Expedition Chile! Part 3.

On our last day in Puerto Montt, me and my brother decided to take it easy... A bit of souvenir shopping in the morning and then we headed off to a little beach in a bay that had a little stream running into it. I had already bought a cheap snorkeling mask and I wanted to swim about and see whats there out of curiosity. There couldn't be just rollizo!
The little beach was surrounded by rocky fingers and also had a couple islands close by so I thought it must hold some little fish. As soon as I dived I could see a large shoal of bottom feeding fish with a general rockfish looking shape but they weren't rollizo... Straight away I swam out, picked up the rod and with the true lrf line on the second spool, tied a 2g cheburashka and added a #18 hook on the clip.
I didn't have any gulp or Isome worms with me though, so I put on a 2" Jackall Peke peke that although a bit large for the fish intended, was being attacked every time. Unfortunately the unknown fish (possibly baby robalos?) had really small mouths and I failed to hook one. I then used a 0.8" Crazy-fish Whitebait lure that didn't manage to arouse their interest though and by then it was time for another quick dive and back to the car for my last fishing session.
I drove down the same way of the past couple sessions and decided to stop first at a small harbour with shallower water and another stream running into it, in order to try and get a robalo. After fishing for about half an hour though I only had one follow (possibly rollizo) and nothing else. Thus I decided to move to the previous day's mark. Although the weather and tide state was the same, the fishing proved much slower (could it be a result of the previous day's many catches?), but after persevering, I got a couple nice rollizo among a few smaller ones. After a while I decided to work only metals hoping for something different and true enough I got a good strike close in and a scrappy fight with strong head-thumps. The fish wasn't very big and I soon hoisted it up. Then I realised that it was the fish I was looking for! A robalo! But as I tried to get my hands around it and take my mobile out, it thrashed and fell, breaking my frayed leader! I was glad that at least got it on video so it still counts...lol

What a fish!

On a crature..

Texas rigged craw.

 The video of the session.

 It was already getting late but I drove further down the road for a last look along the coast. After a couple miles I reached a truly beautiful mark but unfortunately it was too difficult to reach and having limited time I decided to head back and pick up my brother from the beach.

Maybe some other time...

The breakwater of the little harbour.

The little beach.

Lots of fry at the pier's legs. Unfortunately I didnt fish there...

Conclusions.
All in all it was a very enjoyable trip and a proper adventure despite the mishaps and difficulties at times. Fishing for rollizo made me feel as if I was fishing for greenling in Japan (!) and its an extremely fun species to fish for. A true rock fish!
I believe that Chile has much more to offer an angler (with an open mind) than the introduced Salmon and Trout. Obviously I would have like to fish for them as well, and also try all the little estuaries for other species but in the end I'm a rock angler and the ease and fun of rollizo fishing was just what I needed in my holidays. Moreover tackling the salmonids would mean paying for access to waters and license and I just couldn't see the point in that when I realised there was such fun to be had on the rocks, for free! Had I spent more time there though, I would have definitely fished the freshwater as well.. Something for another time perhaps...

Below some notes that may be of use to anglers visiting Chile.

• Bring a heavier, longer rod! Especially away from the fjords the coast is open to the Pacific and the swells can be significant.
• Metals, metals, metals...
• Bring all you gear over and don't count on the local tackle shops! Especially braid, line etc are very hard to find..
• Lip gripper a must, as these rockfish have serious teeth.
• Try the estuaries and beaches as well. I had limited time but I realised that particularly the South is full of fish!
• Isome/gulp worms indispensable for species hunting. Not everything is as aggressive as the rollizo.
• No need for fancy/expensive lures. There will be plenty of losses so a good mix of softplastics/ metals and a few hardbaits should be fine. Best soft plastic sizes for rollizo 2.5"-3".
• Paddletails and curlytails the most effective styles. Creatures were good too but very 'slow'.
• Tides not so big in the North but much more like the UK in the South.
• Fishing harbours that allow access should be taken into serious consideration, especially when the coast is too rough.

Back to UK now and to my usual targets. Already I have been out once and have found the fish in very good condition... I believe this mild winter has helped in that and cant wait to get my heavier reels back from service and get out!

Thanks for reading!

