Firstly before I write this blog post, I want to say how sad I am to have lost a friend and fellow fishermen, not to mention incredible musician and person, Lolly and I only new you for a short time, in which we shared a few drinks and got to see you play a few of your favourite songs at the Wellington, the song you played touched us both... we will never know what was wrong but only wish we were there for you, god bless you, your family and girlfriend... your going to be missed Rob.
Thank you Mr Weather man for some amazing weather that we have been having these past few weeks, its been a good few years since Britain can say we had a decent summer, to top it off having a new job and change in career is making this summer one for me to remember, on that note.. for those interested the job is going amazing, its been years since I can say I'm looking forward to starting work on a Monday morning, its amazing what positive change can do for someone, I've also had some great evenings fishing with some old and new friends over the past few weeks, most of my time has been spent over at Portland Bill due to its easy access and I can use what little time I have efficiently.. oh and the fishing has been amazing!!
For all those who have a special place in their hearts for Portland Bill and fishing, you have to watch this.. I love the fact even back in the days when this was made people were bleeting on about new and old tackle.. I fall on both sides of the fence where modern tackle is concerned.. a self confessed tackle tart with contemporary antique taste.
How good is that!
I've had many sessions at the Bill over the past few weeks and its been fantastic, watching shoals of Pollock and Mackerel smashing bait fish on the surface within a couple feet of your feet is a sight not many get to see, Lolly didn't believe me when I said the Pollock had been launching themselves out of the water and hitting lures just as your lifting the lure out of the water, until she got in on the action... fish on for Lolly!
Most of the fish we hit this evening were using the Ghost Minnows and Ghost shrimps from Jacks LRF, genuinely these lures may not last a dozen fish, but they find bites fast and are super soft allowing you to hook up with most if not all positive bites.
Strange as it may sound to some, we found using darker nearly jet black lures found us bigger fish.. nothing new to the experienced lure anglers out there, but for anyone picking up the sport, don't shy away from the darker lures, these Ghost Minnows in the purple shades were devastating!
Its strange how sometimes you can be fishing for hours and not get a bite, then out of nowhere all hell can break lose and fish start going nuts! this was the case one evening when a nice chap called Andy came along and joined me on my fishing perch, I'm sure his wife was happy with what he brought home for tea as he had a right mixed bag of fish.. you could tell Andy was a die hard fishermen by the state of his rod, absolutely hammered and still going strong, gotta love a Tenryu.
How greedy is this mackerel...!
I decided to treat myself to a St. Croix from the Dorset Fishing Rods camp, I shall say no more in this blog post until I've hit up some more fish on the rod, so far though; I cant find the words to describe how good the rod is, genuinely I feel like I'm fishing with something I want to call Excalibur, these rods, these blanks the workmanship is seriously something special.
I also had the pleasure in being joined by a family friend; Kev Collins and his son Tarron. Now these guys weren't looking for monster fish, they just wanted good old fashion fishing fun. They left it up to me to decide on what to do and where to go, after my recent luck across the rocks of Portland there was only one thing for it; Portland Bill the one place that keeps on giving, easy access and plenty of average size fish.
It didn't take Kev long to tune in to using lighter gear, which is a massive change considering he's only used to using beach casters, as soon as he hooked this wrasse you could see the lure faith creeping in, I was so chuffed that it was his first fish on lure with this balanced tackle, the smiles in the above picture says it all.. I have to say this is most likely the best photo I have ever taken, (personal opinion). there's something about it that sums up fishing in my eyes.
I'm really hoping I passed enough knowledge on to both Kev and Tarron and they take up the Rock fishing lure fun that's sweeping the UK now, this short session really opened my eyes on where I want my fishing journey to go, passing what little I knowledge on to the future anglers young and old is something I never really appreciated until seeing these guys having such a great time.. there's lots of ideas in the pipe line at the moment, and fingers crossed these pipe dreams become a reality.
