DROPSHOTTING-ANOTHER NEW TECHNIQUE

Sunday saw me venture out, slightly worse for wear due to an awesome local wedding to explore some new ground that I had never fished before. It may not look much from the photos but beyond the water line is thick, dense kelp forests some maybe 3-4 ft high with plenty of boulders around too. It all looked really fishy and as I was scrambling around I identified several deeper holes from up high with the polaroids on. 

After finding my way to the lower ledges below I wondered how to tackle the mark, thinking back to a conversation with Keith White a while back he mentioned drop shotting as a great method to target wrasse from heavy kelp. It makes perfect sense really, as if the kelp is dense and wafting around in the swell there would be very little chance that the wrasse around in the area would be able to find the lure if fished on a normal texas rig. As the kelp is about 4 ft high it would make fishing carolina style pretty difficult too so thats where the Drop Shot Rig comes in! With a trace of 5 ft I would be able to fish my lure just above the kelp and right in the target area for any passing wrasse!! I tied a 2/0 Jacks EWG hook with a Palomar knot with a 2ft length of 25lb fluorocarbon and then attached a 3ft length of slighty weaker 10lb mono that would act as a weak link to the lead. Then in theory if the weight became stuck I wouldnt lose the rig and lure - SIMPLES!!

To the hook I attached a Yoshikawa Superworm, a favourite lure of mine when testing the water at a new mark. Usually if there are any fish around, this lure will find them!! After a couple of casts I was starting to understand how to fish this way, especially with Andy Kendricks advice ringing in my ear. He recommended that after casting out, let the weight hit the bottom and take up the slack by lifting the rod tip so that you can just feel the weight. Then drop the rod tip just a little so that when you shake and twitch the lure you are only making the lure move and not the weight (I hope that makes sense?) Anyway back to the fishing!!! 

It quickly became clear that this method works and works bloody well ....

I had a really savage bite that hit the lure incredibly hard, think I must have annoyed the wrasse and made it very aggressive!!! It went off like a scolded cat diving and tried to run through the thick kelp, thankfully with the drag not giving anything I managed to halt her and after a few minutes slipped the net under a cracking fish that went 5.8lbs.

A stunning fish that went back with a big swish of her tail, a great feeling!! Several smaller fish followed next...

They were starting to come through the kelpy holes thick and fast and starting to get bigger again, this one 4.5lbs.

A spirited scrap saw me putting the landing net under my second 5lber of the day, this one slightly smaller at 5.4lbs.

It was time to head back up the rocks and head for home but I couldnt resist one last go at a boulder field so on went a texas rigged Hawg Stickbait in a new colour- orange craw!! A flick out over some boulders and twitch twitch fish on!!

Both these fish had lice on them but went back just as strongly as they came out, it really was time to go home though!! 

So a little bit more of St. Mary's covered but with miles and miles more coastline not to mention hundreds of outer islands and marks left to try I certainly feel even more confident with the drop shot as part of my lure fishing arsenal. Next time you are out there and you think its way way too weedy to fish, give it a go, you may be pleasantly surprised!!!!!

FIELD TESTING THE MAJOR CRAFT CROSTAGE

Major Craft Crostage Hard Rock 7'6"  7-28g 16lb.

Firstly a big thank you goes to Henry Gilbey for introducing us to these rods! When Del told me Henry was coming over with a couple rods that we could have a play with, I was immediately both excited and nervous for my poor little credit card! After telling myself numerous times that I didn't need yet another rod, this would just be a good opportunity to educate myself on a few new rods, brands and styles of rods. But then I picked up this little gem!

First impressions that day after a waggle,.. it was lightning fast! Hmm...maybe too stiff I thought after a few more waggles and shakes..? First cast and wow was I amazed at how well a short little rod like this could cast a 7g cone and a Sp! I think I had a senko on at the time, a lure I had only recently become confident in, but which I struggled to effectively fish on my  8ft+ bass rod. I let it settle and gave it a short, sharp twitch and was amazed how the tip literally "sprung to life"! This rod suddenly didn't seem stiff at all!!!! 5min later, I had decided I "had to have one" , so much for that little talk I gave myself hey?! A couple stock enquiry emails to Tom at MONSTER TACKLE, and my new purchase was on its way.