Gear used.
Rod: Spro Mobile Stick 80UL
Reel: Shimano Stradic 1000FC
Mainline: Sufix 832 0.24mm 17.7 kg !
leader: Pline Halo 10lbs.
lure: Various

Expedition Chile! Part 2.

The break offs of the first session along with the nature of the terrain and fish, making landing them a difficult task, convinced me that I needed to beef up my mainline. Thus on the morning of the second day we went to look for a tackle shop to buy some braid. Nothing difficult about that you'd think, only you'd be wrong as this is Chile and for the life of me couldn't locate a tackle shop in the whole of Puerto Montt! No tackle shop in a city next to the sea?!
After looking on the Internet I managed to locate a couple tackle shops in nearby Puerto Varas, and since it was in the list of places to visit anyway, we headed there straight away..
Puerto Varas is considered a top destination for the fly anglers that target the salmonids in and around the lake Llanquihue, and being much more touristic explains the presence of tackle shops there. As luck would have it I walked in the first tackle shop just about when the last wheel of braid was sold to another angler (!) and was directed to another shop that might stock braid. On the next shop I cant really say that I was mesmerised by the variety on offer, but I found some Sufix 832 braid, allbeit in a horrendously thick diameter (0.24mm - 17.7 kg)!! This was not gonna be Light Game anymore... lol
After having a drive down the lake and taking a swim and a siesta, we drove back towards the rocky coast, at a mark I spied on the way back from the previous day.
This was a much more easily accessible mark with a narrow path through thick vegetation and down to the rocks. It was clear that it wasn't a virgin spot although it was looking too good not to fish it. This time I carried with me my Savage gear roadrunner XLNT 7' 3-16g travel rod and with the reel spooled with the donkey-rope (!) I felt a lot more confident!
I put on a 12g metal and started yoyo jigging it on the bottom. The first strike came very quickly and a sizeable rollizo was fighting on the end of my line. Having the heavy line allowed me to enjoy the fight and after a while I got the fish on the shore.

First cast!

After releasing the fish, I made another cast and got hit yet again by a good fish. Another fight ensued and I brought the fish near the shore. As I was excited I tried to swing the fish on the rocks with the rod, as I thought the rod could take it.. Only it didn't and broke at the spigot near the tip!
I felt as if somebody had cursed me.. Having the gear that copes with the intended fish only to break it and having to fish UL again..

Rod breaker!

Anyway, I went back at the car to get my Mobile Stick and I was going to use it with the donkey-rope line thus extra care was needed... Not really balanced gear but it got the job done, and for the remainder of the session I had fish after fish on various lures and presentations. I would have liked the extra reach of the heavier lures but there were plenty of fish about and they seemed to be close in anyway.. I fished an hour after high water till almost the ebb and was surprised at the speed the water moved. Moreover the fish seemed to get even more active towards sundown with more big specimens showing then and unfortunately getting cut off from what must have been a couple very serious fish. I'm convinced that these cut offs were not always due to rock-abrasion but also the rollizo's teeth.
Metals seemed to work better with the sun higher up and texas/cheburashka rigged slim curlytail worms being the best performers. Paddletails were not far behind in effectiveness and I noticed that they were working best when retrieved very slowly with a few pauses but no sudden jerks. The fish would pounce on them as they came close in and would then bolt for the nearest cover. They would even attack on straight retrieve, well above the bottom, especially close in.
The larger fish seemed to be more territorial and loners, while at times I got the impression that this fish tends to associate in loose groups at the most favourable spots. This was due to getting repeated catches from a relatively small area.
As mentioned above long casts were not necessary, although I suppose in shallower reefy waters, the longer casts would come in handy allowing to reach more 'holes', rocks etc.
I caught a lot of rollizo that day but unbelievably, not a single other species! I speculate that when the rollizo are in numbers, they dominate the area as I tried many different lures/presentations/retrieves etc to no avail for other species. Cant complain much though as I really had a blast!
Below more pics and the video of the day.

Metals always a good solution in 'new' waters..

The mark from above..

Near the ebb.

Serious rock mark!

Possibly the biggest of the day. Kilo plus...

Japanese pose!

