Back from the abyss

Getting back into my Lure fishing again.

Quick 40 mins after work yesterday. Didn't catch but went from glorious sunshine to horrendous rain in 5 mins flat.
I got back in the car just in time!

LRF

A brief hour down at Elphinstone with the LRF kit. Took a mate of mine James who's never fished before, but try as we might he didnt get any hook ups, but still enjoyed it.
Met another chap down there LRFing and compared plastics :-)
I had a couple small pollock which was nice to at least feel the rod bend (or wiggle in this case).

LRF

A brief hour with Mike after work chasing some mini species LRF-ing off Elphinstone Car park tonight. Just missed high tide at 6pm. Mike tried a tiny tube in red/white and I tried a small black/white curly tail worm. I had a hit just after dark, which was a small pollack, so at least I didn't blank.
Another one for my lure list competition with mike :-)

Sad Face

wow. Its now past Xmas and a week into the new year, and I haven't been fishing since November the 7th !! :-(((((
My wife's been rather ill. Shes expecting our second child, and her morning sickness has been so bad shes ended up in hospital, so Ive been looking after number one child and doing all the usual housework and running around.
Its all worth it though :-)

Ive been reading about using soft plastics for lure fishing and LRF (light rock fishing) and HRF (Hard rock fishing) for many different species rather than just Bass. In fact just about anything that swims, with focus on Wrasse, Pollack and the various mini species.
There's a kind of mid range too. These, as far as my research and conversations have gone fall into three camps
LRF - 0.5g-5g on ultra light rods.
MRF - 2g-15g light rods (sometimes called MRF)
HRF - 15-50g on standard spinning rods.

LRF - uses the very lightest of light gear. 4lb line, a 0.5 to 5g jig and tiny worms. Mainly winter.
MRF isn't really discussed and tends to be thought of as just light HRF.
HRF is HARD rock fishing, and basically meant all types of rock fishing with lures, but its ended up being used to describe 'heavy' rock fishing.

Ive bought myself an HRF rod (Sakura Shinjinn 15-50g) and an MRF rod (Cormaron carbostar 2-15g.) Along with a smashing saltwater Sakura reel.
Ive also got all the relevant soft plastics for both styles.
Now all I need is a chance to get out and play!

I'm also planning to try this method for carp and maybe even Roach, as they are both somewhat predatory, and we already catch them on plastic baits, so.......

Shore Trip - Hannafore Point

Whilst thinking about going sea fishing and checking the tides, I noticed that whilst high tide was at 6pm on a day I had off, 6pm was also the time of sunset, and the time of moon set. The same day was also the calm after a strong blow, so a trip was nailed into the diary.
Mike and I went to Hannafore Point next to Looe Beach, to try surface and subsurface lures and float fished sand eel, after Bass and Wrasse.
It looked great, choppy, colored, clear spots amongst weed, but despite all this we blanked.
We even tried ledgered sand eel near white rocks for the last hour, but not so much as a nibble.
It was weedy as hell along most of Hannafore. The lures kept picking it up and it got rather annoying, but then that's where the fish would be so we put up with it.
It all looked right, but either we had chosen the wrong approach, or the fishing fairy just wasn't on our side. She is a fickle wench that fishing fairy.
On another note, and possible the reason there was not a fish in sight, was the half ton bull seal we saw happily toddling along just 40yards off the beach. Ive never seen one that size. Massive bugger.
Now either he was there because he knew the fish were, or he was there and all the fish had legged it. Or indeed he was on his way up the river to snack on the mullet that come in on the tide.
Either way I'm blaming him.
It felt great to do some salt water fishing again.

Pike on Canal

Trip to the Exeter Ship Canal armed with Lures this time.
Karl, Alan and myself.
We arrived at lunchtime and walked from swingbridge down to the flyover by about 5pm.
As advised, we tried large soft shads dragged slowly along the bottom, but no takes, large plastic rapala shads slow at mid depth, again with no takes, and smaller rapala x-rap shads at varying depths, which are what produced.