Now a few months and many sessions later, it makes me smile every time I pick it up. The name "Hard Rock" says it all really, a purposely designed rod that does its job superbly. It balances extremely well with my Daiwa Theory 2500 or a Shimano Rarenium 3000, and even after a full days fishing, you just don't notice any weight in your hand what so ever. Just looking at it, you would be forgiven for thinking it has too short a rear grip/handle, but in reality it is perfect, tucking in under your fore-arm snugly when you really pile the pressure on! The tip is just...insane! Electric! Not remotely "soft", but just err "springy", registering even the most subtle of takes, and helping you impart the tiniest twitches when needed, but doesn't come close to just folding/hooping over the moment you hook up. At 7'6" its the perfect length for rock fishing, and let me tell you its no slouch in the casting department either! Clip on a smallish hard lure and just smile as it flies out! A short, sharp, back and forth overhead style cast(hard to explain, but you see it on most Japanese you tube vids) and a komomo or salt skimmer just shoots out unbelievable distances like an arrow! In fact I took it on a recent bass trip just to see what it could do and was very impressed by how versatile it was. I would still say it is more of a soft lure rod, but it's a pretty impressive all-rounder too.

Rated 7-28g it will cast most/all softbaits you are likely to want to use for wrasse,bass or pollock, and makes you feel far more like you are able to bring lures to life, rather than just twitch- twitch- retrieve- twitch! It is soooo sensitive, you can feel every bump, bolder or kelp frond as you work the lure, and after a few casts you really begin to be able to visualise the underwater features and start to map the area out in your head. The recommended 16lb b.s line is about bang on in my book, but you could certainly fish far heavier if you wanted/needed, and have full confidence you could really horse out a big pig! Indeed on a recent wrassing trip, I watched Del hook and bully what we thought was a good wrasse fairly close in, with drag locked up fully, only to discover it was a tidy pollock! 

The rod absorbed the powerful lunges as it tried to power down into the kelp beautifully, and showed us how deceptively powerful it really is.

All in all, a fantastic rod, that i just don't think can be beaten for the money, that I continue to fall in love with on every trip. A sheer joy to use, it has really opened my eyes to how good a rod can be at a specific task, and I truly believe its balance, sensitivity, power and over all action have really sped up my learning curve in the addictive world of HRF!

Neil Hansen.

I have to agree with Neil, for the money it is a serious piece of kit that has been well thought out by Major Craft. I must admit that I am pretty new to this type of fishing but am learning all the time!! If you are into fishing soft plastics for wrasse, bass and pollack from the shore then this could be just the rod for you! Likewise as it is 7'6'' it is the perfect length for fishing from a boat or from a kayak. 

It has got some serious power in its mid to butt section and I have used it and abused it for the last few months and it hasnt let me down. I have had hundreds and hundreds of wrasse with it topped off by that brute of 6.1lbs.

If you want to put out a senko 40 yards, piece of cake but it is equally happy pitching between boulders and gullies. It takes it all in its stride. I was like Neil and a little worried that the short handle wouldnt enable me to put the brakes onto a big wrasse heading for the nearest snag but quite the opposite as it feels almost like an extension of your arm. Fishing with it makes it very easy to twitch soft plasics over boulders and ledges and the shorter handle fits perfectly under your forearm very naturally meaning as soon as you strike it starts to lock up enabling you to put some direction onto the fish! As it is nice and light you can fish all day with it and at no point complain about its weight!! I fish with a shimano rarenium 3000 and it matches to the Crostage like a dream. The rating of the rod is bang on 7-28g and I know from Tom at Monster Tackle

that it is the most popular rod in France for bass!! Now those guys know their stuff when it comes to a decent rod and I have to agree with them, its a serious piece of kit!!!!