Unfortunately I only had one remaining day in Puerto Mont and I would have to try and get a robalo somehow..


Tight lines

Gear used.
Rod: Savage gear roadrunner XLNT 7' 3-16g and Spro Mobile Stick 80UL
Reel: Shimano Stradic 1000FC
Mainline: Sufix 832 0.24mm 17.7 kg !
leader: Pline Halo 10lbs.
lure: Various

Expedition Chile! Part 1.

Its been almost a week now that I've returned from my holidays in Chile, reluctantly so I must add...
The opportunity was given to me, as a close friend of mine lives in the capital Santiago and invited me and my brother there.
We were to have our base in Santiago but obviously with them being in summer now and us haven't experienced summer at all the past year, it was imperative that we would visit the coast! Moreover a trip to the South had to be made as well since it would have been a mistake not to get at least a glimpse of Patagonia and water systems very similar to the ones I fish here in the West coast of Scotland...
Therefore we decided to head to Valparaiso and Vina del Mar on the central coast of Chile as it is where most of the tourists go for their summer holidays!
Now on the fishing prospects of the trip, in reality Chile seemed like a blank chart! Nowhere could I find serious info about fish species and angling in general. This is because there hasn't been enough research done on the fish species there (especially in the south), the information being mostly in Spanish and lastly the little coverage angling gets over there (with the exception of the alien salmons and trouts in the South). Now it did cross my mind to wet a line for the salmonids when in the South but to be honest my attention was firmly set once again on the rocks...
Seeing a documentary about sea otters in Patagonia a couple months ago, only seemed to ignite my interest of what rockfish could be found there and all along the coast we were meant to visit. The only species I was able to find easy information on, is the robalo (Eleginops maclovinus) a sort of bass/corvina-looking fish though not related at all to them and being the only member of its genus and the only member of the family Eleginopsidae (!). Thus I was hoping to at least get one of them!
To cut a long story short, I fished very little while in the Valparaiso area. This was because of two main reasons: Firstly, the Pacific swell that rendered most of the beaches in the area dangerous to swim (red flag) for the duration of our stay, and secondly, the realisation of the inadequacy of my light gear for these waters! In any case, I tried a few casts here and there in sheltered marks but only had some success in Valparaiso harbour, by catching a few wrassy/blenny looking fish, that unknowingly at the time, were going to be the mainstay of my catches in all my sessions!
Unfortunately most of the harbours/marinas were working areas and I had limited access to them and that was a real pity as I'm sure they would hold plenty of fish...

Part of Valparaiso harbour.

My first Chilean fish!

Parts of the coast in Valparaiso.

The beach in Laguna Verde. Red flag - no swimming!

Outside Valparaiso harbour. Again not alowed to reach the lighthouse..

Seeing that my 'fishing expedition' wasn't off to a great start, I focused even more on looking for good marks in the South. We had booked a room in Puerto Montt and one area in particular, towards the Southeast stood out. Now Puerto Montt is situated at the northern end of the Reloncavi Sound, thus well protected from the Pacific swells, and the area that got my attention was the coastline near La Arena. It is there that the Reloncavi fjord meets the Sound and from the look of it a typical fish-holding mark, very similar to marks I have here! Moreover the South is very tidal and thus even more similar to here...
On the first day at Puerto Montt, I explained to my brother that we were here for business (meaning fishing) and he should quit his moaning and get on with it! We rented a car (a must in my opinion) and soon headed off to La Arena. On close inspection, the point was looking very fishy, with deep waters close in and rough/rocky ground, but the main problem was that the rocky shore was just too abrupt and the point too heavily forested to allow for easy (or even moderate) access. Not being in a mood for mountaineering, and not having a machete with me (!) we decided to have a couple empanadas (loco queso) which surprisingly doesn't translate as crazy cheese but instead means abalone and cheese! After our snack we headed a couple miles back the road we came from and I picked a precipitous, rocky spot to start fishing. I decided to take only my Spro Mobile Stick with me, just so I could 'scratch' around for what was there. I put on a 7g metal and started casting around. It didn't take long and soon after getting unstuck from a snag, I got a hit, and the fish cut me off straight away! This was repeated a few more times and I had to raise my leaders length and diameter (2m of 10lbs) while only having 0.4 PE mainline... I persisted with metals and soon got a fish on that stuck this time. It fought with short but explosive runs towards the bottom and soon after a dark shape came to the surface thrashing violently. I pulled the fish up by the leader and was looking at it like it was alien.. Something between a wrasse and a blenny, with teeth and soft, leathery skin (though with rough scales if stroking towards the head). Almost impossible to handle/hold with bare hands as well. It was clearly a larger specimen of the little fish I caught in Valparaiso harbour and the place proved to be full of them! After a bit of research I found the fish's name being rollizo (Pinguipes chilensis) or Chilean sandperch in English. I kept fishing for a couple more hours, trying many different lures and presentations, but they seemed to be unfussy fish with a very healthy aggressive instinct. A true rockfish! Below some pics and the video of my first serious rock fishing session.

