GONE FISHING

Hello to all

I cant believe that its nearly August already!!! where does time go?

If you have been following the British lure fishing championships you will know that a salt water series has been added to the roster for 2015.

I attended the very first BLAC salt water event which was held at Portland near Weymouth,I have always wanted to have a go there as I have seen many awesome pictures of big Wrasse as well as some hefty Bass posted up on facepaint.The rules for the saltwater comp differ to the freshwater heats as it is all about the number of different species caught rather than overall length,Which I think makes for a much fairer and interesting challenge!

It was a scorching day with a light breeze blowing, perfect Wrasse conditions I thought.My plan was to try and bag a Ballan at the start of the match then search around rockpools and slacks to try and maximise my species count,I had both LRF and HRF rods to hand but it was the latter that I started with in the hopes of a pig of a Wrasse.The terrain looked amazing and certainly wasn't for the faint hearted.after spending around an hour casting slug like soft plastics on the Texas rig, I had caught bugger all and was staring at a blank scorecard,I couldn't find a Ballan or a Pollock, so it was time to break out the spracking setup and go scratching.

I setup a size 14 hook on a leader of 6lb fluro carbon to which I mount a sliding 4g olivette sinker,I dropped a small peice of Isome worm into a dark slack spot which instantly scored me a long spined sea scorpion.

Happy days I love those little creatures,after exploring a few more spots I had caught 4 Corkwing Wrasse which I was really pleased with but wondered where the hell the Ballans had got to? (the capture of the Corkwing puts me on 32 ultra light lure caught species) 

With only 2 species on my score-sheet I decided to target the rockpools,the trouble was that most of them had already been plundered by other anglers but eventually I found Tyrone Norah winkling a few Shanny out of a secret pool he had discovered,I sneaked in and managed to poach a Shanny of my own which put me on 3 species just in time to make it back to the car park for the results.

I was pipped of the podium finish on the biggest fish rule as me and Julian Chidgey had both caught 3 species each,he caught a Ballan Wrasse that was 2 cm larger than my biggest Corkwing.That twice now,last time it was a matter of a single centimetre that done me out of a top spot at Ferry meadow last year,still a place in the final will do nicely at this stage.

 Devon boyz rule!

On other exploits I have been back after the Bass and Mullet on light tackle, a truly marvellous way to kill a few hours.I also caught my first Spotted Ray thanks to the guidance of my buddy Jon Goodfella's Pattern so thanks for that mate,was a good crack and a hell of a hike.

Til next time

Good luck

PREDATORS IN THE DAM

Hello to all

As you may have now gathered I have been turned into a bit of a lure nut, Ultra light finesse style especially.Without sounding to romantic I can honestly say it has brought back the fun element into my day to day angling.Which is invaluable as we all go fishing to enjoy our selves right?

Last Year myself and Mox booked ourselves Some flights to Amsterdam,now we all know what goes on in the Dam but this was just an innocent fishing trip.....honestly
For those of you that have not visited the city is a beautiful place and its seems like no matter where you may be you will never be further away than a stones throw from some water containing Zander (or Shnookbah as they are known to the Dutch ) and the ever present Perch.

Our first stop was to be the nearest tackle shop so we could seek some local knowledge and licences,we got the documents no problem but the geezer in the tackle shop was useless when it came to info,I think he'd been puffing on Amsterdam's finest or perhaps he didn't like the English,either way we came out the shop with a few lures but chuff all regarding the hotter spots of the labyrinth of water we were about to embark on.

Fear not,After a shit load of walking, snagging and casting old Mox's rod arched over and it wasn't a plastic bag or some old crap from a houseboat.After a short battle I did the gentlemanly thing to do of scooping the first Schnookbar of the trip!

I went back to the hotel fish-less that night but whilst making our way back we bumped into another street fisher who kindly invited us out on his boat the next day,turned out this dude ( Leo )is a top guide that knows his way round the maze very well,talk about right place right time.

The next day we met up and headed to the marina were Leo's boat is moored,I couldn't believe my eyes when he pulled the cover off her.this was a serious bit off kit,fitted with just about everything known to man in terms of fishing technology.Leo took us out to a huge rig of some sort situated smack bang in the main part of the river,P&O ferries went past us to give you a picture of the size and depth of the water.

I sat back in the luxury leather swivel seat with a drop-shot rod in one hand and a beer in the other,Buoootiful;it wasn't long before my lure was inspected,a gentle lift saw me connect with a feisty perch of around a pound or so,My next drop produced a lovely sprak sized Zed.

I was lovin life,teasing Leo about me thrashing him on his home turf.He soon replied with a zed that could of eaten mine for breakfast,next came a double hook up with Mox and Leo simultaneously playing fish Mox was unfortunate as his made an escape,We were on some fish alright.

The wind started to blow a bastard so Leo suggested we went into the inner city canal to troll small crank baits for Perch.bloody nice bloke that Leo and if you are thinking of fishing Amsterdam I would suggest getting in contact with him via his facebook page Predator fishing Amsterdam,trust me this guy will put you on some fish even when the going is tough.

The trip out on the boat was great but we still had two more days of casting from the bank,Thankfully the fishing was allot better than our first day on the street.Both of us caught both species at a pleasing rate. Couldn't of asked for more really,other than a kipper of a zed but hey you cant have it all.

 The rest of the time was spent brushing up on the Bible.

Til next time

Good luck