A DAY ON BRYHER AND A FEW LESSONS LEARNT

Sunday found me heading up to Bryher to meet up with Neil and try our luck at finding a few heavy weight ballans and fish some new ground that we had identified as ''potential wrasse ground''. Typically the weather up to sunday could have been described as perfect summers weather, flat calm, sunny and zero swell then you guessed it, saturday night the wind picked up and so did the swells. 20-30 mph SW and SSW meant the spots we had wanted to fish were under water and getting battered!!! Bugger, but the good thing with Bryher as because its a relatively small island we could hopefully tuck away and find some shelter somewhere!

We decided on fishing a spot near Popplestones so that we could find some shelter from the swell outside of the bay. It did look nice and ''fishy'' with lovely clear water inside and plenty of boulders and drop offs into thick kelp forests-perfect for wrasse!!!

We imagined because the tide was ebbing any wrasse would be heading out towards the entrance to this bay towards the slighty deeper water so set ourselves up with the option of casting back inside the bay and working back out of it following the tide and fish. First few casts with Karl Fox's homemade killers produced plenty of small wrasse, clear with either blue or black speckles being the favourite lure. We moved towards the entrance of the bay to find a bigger fish or two and found a lovely looking rock ledge and could see wrasse swimming around below.

I sight fished for a wrasse that looked pretty decent when another one swam past and disappeared into the depths, it clearly was much bigger than the one that was interested in my lure. We were both only getting tentative small knocks and bites so I changed down to a 3'' Jacks Senko in the favourite Watermelon and Pumpkin colour and dropped the lure right next to the tidy sized wrasse below. A couple of twitches and I felt a small pluck, struck and fish on. This scrapped well and Neil slipped the net under a fine 5lb plus fish, neither of us were expecting a big ballan to be so timid but just goes to show!!

We both wondered just how big that other fish was that dwarfed this one, had to be 6-7lbs easily!!!!!! Sadly the wind had started to freshen and with it the swells picked up, we carried on fishing for a while but only small fish kept the rods bending, no sign of the monster so we decided on a move. We headed North and found some nice gullies that screamed wrasse!!

What we hadnt planned for was the swell continuing to pick up and with 6-7 ft of rise and fall these gullies were really difficult to fish with this type of gear. Wrasse appear not to like too much swell and I think Jim O'Donnell was spot on the other day on facebook when he described them as not being built for it and as such seem to prefer water that is a lot calmer. We found the wrasse were hanging further back from the rock face and not following the lures when there was too much movement in the water - another lesson learnt.  

Neil got well and truly done by a cracking fish that was hell bent on not playing ball and wanting its photo taken!!!

 
In the end we managed just over 40 wrasse in less than ideal conditions topped off with that one good fish of over 5lbs. Another lesson is that small lures doesnt always mean small fish, think it was the first time that I had scaled down to a 3'' soft plastic senko after the small tentative plucks. Maybe just maybe some of those fish we thought were pesky smaller ones may have been larger ones being a tad more cautious, food for thought...........

RETURN TO WRASSE ALLEY

Sunday's miserable weather didn't stop me getting out fishing, we had rain, mist and drizzle but the tides were right so I had to get back out to the gulley I found last week. Confidence is a big part of fishing I reckon and after last getting that 6lber out I was armed full of it!!

I got out to the mark just on low water and had to venture further out of the bay due to there being no water to fish the spot yet, just masses and masses of kelp forests in between big old boulders and a couple of big granite drop offs which I remembered the beasts came from. I would head back inside the bay to fish the gulley a bit later into the flood so started at another likely looking wrasse hole. First cast with a 4'' Watermellon Hawg Stickbait rigged texas style and tap tap, fish on!! 

A spirited scrap and a good start to the session!! Next cast and I got nailed good and proper, must have had the wrasse on for 30 seconds nothing I could do other than hold on and bang snapped on barnacles. Big ballans if they know where they want to go you have zero chance of stopping them on this gear sadly!!! Undeterred I rigged up again and cast out, small tentative taps then bang another good fish was on and trying to get back to the sanctuary of its hole.