The rocky point at La Arena.

Too dificult to climb.

The mark I fished! Hairy descent...

My first good rollizo!

Plain coloured curly tails proved extremely successful.

Thick rubbery lips, teeth and an attitude to match its appearance..

 

So my first day on the South seemed to live up to expectations although it was clear that I would have to find a thicker mainline and this proved much harder than anticipated...

To be continued...

Gear used.
Rod: Spro Mobile Stick 80UL
Reel: Shimano Stradic 1000FC
Mainline: YGK G Soul X3 braid 0.4PE
leader: Toray premium fluorocarbon, 6lbs then switched to Pline Halo 10lbs.
lure: Various

First fish of the year! Almost...

A while back I was contacted by my fellow Greekspinners forum member and Facebook friend Giorgos, that he would be in the UK for holidays and that he would really appreciate if I could take him fishing. This made me extremely happy as I love nothing more than going fishing with like minded anglers and showing off my marks! The month he selected to be in the UK though is definitely not considered prime saltwater lure fishing time... Being almost the end of January now! Nevertheless he was extremely lucky to have his arrival on Friday coincide with unseasonably warm weather, brought by strong Southwesterly winds. This window of opportunity weather wise wasn't going to last long and in similar previous occurrences I always had good results in fishing.
My main worry now was where to take him?
I knew he wanted some spectacular Scottish scenery but also he preferred to fish with the LRF gear and had to find a suitable target for him. The first target that came to my mind were of course coalies! One shoal of them and we would thoroughly enjoy ourselves but as of my last session on Loch Fyne, they still hadn't shown up there. Moreover my quarry mark there is really not considered very scenic and thus also taking the wind's direction in consideration, my thoughts turned to the East coast...
We would have the wind on our backs and I've been wanting, for a long time now, to check how it fares in the winter. Obviously not as sheltered as the sea lochs but on this occasion it wouldn't matter.
We woke up early on Sunday and packed the gear into the car. Had a coffee and made the drive to St Abbs head, arriving around 10 o clock there. High tide was around 14:00, the sea was relatively calm though the wind was threatening to sweep us off our feet! At least the casts would go a long way...!

St Abbs on January..

Giorgos was very excited seeing all the cliffs and couldn't wait to start fishing.
We started on the first accessible rock ledge and put on some metals searching for the coalies. Our position was very elevated and the wind made things very difficult, but we soldiered on.. After fishing next to Giorgos for a while, I decided to move on the other side of the ledge. Not much was happening there as well so I went back to see how Giorgos was doing after some casts and break offs on snags. I found him with the rod bend over and the drag screeching! Straight away I scrambled to the rocks below him and managed to land his first Scottish fish, a plumb coalie! Needless to say he was over the moon and honestly I felt even happier that he caught a fish than I would've felt had I caught it myself!

A very happy LRFer!

