LRF Mission Flounder, Mission succeeded!

Well I’ve just got in from a harbour scratching LRF session with my mate Rob, I didn’t manage to take any pictures because he had all the fancy pants equipment, but I’m awaiting some photos of a goliath scorpion fish.. Seriously the thing was huge compared to any I’ve caught in the past!

After the last blog post I have had a vendetta out for catching flounder, after many online discussion, watching You Tube Videos, talking to the local old boys an reading many books about flounder an their habits I had built up enough of a clue to go out an target them with some confidence an knowledge. Like I said in the last blog post I hooked up an lost a dinner plate a few weeks back, as much as I was gutted I had a huge spur of confidence, trying to find free time an dealing with man flu (yet again!) I managed a few sessions with mixed results from the same location I lost the first flounder…

First up I’m struggling to avoid the school bass on LRF, sounds strange that I’m trying to avoid them. but when you start understanding where food will hold up in quiet corners, its only a matter of time be for a bass comes along an raid the area, right now fishing anywhere over sunset on a quiet evening around Weymouth an Portland you could easily find the bass.

At last my first LRF flounder comes to the net, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! This little fella came to a the deadly Power isome, I still cant get over how good this stuff is, its accounting now for dozens of species big an small. This rig was a simple split shot rig with a size 14 hook an AAA split shot.

The key difference was in the retrieve, cast out, let it sink, then a high lift of the rod tip, let it sink an wait, repeat this right back to your feet. From what I gather the flounder cant see your lure if its only bopping inches above the sea bed, yes will eventually catch one as you pass the lure over its nose, but flounder are always looking up an side ways an will rise very high up in the water column to take a bait. To try this theory out I went back to the same spot an used a small 1inch white reins paddle tail mounted on a 2g size 8 jig head with an extra split shot a couple inches up the line. It wasn’t long before I felt that same nibble on the rod tip like the flounder that I lost before. For a fish that can grow to a good size, they have very small mouths an you can almost feel them turning the lure in their mouths, again like I learnt from a you tube video of some guys over in the states I waited 5 seconds or more before gently setting the hook.. BOOM! the reel spun up as the fish darted off, at first I thought I had been fooled by a mackerel but sure enough this new PB flounder came in, lucky I had a friend of mine Sean at hand to jump down an grab the fish. Mate.. Big thank you because I would have been stuffed trying to get that fish up the wall on my own.

Here’s a picture of Sean with his first LRF lure caught Goby. Well done mate!

An here’s another first, Laurens first scorpion fish, there’s something special about catching these little mini beast an always brings me a smile as it was only last year I was asking people for advice on how to catch these fish, like flounder this fish used to me target species an took me an age to eventually catch on lure.

For some, owning an running a tackle shop could been seen as a dream come true, but after spending hours chatting to guys at Chesil Bait an Tackle it doesn’t take long to see that Mike is itching to get out there an cast some of those incredible lures he has hanging from the walls, I know from reading face book that he had been pushing hard in the small windows of time he has had to nail his first bass from the shore, it’s a tough duck to break at first for anyone even with the best bass anglers at your side. I got the call mid afternoon from mike saying he finally has an hours free for a bit of fishing so I took him to a well known mark that so many of us have caught our first bass from, an again Mission Accomplished! I know he wishes it was bigger, but hey don’t we all…(no pun intended) welcome to the bass game Mike may it be the first of many!!

hope you enjoyed the read, next report will be about that goliath scorpian fish i caught today.. first time ive had to use a landing net for a scorpian fish!

Night Bass, an LRF rule the roost.

Well I have no idea where to begin this blog post, the past few weeks have been hectic with fish being caught everywhere on every method around Dorset, but of course for me its all lures lures lures, I’ve nailed some handsome bass by night when the weather allows you to SAFELY get out there an fish the rocks, plenty of mini species are coming to LRF now to the extent I’m struggling to keep a tab on all the species an locations, I managed to hook an lose my first flat fish yesterday.. Gutted! But like with all lessons learned it’s a confidents game, an now I have a huge ambition to chase down all fish that are flat an willing to hit my lure.