I apologise for the crap photo, trying to take a photo of yourself with a timer is something that I havent managed to suss yet!!!! Just over 4lbs it was starting to really switch on!!! The next few casts produced plenty of smaller fish all to the 4'' Watermellon Hawg stickbait before another better sized fish tried to lead me on a merry dance. I thought that it was going to be a 5lb plus fish after such a dogged fight but I slipped the net under another fish of 4lbs.

Time for one last cast before moving inside the bay I thought, actually I had several more casts as there were clearly a lot of fish moving through.

This one was probably the scabbiest wrasse I have caught, covered in cuts, scratches and clearly been through the wars!!!!

Right, time to move back inside the bay a bit now the tide was right, a change to one of Karl Fox's homemade soft plastics rigged texas style to a 3/0 Jacks EWG offset Hook and the wrasse continued to nail the lures!!

Got royally smashed up by another kelp bully that was on for all of 5 seconds as it dived into its underwater bolthole - BUGGER!!!

A few casts with the small goby imitation and several smaller fish around the 2 to 2.5lb mark showed so it was time to change lures to a strange caterpillar type thing that Karl had sent. I cast this over the granite drop off where I had caught the 6lber from and twitched it ever so slowly up and over the edge when I felt a small tap, tap tap then bang this was a better fish!!

At 5.1lbs it was a much better sized fish, again the photos let it down as still not got to grips with the timer thing, need some lessons I think!!!!

A quick change of lures back to the 4'' Watermellon Hawg Stickbait for a few last casts before heading home and more orangey browny wrasse appeared for their photo opportunity.

All in all a pretty decent session, I ended up with over 40 wrasse all on soft plastics but again the bigger fish won but thats fishing for you!!! Until next time.......

LOST MY MOJO?!!

 

 

Sorry so late, I meant to get this post together earlier, but work got in the way!

Having just wound up very poor weekends bassing(18th+ August)), I felt well and truly beat, and although I know it has been tough in  west Cornwall, I was surprised not to manage a single bass! Had one follow and that was it! I was very grateful to be shown around on the Sunday by Stephen Butler who was kind enough to respond to a thread I started on the lure forum. What a thoroughly nice chap too! He took me to one of his favourite marks, (where he had a bass the day before, so was feeling confident!), but no joy there, so a drive to the south coast to look round Newlyn and Penzance. Not the clearest water, but fish-able, again, sadly no joy there either, so we decided to try around Prussia Cove. It looked good, a little colour and a fairly large swell, the most promising mark we tried, but sadly no joy there either. Well...Steve did manage a small pollock,....how small....?...well, he was a great host so I wont say!

Then on the way back to St Ives(all day kindly chauffeured by Steve!) we couldn't resist one last attempt at a spot in St Just, no bass there either but some fun with acrobatic pollock, smashing surface lures! Sadly no bass, but a day spent in very good company, shown some lovely marks I will definitely revisit in future!

Sitting at Lands end air port feeling rather defeated,  I got a text from Del to say that Jim - irreverent angler was back over for a few days, camping on  Bryher Campsite. After the disappointing weekend I'd  just had, I was in two minds about meeting up for a session...what if the dry spell continued?! After giving myself a stern talking to I got in touch with Jim, and although I was working everyday to make up for my time away, I had a free evening, and a decent forecast meant it was time for change!

We met up at Bryher Shop, and made our way to Gweal Hill. On the way we caught up, and Jim filled me in on some of the fishing and a kayaking /snorkelling /skishing (yes a combo of all three!) session he had experienced while I was in Cornwall. I am sure he will put a detailed report on his blog soon. We arrived  at the start of the flood tide, which seemed to take forever to push in, and things were a bit quite....oh dear! Despite already feeling like my fishing luck had run out, I purposely persevered with a few lures that I hadn't tried much before. Yeah, I know, I'm a sucker for punishment!

