Bass PB smashed by Slug-Go!

Scott and I both had an afternoon to spare yesterday so we elected to head down the coast in search of bass. The easterly wind had dropped off a bit and as we drove past Portobello beach the sea was quite calm, this boded well for an ultra light approach. When we got to our mark the sea however had other ideas! A combination of the days of onshore winds, currents, the reef and ebbing tide had created some big, grey, angry North Sea waves. The previous few sessions at this mark had also been conducted in rough conditions and Slug-Gos had been working so I planned to continue with the same approach. Scott had been keen to experiment with Slug-Gos fished weightless and as he had just had his beloved Nories Rockfish Bottom Ultra Light with him decided to stick with this LRF approach. I had my newly repaired Graphiteleader Corto EX LRF set up so started alongside Scott except instead of a Slug-Go I was using a Small Power Isome on a 2.3g Shirasu fine jig head. 

After a few minutes it quickly became apparent that the conditions were stacked against LRF bass fishing so we decided to change tactics. I geared up my heavier rod with a 4.5" Slug-Go in Arkansas Shiner, mounted on a AGM 10.5g #2/0 Football jighead and began to work the lure in the strong surf and currents. I was experimenting with a minimalist retrieve, this was just a case of casting up tide and allowing the lure to sink slowly with the current whilst retrieving just enough to maintain contact with the lure. As I feel the lure tapping the bottom I would give a couple of twitches up and then allow the lure to fall back. After about 20 minutes of fishing, pausing briefly to educate some anglers on the minimum size bass regulations, I had my first bite. The fish attacked as the lure swung around in the current and did its best to use the big waves to escape. Soon it was up on the surface and ready to be landed. It was just a small bass and it wallowed below me as I waited for a wave to help me land it. The bass took full advantage of the pause and shook its head, spat the lure and was gone. I wasn't too disappointed as I was sure there would be more around so continued to fish on. A few minutes later I hooked and lost another small bass in a similar way to the first fish. Slightly frustrated but pleased by the action i carried on working the Slug-Go. Third times a charm and a few casts later another small schoolie was brought to my feet only this time a large wave helped out and it was soon at my feet. I had a hold of the leader and Scott laughed and told me to get a hold of the fish before I lost it! It did spit the lure as I grabbed it but was going nowhere this time!

Third time lucky.

Scott meanwhile had been working a weightless Slug-go in the current but the conditions were proving too rough to work the lure properly and he was struggling to get the lure down to any depth. He then rigged up a 3" Jewel Bait Sculpin Hypertail lure in Rootbeer Pepper on an AGM 3.5g #2 Finesse jighead and began casting up the current and working it back, twitching it along the sea bed. It wasn't long before Scott's rod hooped over and his first bass of the session was hooked! The bass, all be it a small, put up a good fight on his light gear which brought a big smile to Scott's face. Soon the fish was below him but again while waiting for a wave to help land it the fish shook its head and spat the lure! Scott was far from being disappointed though and found it hilarious that the cute blenny imitation had caught a bass and fished on.

About 20 minutes later I had a gentle bite and struck into a much heavier fish! The Rod hooped over and the fish started to strip some line kiting away in the current. Then after a couple more runs the fish started to come to the surface. This was proving quite a tricky fish to land and it used the receding swell to try to dive back to cover. The fish came into view and it was apparent that it was a really good fish. Soon it was beaten and lay below me in the swell. Eventually after a couple of aborted attempts a wave lifted the fish up over the ledge and there in my hands lay a beautiful silver dream! A new PB Bass of 59.5cm and weighing 4lb 12oz! After a few photos I released the fish and watched as she swam strongly away into the churning water.

Big Barry. Caught at last!

The bass recovers slightly in a shallow pool.

A final trophy shot before releasing the fish.

I was blown away by it and really happy to break my PB so early in the year! It was also extremely satisfying to get it on a Slug-Go as I had been convinced this would sort out the bigger fish eventually and it's always good when a plan comes together! Scott had switched back over to a Slug-Go this time rigged on an AGM 7g #3/0 Shaky jighead and after trying a few different ways of working it was soon into a bass! Again the schoolie fought like a tiger on the light gear but was soon landed with the help of a wave and there lay Scott's first bass on a Slug-Go!

Scott's third fish on a Slug-Go in a week. He's cracked it!

Another target achieved Scott's blenny sense started tingling and off he went to the nearby rockpools to offer them some Power Isome, quickly racking up twelve blennies and a long spined scorpion in the process.

Scott loves blennies. He just can't resist them!

Blennies love Power Isome! Even tiny ones can't resist it!

The odd long spined scorpion manages to muscle in amongst all the blennies!

Soon it was time to head home and as we headed back to the car we discussed my new bass PB and Scott hooking a bass on the blenny like Sculpin Hypertail lure and the need to try them again, perhaps getting a larger size and fishing them on heavier jigheads. I couldn't help but feel that we had done very well to get any bass in the conditions let alone a new PB! But boy am i glad I did!

Tight lines, Schogsky.

All along the towpath.