So first up I managed a quick evening session with Adrian Crawford who came down from London in search of a few fish, I managed to get the word to him about a local mark was about to come alive with a pushing east wind an new moon, apparently I was 24 hours out because he managed a record load of bass off the surface the night before I fished this mark. Typical hey? But pressing on I managed to nail this beauty right from a tight shallow corner. Yes its dark, yes its raining, yes I’m soaked through due to taking a slip an ending up on my back side in the drink. But catching a shining bass like this is always a good way to warm your spirit up. I think Adrian will be back for the full moon tonight, wish the weather was better for you this time mate.. But it isn’t looking like it.

I also had a chance to borrow one of Richards fine pieces of workmanships from Dorset Fishing Rods, OMG I didn’t want to hand this rod back to the guys at Chesil Bait n Tackle, where the rod now stands proudly on the top shelf, out of my short ass reach! Those pacific bay eyes are insane an should be bound to every lure rod out there.

The perfect length of 7ft 6inches is perfect for my casting style. If you have fished with me, you will know exactly what I mean. With a casting weight of 8-30g this rod would lend its self perfect for the crash diving wrasse, but when you start punching lures like the revered zonk or a Duo 125 SLD you start to feel the breeding in this rod, its fast its powerful an can cope with the dirtiest of weather conditions, the rod has a much stiffer mid section which helps to load an punch heavier lures under the wind while maintaining accuracy. At first when I got my hands on this rod I thought that its way to stiff for me, I’m not going to have much lure control an feel. But sure enough a few turns of the handle an the buzzing of the Zonk were there it wasn’t long an I was getting hit by Pollock left right an centre at range with a fast retrieve.

I wouldn’t have been happy to hand this rod back with out saying I had had a bass of over 2lb on it, yes we can chase our tails endlessly searching for BIG bass, but in this day an age a 2LB bass is the average size I would expect to catch on a short fishing session. So out I went for an evening crawl with my mate rob an girlfriend lauren, we started off at the bill in search of the wrasse, but my heart was set on a bass an it wasn’t long before we had all come to the conclusion to jump ship an head to one of our top marks when conditions are right, this mark can throw up some good size bass, an it wasn’t long till I heard the words FISH ON! Now rob doesn’t fish a great deal due to a busy life style like most, but his dedication to lure fishing is second to none, when I did the short hop an walk over to his mark I could see the smile on his face, this is his New PB easily hitting the 3LB mark. Well done budy!!

Just before I heard robs call I could see an hear a lot of splashing right behind me in amongst some weeds an rocks, I knew it was bass, but really that close? In that shallow water? I mean this must have been 8 inches deep. I tried everything from surface lures, slugos, xlayers, small paddle tails, hard minnows an flutter baits but not a sniff… it was only on the return journey to the car that I told the guys that there was a fish down there an low an behold as we showed up you could still hear this fish smashing fish on the surface, right I said I’m having that fish its been teasing me all night, I waited for a splash an cast my lure around 7ft behind it, waited an gently shook the rod tip, bare in mind I only had a floating Rainbow Pearl Gateride clipped up, so this lure was being used very differently to what I would normally. BANG! Fish on! This fish was only around 2.5LB but what ever the hell it had been eating it gave me a run that anglers dream of, the DFR rod handled the fight perfectly with a smooth crisp bend through the upper mid section, this rod wouldn’t feel out of place in the hands of someone who owns an 7.3 injection or the 7.6 HPR, but is perfect for someone looking for a rod in the similar class but with extra power an aggression.

Lure fishing at night only under head torch is something special that so many people just haven’t grasped yet, as Adrian said the week before.. There’s something primitive an strangely spiritual about it. Personally I couldn’t agree with him more.

To round up this blog post, I managed another mini species last night thanks to LRF, I’ve caught a Tompot Blenny years ago on bait but to catch one on lure just shows how LRF just keeps on giving. This fish came in amongst the best part of 20 gobys in a 2 hour session, so was a welcome sight to see. Also here’s a lovely picture of Jessy my work colleague having ago at LRF using burakuri methods.

PS, who ever these morons are fishing the fleet at the end of camp road from a boat, yes I saw you casting rods an so did a few others that weekend! next time I’m calling the harbour master, it says plain as day in a number of places that the Fleet can NOT be fished from any floating vessel.. We are lucky to have the bass fishing that we do around Dorset don’t go an ruin it for the next generation!