Luckily as the tide picked up, so did the fishing, and both Jim and I were finding a few fish! Remembering a tough session Del and I had on St Marys recently, I suggested Jim try a paddle tail(wish I had brought one along!), and he was soon getting a few more fish.

 

 

I put on a newly purchased lure that grabbed my attention the second I saw it, Berkley Gulp 4'' Baitfish Lure. A couple of casts later my efforts were rewarded with this beauty at 49cm, which scrapped like mad in the very shallow water!

The tide had started to really push in now and the "wave" of fish seemed to have moved past us, so we followed the tide in a little further, rock hopping and having a few casts on the way. We both continued to get a few smaller fish, and while releasing one of mine, I looked over to Jim, who's rod was bent very nicely as he gave an angry wrasse the horns! It scrapped beautifully and had him manoeuvring every which way to to keep it from cutting him off on the boulders. I just managed to clamber over to him in time to see him land it and get a couple pics. No scales on us, and never measured her but around the 4 1/2lb mark at a guess, result! Another fat pair of rubber lips!

A great evening with a very capable fellow lure nut! Very glad I joined him and broke my dry spell curse! 

Cheers Jim, I hope to see you back out here again soon, we need to find you a real brute next time!

BACK IN BLACK

Decided on fishing a couple of marks on St.Marys this afternoon in the search for some big old kelp donkeys, I wasnt expecting a great deal of action as there was quite a bit of swell around the rocks and plenty of white water not to mention a side wind. This usually makes fishing soft plastics incredibly difficult due to not keeping a tight line to the lure. I decided to counter the swell by stepping up the cone weight from 7g to 10g and fishing tight under my feet into a nice looking gulley that was 10ft deep and 20 ft wide, it did look fishy though so cast out one of fellow lure addict Karl Fox's homemade soft plastics. I believe that he is thinking of selling them and I must say they look very impressive and very professional - but would they catch Scillonian wrasse like they do their Devon cousins?????

First cast with the black goby and as I take up the slack I get a tap straight away, leaving the lure in the same spot and making the bell dance around and ring like crazy the rod hoops over and fish on!!

Next few casts produced similar sized wrasse, there was certainly plenty of fish in this gulley!! I cast a little bit further out to what looked like a drop off, closed the bail arm and started to twitch the black goby imitation back - BANG BLOODY HELL!!!! The lure was absolutely nailed and this fish wasnt stopping!!!! Just like last sunday up at Tresco this fish was heading out away from me and there was bugger all that I could do to stop or slow her down with the 20lb fluorocarbon leader being done on the barnacles!! 

I set up again and cast out to the same spot, bang fish on again but not the stamp of kelp donkey that I had hooked previously.

Again it was a spirited scrap that tried its hardest to do me in one of the barnacle covered boulders, not the size of fish that I had lost but at 4lbs put a good bend in the Major Craft Crostage.

A change to another one of Karl's homemade specials, this time a sort of slug go type invention but again black was the colour. A flick along the side of the gulley and after several small bumps which I thought was a small fish the rod bent over and a serious wrasse was on. As it had taken right under my feet the rod bent double as I tried to stop it diving straight back to its kelp hole!!! This was another beast that I just couldnt halt and with the same outcome sadly. These big old wrasse were smashing me up good and proper!!!!!!!

I was starting to wonder what I had to do to actually land one of the bigger bullies from this gulley when I was in again on the following cast. I had changed to a Black Hawg Senko and managed to land a steady stream of smaller fish in the 1.5-3lb bracket. Good fun but I was waiting for another lunker to come through the gulley again. 

This one again was 4lbs that led me on a merry dance and wet feet as I netted her. I cast out again over the drop off, several small taps started as the lure was bounced over the edge and bang fish on. This was another brute that headed towards me this time, then out again then turned and swam back I could feel the line rubbing over the boulders as it tried its hardest to beat me up. Thankfully with a bit of side strain she surfaced and was a cracker!!! Slipping the net under her and lifting her out I knew she could be the 6lb that I was looking for...