Jake and I met up yesterday afternoon for a couple of hours up the Union Canal targeting pike with our favourite soft plastic, the deadly 9.5cm Savage Gear Soft 4Play in Dirty Roach. Both of us elected to lob them with ultra light tackle and fish them using the weightless Savage Gear "Ready to fish" rigs. 

The weather was overcast and there was the odd light shower but despite this the water was quite clear so I thought it looked promising and hopefully the pike wouldn't be as lethargic as they had been last time when the sun was shining brightly. We worked our way along the towpath and things were very slow with no signs of any activity at all until we reached a point where we had seen a few pike during our last trip. Jake had a follow but like last time the fish seemed a little lethargic, just following behind the lure then stopping and staring at it without actually striking. Jake had a few more casts to try and tempt it but it eventually swam back under the overhanging branches of the tree it had come out from. I had a couple of casts to the other side of the tree and felt what I thought was a snag but then it started to strip some line. Fish on, but it didn't feel quite right and the fight was strange. Only when the pike came into view did we realise it was foul hooked in the underside of its jaw. I played it carefully to the edge so as not to rip the hooks out and damage the fish and Jake chinned it out for me.

At last!

We fished the area for a bit longer but had no further action so we doubled back and started heading towards the car. Again there was no any sign of any fish for a while. We got about half way back to the car when I hooked a second fish at a spot where I'd hooked and lost a big fish several weeks ago. A very subtle take but the pike was hooked in the corner of the mouth this time and put up a spirited little fight before Jake chinned it out and we unhooked it over on the grass.

Slightly bigger second fish. Same happy bloke.

Savage Gear 4 Play in Dirty Roach destroyed I switched over to the Perch colour and we carried on. A bit further along Jake had a follow from a decent perch so he quickly scaled down and rigged up a Gulp! 1" Minnow on a small jighead and tried to tempt it again but unfortunately had no luck doing so. Time was soon up and we headed back to the car. Quite a contrast to all the action we had during our last session on the canal and a rare blank for Jake.

Tight lines, Hutch.

West coast wrasse hunt.

On Tuesday we teamed up with our friend and fellow The Lure Forum member Martin Allison planning to target some wrasse species. Martin had very kindly offered to take us to some marks that had produced goldsinny, rock cook, corkwing and ballan wrasse. We were all looking to increase our species tally for the year and it was a great opportunity to meet up again and fish together.

I picked Scott up at 05:30 and we headed through to Greenock which was to be our first port of call. After just over an hours drive we arrived at the marina and met Martin. He was already fishing using bait for the mini wrasse at this mark and we would soon joined in gishing small lures using our LRF gear. Scott and I both went with Power Isome mounted on jigheads, I used a 2.3g #8 Shirasu Fine and Scott was on a 1.8g #10 Decoy Rocket.

We started by dropping our lures down the side of the walls and jigging them next to the kelpy growth. After a few minutes Martin called us over to show us the first goldsinny wrasse of the day! He was fishing a paternoster with #10 hooks baited with tiny sections of ragworm and after a pic or two, the fish was released. Great stuff, we knew our target species were around, now all we had to do was persuade them to have a go on the lures.

Martin shows us how its done with this goldsinny wrasse.

Next it was Scott's turn to hook a fish and I looked round to see his Diaflash rod hooped over. By the bend in his rod we could tell it was no small wrasse and soon a feisty wee pollock was landed!

Scott's first fish of the session, a scrappy little pollock

This continued to be the pattern for the next half hour with Martin landing a string of goldsinnys and dabs and Scott landing another couple of little pollock. I was starting to get a bit frustrated by this stage so I scaled down further to a 1.8g #10 Decoy Rocket jighead and rigged a section of red Gulp! Sandworm on it. We started to fish over the kelp which was now being covered by the flooding tide. Scott was taking a much more vertical approach while I was casting and bouncing the lure across the top of the kelp. I started to get a few taps as the tiny wrasse shot out of the kelp and had a go at the lure but I just couldn't get them to hook up. Scott gave a shout and was into a small wrasse. It turned out to be a corkwing which had the good grace to stay hooked as it was swung up the wall.

Scott's first ever corkwing wrasse.

Brilliant! A new species for an extremely pleased Scott and it was quickly photographed and returned. Martin then landed a corkwing too as well as a steady stream of Goldsinnys. Scott then winkled out a long spined sea scorpion from the kelp, much to Martin's surprise as they are not that commonly caught at this mark.

This little blighter had bolted into the kelp and Scott was lucky to get him out of it!

A quick throat shot for comparison against the Short Spined specimen Scott caught up at Portree.

With mounting frustration I went smaller still and put on a 1g #12 jig head from AGM discount Tackle, this I rigged with a Berkley Gulp! 1" Fish Fry. I went over to near where Scott was fishing and noticed two large boulders beneath my feet. I dropped the lure down in between them and soon saw a tiny goldsinny poke its head out and grab the lure, only to quickly spit it out before I could react! Argh! This game of "tease the angler" continued for about 20 minutes until I finally hooked it! It was reeled and lifted up with the utmost care and there in my hand lay my first ever goldsinny wrasse! I was very pleased to get of the mark with one of our target species at last!

