Make Hay While The Sun Shines

What a mixed week of weather we are having, torrential rain, sub zero temperatures and high winds, could it get any worse...? Well they are saying that the world is going to end on the 21^st of this month, be it a giant asteroid, solar flare, the beginning of a new ice age or some other apocalyptic event like Facebook crashing or Macdonalds running out of double cheese burgers, the one I’m looking forward to the most is the zombie apocalypse, yes Call Of Duty has been preparing us for this event for years now, and right now I’m watching a program on TV about preppers..  I’ve got my bug out bag sorted, worm weights check, hooks check, soft lures check, hard lures check, can of Redbull check, sorted! Right enough rambling or I might start sounding like Matt Jones, so how’s the fishing been...

Times have been tough the past week with the poor weather,  the shorter days mean I only get weekends to fish day light hours due to working Monday to Friday 7 till 4, which can see me forced to fish the sheltered harbours and beaches with the lighter gear rather than hunting down the winter wrasse which are still showing in good numberS. Fingers crossed for some decent weather over the xmas break, where I will be making good use of having 10 days off work! my last proper outing on the Portland rocks marks saw me give the Major Craft KGLights rod (rated 1-10g) an absolute spanking, the first few hours of fishing round Portland bill saw me land a handful of smaller wrasse on Marukyu Isome and small Grass Minnows.

 

It was only when I used a good old fashioned ragworm head hooked on a size 16 hook did the bigger fish show their faces, first few casts saw me bend the KGLights double, seriously this rod has a backbone and can put the pressure on a decent fish, watching the solid tip slowly bend with little resistance to the point you know the fish has the lure/bait in its mouth, but doesn’t realise its hooked is something I’ve never experienced with a tubular rod.

 

 

I was joined by Mr Craig Allington just in time before the fishing cooled down, we must have had four or five fish each, with a couple of decent sized 2-3LB wrasse, I had one fish that felt and ran like it was easily 4LB plus, but handed my back side to me on a plate. Both me an Craig were absolutely gutted that we didn’t get to see this fish because the 20 second or more fight it put up was epic.

I was lucky enough this past week to be invited to the Portland Sea Angling Group`s annual group meet as I have been asked by Mr Paul Burridge to help out with some LRF, HRF & plugging teach and show days for the club, which for the progression of the sport I’m happy to do so, the club has already been given so much support for Lure fishing by Chesil Bait n Tackle and major suppliers Tronix and Ecogear, there are plans ahead to get schools and youth clubs onboard and charity events throughout the year,  the one thing that stood out big time at this meet was the awareness of catch and release which is something I’m a firm believer in, yes there is a lot of politics revolving around scoring for comps and leagues etc, but for the future  of our sport, it`s a positive move that we may not see the benefits from but our children and grandchildren will.

The New Year will see me putting up a few different styles of blog posts, with guest writers and interviews with some of the top anglers who you hear about, so to kick things off I would like to introduce my partner in crime Lauryn AKA Lolly Pop.

 

Now looking back over this year, we have had our ups and down with health and life, but this girl has proven herself as an angler and has put more time in on the water than most of the guys I know, taking all the harsh conditions, slips and falls in her stride, there has been blood sweet and tears... literally! Having to deal with my style of teaching isn’t always the preferred style of many, but she has listened and learnt, picked up the books I’ve shown her, read the websites and links that I would email her and sourced much of her own reading material to learn from. Being a mother of 2 and holding down a fulltime job she makes me proud to fish alongside her... so here is Lollys story of her first Flounder which I am glad to say was caught on Lure.

 

You know sometimes you just get that 'fishy feeling' ? Well Sunday evening was a day for that feeling. I'd been determined not to end 2012 having not caught a lovely wonky faced flounder and with less than 3 weeks left of the year I was cutting it fine!

We headed down to weymouth harbour to a stretch of sand/mud bottomed sea where a good few flounder have been caught over the last few months.

 

 

Using my MajorCraft Solpara I set up with a size 10 hook on 3lb fluorocarbon and half an XL red Marukyu Isome with 2 AAA splitshot weights: one on the 'nose' of the lure and one 2/3 inches further up the line.

I fished the water within 20ft of where I was stood as if there is one thing i’ve learnt from watching others catch flounder its that they usually hang out within a few feet of the harbour wall.

 

 

Bopping the lure on the bottom in a similar way to wrasse fishing with the occasional more pronounced 'lift' to bring the lure a few feet off the sea bed seems a favoured method for catching the attention of flounder... presumably because of their upside down faces and because of their bottom dwelling nature they like to see their food swim above their heads!. Before long I felt the most bizarre bite ever... A strong distinct pull in place of the usual 'tap tap tap' I’ve become used to feeling. This initial pull was followed by further firm 'pulls'

 Bringing the fish gently to the surface and catching the first glimpse of what this ‘pulling’ thing was i was so excited when i saw it was the elusive flounder that i’d been chasing for what seemed like an eternity: and just in the nick of time!  I'd done it!! Nearly... Just had to land it now!

 As it came up to the surface, as seems characteristic of flat fish it shied from the street light and headed back down! Loosening my drag off in an attempt to prevent the hook from pulling or the light line from breaking I let the fish take line and eventually with a little coaxing i got it over to Will who was waiting with a net. This now leaves my species count for 2012 at a nice round 20 :-D Phew! Mission accomplished! Next please :-P

 

 

 

Hope you enjoyed that guys, something a little different than me waffling on, this last Tuesdays LRF meet saw us have some visitors from as far as Bath, Adam Venn, Steve Spencer, Tim Evans and this guy Jim who I bumped into a few months back and spoke about LRF and all things lure related.

 

 

Fishing was extremely tough, according to the weather man it was the coldest night of the year, I managed a few gobys on bait and lure and a few others on the LRF meet caught a couple Pollock and whiting using isome, fingers crossed these guys come back for another visit in the spring when conditions are a little warmer and the fishing is a darn sight better!

 

Hope you enjoyed the read folks, I’m hoping I shall be able to write another blog post between now and Xmas, but if I don’t I wish you all a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year!

 

P.S. Here are a few gift ideas for anyone who hasn’t got me a present yet....