At 6.1lbs she had a massive head and a really fat belly that wasnt very long surprisingly but it was a new best for me using this soft plastics and lighter tackle. Anybody that says wrasse dont fight well you need to try this type of fishing. You will be pleasantly surprised!!!!! A great afternoon and a gulley that I will be heading back to thats for sure!!!! As for Karl's homemade lures, well they work mate and work very well too - Scillonian wrasse love em!!!!!!!!!!

SMASHED UP ON TRESCO BY THE KELP BULLY

 

 

Several months ago a chap called Neil Heyer contacted me through the blog as he was interested in coming over to the islands to sample the fishing and have a crack at some of the awesome wrasse fishing that we have on the lighter tackle. Several emails went back and forth regarding what to bring lure wise, good old Andy Kendrick at jackslrf sorted him out with the wrasse's favourite snacks and next thing I know he is on the islands and we are discussing a plan of attack over a couple of pints! 

 

Sunday dawned and it was pissing down!!!!!!!!! Great, regretting that last pint now I have to get out of my warm bed to get soaking wet - anglers are just a little bit mad arent we!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Like true hardy men like we are we met up on the quay at St. Mary's to catch the tripper boat over to the island of Tresco. Tresco is a stunning island with long white beaches and the famous Abbey Gardens, home to many rare and sub tropical plants but it was the northern end that we were interested in and the virgin marks that I was sure held some big old kelp brutes!! Due to the tides we landed on Carn Near and had to stomp the entire length of the island to reach the marks. Thankfully by the time we reached the north the rain had stopped and the sun came out - what an amazing vista said Neil!! We spent a bit of time looking around and checking out the deep gullies strewn with heavy kelp and boulders the size of small vans, it all screamed wrasse!!!!!!! 

 

We decided to fish a mark that I had identified using google maps, it was a lovely gulley, with boulders and weed everywhere but also with the odd clear sandy patch and with the tide still 2 hours from low I didnt expect much until the flood. Oh how wrong I was, first cast and wrasse on straight away! I managed to winkle out three fish before Neil had even cast out, they were certainly around and hungry!! I had started to fish a watermelon  5'' Hawg Stickbait and had to change due to the lure being chomped beyond recognition. Neil was quickly getting to grips with how to hold the rod and keep the tip facing upwards when twitching and bumping the soft plastics over the boulders and soon his reel was screaming as his first wrasse headed towards the kelp!

 

 

He was over the moon to say the least and was soon back into a fish on his next cast! The fishing was pretty mad with bites and takes every cast and although the size of the wrasse wasnt massive there were clearly big numbers of fish down there!! Each one fought like demons probably due to never being caught before and I dont think I have ever seen so many on the back tide before!!! 

 

 

I switched to a Black Hawg Stickbait and cast out, I lifted the rod and it all went tight as something picked up the lure then off it went!! I was using the Major Craft Crostage and never before has it bent like that, line was coming off the shimano rarenium even though the drag was done up tight. I just couldnt stop it, she was clearly the big bully of this gulley and without a doubt the most powerful wrasse I have hooked. Sadly she did me like a kipper snapping the 20lb fluorocarbon and leaving me cursing!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Sorry about the agricultural language Neil!)

 

I put on another black senko and cast out, with wrasse after wrasse to 4lbs but nothing like that beast whilst Neil was going through his soft plastic collection catching on all manner of lures.

 

 

Regretably it was time to head back to catch the boat back to St.Marys but the swell had started to build with the flooding tide so it was good timing. I didnt fancy another soaking, this time with sea water!!

 

 

It was certainly a fun day, good company and plenty of fish too, I think Neil enjoyed himself and I reckon he's caught the wrasse bug!!!!!! We will be back to pay this spot a visit, might have to step up the rod to the 15-50g Shinjin though to get that kelp donkey out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!