Thinking there would be more of them around, we kept casting our metals and working the area but we saw no more signs of them. We soon decided to move to another rock ledge and after a bit of strenuous hiking we reached the spot. Unfortunately my friend wasn't wearing studded shoes and couldn't come all the way to they rocky point so he decided to fish the deep bay instead. I made my way to the tip of the rocky finger and started casting about my metal jig again without success. I saw some water birds diving though and then switched things up and tied a Texas rig with a 7g brass bullet head, glass bead and my favourite Decoy RS WORM 101 offset hooks #2. I mounted a 7,5cm dark coloured (UV) Vibro worm by Crazyfish and started making long casts and working the bottom.
I would let the lure touchdown then give it a few jerks to get some noise from the bead, and then lift and drag it on the bottom. After a few casts I got a proper take and felt some good weight on the end of my line. the fish wasn't tearing about in speed, instead moving relatively slowly but with force and thumping its head about. A typical cod fight although it wasn't meant to be long, as the fish cut me off on the bottom...  I was gutted and really annoyed with myself for getting caught unprepared (only with LRF gear).. I was then further annoyed as I realised my action cam battery had died without me realising and I didn't get the action...
I retied the same rig, changed battery and after casting out got a couple sharp bites (possibly coalies) but then got snagged. Another rig and another long cast saw me get a good take again but this time to something with much better speed that unfortunately cut me off again!
This time I got it on video:

I'm thinking that this probably was a good coalfish for reasons I will explain further down.
After loosing the two fish, things slowed down and since it was getting late, I went back to Giorgos to see how he fared. He didn't have a sniff but didn't seem too concerned as the one fish was enough for him to make the trip worthwhile. We made the arduous hike back up the cliff, got in the car and headed home tired but happy!

Giorgos on the ascend..

I may not have managed to land a fish but I was more than happy that Giorgos got one and also was pleasantly surprised at the potential for big winter fish on this mark. Needless to say Ill be back...
Back home, I gutted and cleaned the fish and was left amazed when I found what it had been feeding on!

Cockles?!

The seemed like cockle shells or something and the fish was full of them! This may explain my belief that my second fish was a coalie as they were obviously feeding on the bottom. Would never have thought that coalies would feed on shellfish but always love it when fish surprise me like that! You never stop learning in fishing... Next step try shellfish shaped soft plastics?!
Something else that Giorgos showed me was  the existence of  anti-fogging pads for action cameras and even gave me his to put on mine! Was always annoyed by that phenomenon and I'm looking forward to making better videos now!

Anti-fogging pads.

It was a real pleasure being a host and fishing with Giorgos and hope we will meet again soon. All in all a great day out despite not landing my fish.
I am now really looking forward to my impending two week holiday trip to far away Chile, and can't stop thinking about the fish I might get there!

Tight Lines and best wishes for a fish-packed 2016!

Gear used.
Rod: Majorcraft Crostage CRK-T782AJI
Reel: Shimano Biomaster 1000fb
Mainline: Gosen mebarin braid 0.3PE
leader: Toray premium fluorocarbon, 6lbs.
lure: 7.5cm Crazyfish Vibro worm on a Texas rig with a 7g brass bullet weight, 8mm glass bead and #2 Decoy RS worm 101 hook.

Finally a sunny day!

Woke up yesterday and looking out my window I realised that there was no rain and no wind! It has been pretty bad for the past few weeks although the temperature seems to be relatively high for this time of year. Anyway having finally gotten some days off I didn't need more encouragement to pack the gear in the car and go. Destination was Loch Fyne and I would fish with the LRF gear again. I didn't expect things to have changed so I would follow similar tactics as in last time. Namely a carolina rig with a 7g brass bullet weight, 8mm glass bead, #1 Decoy RS worm 101 hook and this time the lures were mostly dark, slim paddltetails as the water was crystal clear.
I arrived at the mark maybe an hour before high tide, and it was going to be a big tide as my spot was already covered by water...
I started casting my rig around the point and focused on bottom work at distance first and then changing to more OTD and steady retrieve tactics as things were slow on the bottom. A few casts in and I got my first bite on a steady retrieve after a couple tugs with the rod tip to get some noise going. The fish put up a good little scrap but was soon landed. Only a small pollock but much better than the micro ones from last time! This bite kept until the high tide mark with a few pollock caught on the same way. They would hit as soon as the lure passed a ledge or rocks they were staging. I also had a couple OTD fish and bites showing that the fish were pretty up for it for this time of the year...

Finally!

Much better than last time!

They seem healthy as well still.

I then decided to move to the second point and play with the codling but after a couple hours there and with the weather starting to change, I got only a couple codling-like missed bites and a lovely short spinned sea scorpion. It comes to me that most times I encounter them, the codling are quiet. Possible preference for less competition?

