TESTING TIMES

On saturday, Neil popped down for a few hours with our target being to try out some of our new toys from Andy at Jackslrf in the hope of bagging some pollack. Well that was the plan but as with all great plans it had its flaw, for some reason, try as we did, we just couldnt find any pollack. We threw lure after lure jumping from rock to rock and bay to bay but to no avail. Whether it was the ebb tide or the pollack were concentrating and gorging on the herring and pilchards shoals that we could see were being dived upon by the gannets, who knows? So a change of plan was called for and a move back up inside Porth Hellick bay to test out the lures on the ever reliable wrasse.

I chose a Hawg Wild Lures 4'' Watermellon Seed Stickbait, above, as this colour has been really successful for me recently. Seriously, first cast and i could see a fish following the lure, stopped reeling in and just twitched the stickbait and bang, fish on and 4.10lb wrasse safely netted and released after a quick weigh and photo. Remember, treat these wrasse with care and respect. They may appear tough but if you are going to weigh them, put them in a plastic bag first so that they go back in the same condition that you caught them. That way you can catch them again, when they are even BIGGER!!!!!!

Meanwhile Neil had been catching a steady stream of fish to nearly 3lbs on a crimson tide Nojo Baits 4.5'' lure twitched back really slowly.

 These Nojo lures below were being attacked virtually as soon as the lure hit the water with the favourite colour today being the purple or crimson tide version. They have an incredible action when moved as the tails are incredibly thin and any movement however small seemed to get the wrasse's attention and encourage them to nail it! I had my arse well and truly kicked today so revenge will be mine when I whoop Neil on his island, Bryher next weekend!

A great afternoons sport and awesome fun trying these lures out, plenty more to try and will keep you posted on our adventures.

Until next time.........

BACK TO THE FUTURE

Now a strange title you may think for the first post on Scilly Lure Addicts, but bare with me. Having only recently got into this hrf lark, i have been going over old wrasse haunts that i havent fished for years. But instead of using the heavy old gear that i used back then with worms, crabs and gobies for bait i have been armed with a megabass rod, small fixed spool, braid and a handful of soft plastics. I would wait for ages to get big old ballans out with the old gear and techniques but this is all about having fun and enjoying the sport from heavy weight ballan wrasse. Its so much easier to travel light, have a couple of casts here, move to the next rock and keep going until you find the fish.

PorthHellick was the place to go today as we are suffering from NW winds at the moment that have made alot of the deeper rock marks unfishable due to heavy swells. The great thing with the islands is that no-matter where the wind is you can always find some shelter and hopefully fish!!!

 As you can see, the spot is nice and shallow, big boulders everywhere and plenty of kelp around which the wrasse love. With the flood tide the wrasse come up into the bay, using the gullies and boulders to ambush their prey. I started out towards the entrance to the bay and moved up inside with the flood tide, following the wrasse on the way. Started with my old faithfull, a Hart Absolut Worm rigged texas style on a 1/0 Gamakatsu hook and the wrasse were about in big numbers, had 6 fish out of one spot up to 4.13lbs before the tide pushed me off my boulder so a move inside the bay was needed!

With so many wrasse about I chopped and changed and had another good one of 5.2lbs on a crawfish pattern.

A change of lure to one of the soft plastics that andy kendrick from jacks lrf has kindly sent me to try, I chose a 6'' green senko type worm and rigged texas style, straight from the off the wrasse were going mad for it with this fish goin 5lbs.

They certainly were loving the green colour thats for sure!! Whether it was the senko worm or the hog from jacks lrf, just aslong as it was green! Constant sport with wrasse coming thick and fast.

Ended up with 26 wrasse to 5.2lbs and not one set out tackle lost!!! Compare that to the old methods that i would have used before and hrf is something pretty special!!!!