I have you now!

Scott really wanted a Goldsinny too and spent ages trying to tempt one only to experience the frustration I had just endured! I meanwhile was after a corkwing and had swapped back to the Decoy Rocket jighead with a chunk of Gulp! Sandworm.

Two wrasse wranglers in action.

We were running out of time as we had to leave to go to another mark for bigger ballan wrasse. Scott had now downsized to a size 18 hook, 0.8g split shot and tiny section of pink Power Isome and was still being teased mercilessly by the goldsinnies. I was working my lure across the kelp when a small fish darted out of the kelp and grabbed the lure, fish on and my first corkwing this year was soon landed! Martin did the honours with a photo then we released the fish.

My first corkwing of 2012.

Just as Martin and I were breaking down our tackle in readiness to move we heard a triumphant "Yes!". Scott had hooked and landed a goldsinny although it fell of the hook and very nearly wiggled back to the sea! Luckily Scott reacted quickly enough to grab it for a quick souvenir shot!

Second new species for Scott. Look at those teeth!

We then headed half an hour down the road to our next mark in the hope of targeting ballan wrasse. The weather had really improved by this point and it was pleasantly warm and bright. The mark was very nice looking indeed with clear water covering big boulders, fingers of rock and bands of kelp, classic wrasse habitat. Martin gave us a quick tour showing us likely areas and then tackled up with a float set up to try to establish if there were any wrasse around. I decided to have a play with a 4.5" Slug-Go on a 10.5g jighead. After a few casts I started getting some knocks as I was retrieving the lure over a large boulder. Next cast again I got a couple of knocks so I stopped the retrieve and just let the lure sit still on top of the boulder. Tap, tap ... Whack! A wrasse grabbed the Slug-Go and zoomed off to my left, I struck and my lure flew off to my right! Close but no cigar! I then went back to the LRF gear as Martin had been landing a few small pollock! I rigged the 2.3g #8 Shirasu Fine jighead with a red medium Power Isome and was soon into some more small pollock! The biggest going about 1.5lb which put a good bend in the Corto EX and a big smile on my face! Scott meanwhile was having a bash for mackerel to see if they had started arriving and managed to catch one before carefully unhooking it and releasing it with minimal hand contact. After my tenth pollock I decided to go and fish further along the mark where Martin had just caught a ballan wrasse, Scott opted to keep fishing where he was, switching to his LRF gear and a baby Slug-Go and was soon into a small pollock as I headed along, his first ever fish on a Slug-Go! By the time I had reached Martin he had caught another ballan of about 2lb and needing no further encouragement I started to target them again!

Still using my LRF gear I went with a red Gulp! Sandworm on the jighead and started casting and retrieving it amongst the weedy gullies. A few casts later I had a sudden take and the fish powered off arching the light rod over. This time the hook held and after a fun fight my first ballan of 2012 was landed! After a spiky photograph the fish was released leaving me feeling extremely pleased!

Lovely subtle turquoise markings on this dark brown ballan.

Scott meanwhile was making his way towards us poking around in some gullies and rockpools looking for any mini species that they might hold. I continued to fish on and 10 minutes later had another bite and hooked into a much bigger fish. The rod bent in a good arc and I really had to apply pressure to bully the fish up. It then made a powerful run towards some large rocks before I turned it. It was another ballan and as it came into view through the clear water it looked like a new PB! After one more line stripping run it was beaten and came in to my hands waving its pectoral fins in greeting! Fantastic! My new biggest ballan measuring 35cm and a really good fight on my light set up!

My new PB ballan wrasse.

Scott had joined us by this stage and while I was re-rigging I heard a tell tale whoop and Scott was into his first ballan of the day! His Diaflash rod was really bent over and he really had to work hard to keep the powerful wrasse from diving into the rocks! After a good battle Scott landed a lovely 36cm ballan wrasse and a new PB

Another PB! Scott was thrilled!

What a session it was turning out to be, even when the tip of my Corto EX broke as I was casting, it still couldn't put a dampener on it. I went back to my heavier gear and started playing with the Slug-Gos again. Martin had changed over to an AGM 3" Stick Worm in Junebug on a 3.5g jighead and was trying for wrasse. This instead saw him find a seam of big pollack and he started to land some good fish! The biggest was a lovely bronze 4lber which really ripped some line off his reel and put a good bend in his Century HPR before it was finally landed.

Martin's best pollock put a great fight.

I however could only muster a tiny pollack on an Ecogear Aqua Swim Shrimp, but I was quite pleased with this as I had never caught on this lure before. Scott then announced he wanted some mackerel for his dinner and using some form of voodoo and a Savage Gear Psycho Sprat almost instantaneously caught two big mackerel.

Scott's dinner quickly sorted!

Martin and I joined in and cast to the horizon in search of them but we didn't have Scott's luck locating them and failed to catch any mackerel. That was about the last action of the day and we headed back extremely pleased with ourselves!

A fantastic days fishing and many thanks to Martin who made it all possible with his craft and knowledge of the marks!

Tight lines, Schogsky.