I Love sea scorpions!

Stunning...

On the upside, I met a fellow lure angler and member of The Lure Forum on the second point and we had a good chat and a lovely coffee that he generously offered. Joe fishes Loch Fyne regularly with heavier gear and had lost a good fish today that took him to the rocks. Nevertheless he sounded as pleased as me for going out and enjoying the day. Moreover he owns a boat and has kindly invited me to join him on a trip when the weather is a bit better. Now that would really be cool!
It really was a lovely day to be out and I needed it. Although the codling didn't play ball, the pollock more than made up for it plus I always enjoy catching the sea scorpions. The brass and glass combo either in carolina or texas rig seems to do the job well and for the second time I noticed that I had very limited losses. Possibly 2 rigs, which for this mark is very good. In addition I only had a couple missed bites and for that I think that the extra sharp Decoy RS worm 101 hook played an important role.
Below the video with the pollock action.

Thanks for reading and tight lines!

Gear used.
Rod: Majorcraft Crostage CRK-T782AJI
Reel: Shimano Biomaster 1000fb
Mainline: Gosen mebarin braid 0.3PE
leader: Toray premium fluorocarbon, 6lbs.
lure: 2.5"-3" dark slim paddletails on a carolina or texas rig with a 7g brass bullet weight, 8mm glass bead and #1 Decoy RS worm 101 hook.

Brass and glass carolina day.

It has been too long since my last fishing session (and blog post for that matter) as the worsening weather, increased workload and lack of car conspired against me... Things are looking up recently though as I finally managed to get myself a car and today nothing was going to stop me from going fishing! Not even the rain, sleet and 20-30 mile winds that I encountered...
The past month, even though I wasn't fishing, I didn't stay idle either.. I purchased various bits and pieces of fishing gear to try and also sent the heavier reels for service.
One bit of gear I bought were some brass bullet weights along with a pack of glass beads from Aliexpress. Now you can find both of these items from UK and European sellers but especially the brand named ones are ridiculously expensive!
What I noticed from last winter especially, was that while the fish were there at the marks I fish, most of the time they would be fairly fussy and needed something 'extra' to get their attention and make them commit.
After watching some fellow Japanese HRF anglers targeting greenling (tohoku) with big golden coloured brass sinkers, I thought that they could work for our species too so I gave them a go today.
Since Ive sent the larger reels for service, I decided to use a LRF setup namely my Majorcraft Crostage CRK-T782AJI paired with my Shimano Biomaster 1000fb.

Blinky presentation.

I took it easy in the morning and only arrived at Loch Fyne around 13:00. It was high tide and the weather was terrible but there were transitions of calmness and even spells of sunshine amidst the wind and rain. I fished at both points of the harbour and got into fish straight away! It was a joy feeling a fish on the end of my line once again! A shoal of baby pollock were hanging near the ledge just before the deeper water and they would attack my lure (jackall I Shad 2.8") as soon as it passed through or above them.
Due to the intense wind and cold hands (time for gloves now) I missed a few bites.. Nevertheless it became apparent that the bottom fish weren't very active and I then moved to the other side of the harbour, where the codling are usually more concentrated. Unfortunately the wind had reduced the water clarity and also didn't allow for long casts and thus I only managed one decent codling that gave me a very good scrap and a couple small pollock

A bleak day..

First fish!

A decent scrapper!

It was interesting to note the lack of coalies as I would have loved to play with them a bit!
Anyway, It was a relatively pleasant short session despite the bad weather and I hope to repeat it soon before Christmas.
The brass and glass combo did seem to attract fish easily but I will need to have more sessions with them. Another interesting point is  that I didn't loose a single rig today! I could have been just lucky although I believe that the brass sinker's larger mass and less density may have had something to do with this..

Tight Lines!

Gear used.

Rod: Majorcraft Crostage CRK-T782AJI
Reel: Shimano Biomaster 1000fb
Mainline: Gosen mebarin braid 0.3PE
leader: Toray premium fluorocarbon, 6lbs.
lure: 2.8" Jackall I Shad on a carolina rig with a 6g brass bullet weight and glass bead.