There is a narrow channel formed as a small island lies a stones throw from Sark. The waters are quite deep and the currents are more similar to a river than the sea. As expected reaching the mark takes a bit of walking and rock-climbing but its definitely worth it as it turns out.
On reaching the mark I opted to fish right at the corner of the rock wall overlooking the channel. I started with a texas rigged Reins Rockvibe shad on a N2 Maruto Worm19 hooks and a 7g bullet weight. It was hard holding bottom in the current but instead of adding weight to the rig, I preferred to let it drift and cover more area. There was a crevice where the water seemed to circulate and I expected most fish to hide there waiting for food to come to them. As my lure drifted in the crevice I got a bite and a wrasse. I managed a few more there but decided to move as the fish were mainly small.

The narrow channel.

I moved to a nearby gully that seemed very promising and got plenty of wrasse in quick succession.

After the gully 'dried up' I moved to a more open spot with vertical rock walls and caves. I changed to a carolina rig and tried many lures with the most effective being the Rockvibe shad, Bubbling shad and the Curly Curly. The fish got better here averaging a couple pounds.

Late in the afternoon I decided to go to the southern marks of the island as the wind was coming from the north and I would get easier fishing. As I managed to drop my fluorocarbon leader spool, I had to fish with the LRF fluoro mainline. This was kind of risky as I haven't got my new net yet (broke the previous one!) but with a bit of finesse there were no major problems.
The wrasse tend to move very close to the shore-rocks at this time with most fish coming from short casts. I started getting a steady stream of wrasse on the sp's and was really impressed with the Maruto worm19 hooks as they hooked the fish perfectly every time. They are of the extra wide gap style and I think that it suits wrasse better.
I then changed to hard baits for a bit of variety and put on a Daiwa DC shad, this lure dives deep and being a suspender (slow floater actually) gives enough time for the wrasse to attack it. I was casting the lure parallel to the rocks and with the rod tip down I was retrieving fast to get  the lure at the base of the rocks. As soon as the lure hit structure I would let it float a bit and then give it a sharp twitch. I could see it coming closer and letting it static I saw some movement behind it. It was a large wrasse that after observing the lure for a millisecond, pounced on it! It run straight for the deep peeling drag and the all went solid. The fish snagged me up and even though I gave it time it wouldn't move, so in the end I had to pull for the snap. I felt terrible leaving the fish with the lure in its mouth but hopefully it will manage to get rid of it as the barbs were crushed.

After the lost fish I called it a day and went home knackered of a full days fishing. I think I get more tired fishing on my days off than at work!

Thanks for reading and tight lines!



Gear used.
Rod: Major Craft KG Evolution KGS-832ST 2.53m, 3-15g
Reel: Mitchell Mag Pro 1000
Mainline: Spiderwire invisibraid 0.10mm, Trilene fluorocarbon leader 10lbs and YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocarbon 3lbs
Rig: mainly Carolina and Texas with a 7g bullet weight and Matzuo or Maruto worm19 offset hooks sizes 1-3/0
Lure: various


 

Red letter day!

Today was my day off and the weather was very agreeable, so without second thought I grabbed the gear and headed out with my brother. We walked towards Little Sark, at the south part of the island to do some exploring/fishing there. On reaching an area I already noted at google earth, I was really getting a good feeling as it seemed it could hold fish. There was a relatively deep and broad gully with some large boulders and plenty of kelp. A true wrasse-mark. The tide was coming in and there was a light breeze. I started by using the wacky rig as I wanted to test it on wrasse for a while and this place/conditions seemed ideal to do this.
I rigged a 4'' Keitech Live Impact on a 3.5g Molix Racing Guard jighead and casted in the middle of the gully. As soon as the lure touched bottom, the bites came and after waiting for a couple seconds so that the fish takes the lure better, I struck and following a short tussle, the first wrasse of the day was in the net. It was only a small one but very welcome.
Following this fish I recast and after some jiggling on the bottom the same thing happened, only this time the take was much more violent and after a hard run, I felt the line go limp as the fish managed to cut it on the rocks.
Big wrasse on LRF gear can mean some lost fish... I retied the same jighead (on doubled line) and kept fishing. I had fish biting everywhere and they were coming thick and fast, providing me with serious adrenaline doses! They weren't monsters, mostly 1-2lbs but on a 0.6-8g rod they gave good fights and even snagged me a couple times. Again I was just waiting and letting them on a loose line until they made a move, this worked most times.

The mark.

 

 

After having a few fish on the Live Impact I decided to change lure to something cheaper as they were on a feeding mood and tearing the soft plastics apart! I put on a 7cm Berkley Gulp Bibi worm, straight hooked on the jighead and worked it slowly with a few twitches and stops. The fish didn't seem to mind and kept coming to be netted by my brother..

 

Working my way along the rocks, I reached the head of the gully, where the water was much deeper.
The wind had also picked up and waves were crushing but it seemed fishable. I scrambled on a boulder and dropped the lure straight down. It took a while to reach bottom, and after some twitches, I felt some bites and then solid resistance with the drag screaming, but again the fish managed to bust me up. I pulled a little one later from that spot and then moved to the adjacent bay.
The water there was much more turbulent but I still managed a nice fish on a texas rigged Reins Curly Curly.

 

 

Overall, this has been the most successful day of fishing Ive had on the island so far. Most of the fish weren't big but since I was fishing with my LRF gear, I couldn't expect much.. A 3lbs line is not enough for the bigger fish in this environment. Moreover I was very impressed at the hook up ratio and general effectiveness of the wacky rig, as I only lost a couple fish (due to striking too early).
I hope I will get some more sessions like this one on my days off...

Thanks for reading and tight lines!


Gear used.
Rod: Golden Mean Symphonia, 0.6-8g, 8'6''
Reel: Mitchell Mag Pro 1000
Mainline: YGK Nitlon DFC fluorocarbon, 3lbs
Rig: mostly wacky with a 3.5g Molix racing guard jighead
lure: 4'' Keitech Live impact, 7cm Berkley Gulp Bibi worm, 4'' Reins Curly Curly.





 

Finally some action!

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).



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 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"