Halfway through the day we spotted an otter, in broad daylight swimming right toward us and into the reeds at our feet, and heard another in the reeds. Thats the first Ive ever seen them on the canal, and hope they don't start damaging the stocks.

We were very impressed with those little Rapala x-rap shads. They are very versatile with an awesome action worked slow or fast, and suspend a treat with a very slight sink, and have a great slash action if jerked. They also have a weight transfer system and cast like little bullets.


I blanked. (again!)
Alan had 2 fish on, but lost both (gutted!).
Karl lost one and banked his second.
They were all just small jacks of about 2 to 3 pound, but it made for exciting fun.
Karls jack...


It was still quite weedy, despite an obvious start to its die back, but another couple of weeks and we plan to return and try lures again and dead baiting into the night for the bigger girls.

Pike Adventure

Adventure indeed. Or perhaps I should say MISadventure.

The trip was planned for Piking on The Exeter ship canal, and get Karl his first Pike.

The trouble I had getting my gear sorted the night before was all the omen I needed, but as the 2 day trip would prove, our bloody mindedness to carry on regardless would drive us through.

Having a late start instead of the early one we arranged was the beginning. Also the warnings of deep snow and traffic being stranded at the halfway mark of our route. When we got to that bit, it was clear enough, so we came out the other side of it and off to Exeter.

We started at the Lime kilns for a spot of plugging for the last hour of light (we were THAT late).
One small jack pike was the reward, but nothing for Karl yet.

As the light faded, we set off to the Swing bridge section to bivvy up for the night.

The empty swim we spotted there earlier was now filled, so we bivvied up next door.

We got the kettle on and the rigs out at least.

The temp dropped like a stone. We chucked a couple dead baits out, but I wasn't feeling well at all, so I crashed out at 8:30 and left Karl to it.

Typically, I spent a fitful night shivering as I had not been able to find my winter sleeping bag, my hand warmer wouldn't work, and my bivvy is single skin.

At 7am I heard Karl wander over to tell me the canal had frozen. It was solid from bank to bank and he had spent an hour trying to get his rigs OUT from the night before.

There was even a layer of ice on my blanket and inside my bivvy.

We stood there wandering what to do next when we heard a noise like roaring breaking glass. Down the the canal came a canoe, with 2 hardy souls using the canoe like an ice breaker, battering their oars through the ice and shoving it forward. It was a surprisingly noisy affair. The noise in this vid is ALL ice, there was not a breath of wind.

Even after the plastic ice breaker, we couldn't get our rigs in, as the lines would be at the wrong angle, and kept snagging on the edge of the ice, so we decided to pack up and move swims to try further up in the hope of finding a clear area.

That's when we found the van was dead. Karl's battle bus made a wheezing sound and didn't even fire. It turns out it had been -4 to -7 degrees C around Exeter that night, and we think the diesel injectors had got gunked up. Of course the battery was also flat after trying to start it. So we sat and waited for a car to pass by.

We were in luck. An hour later 2 guys who were looking to pike fish arrived and jump started us.

About 500 yards further up we parked up again and tried in a small area of broken ice, where we actually had a couple tentative knocks but no takes.
At this point I discovered I had somehow placed my fishing bag down into some dog mess, so I had a raving rant about that and threatened to sit in the van till Christmas.
I really H A T E dog fouling.

After an hour here, we then decided to move to the Double locks section, as someone had said it was clear of ice up there. We jumped in the van all excited at the prospect of actually getting a bait in properly. But the fishing fairy was not with us. As we drove the short (3/4 of a mile?) to the locks, we were stopped by the boys in blue. Why? well we had got over excited about the fishing and forgot to put our seat belts on.

£30 fine each and lose about 45 mins light. Its nearly lunchtime now.
Very annoyed with ourselves for forgetting that basic safety. :-(

We finally made it to the double locks, and started to leapfrog each other dropping deads in for 15 Min's a go at 50y intervals.

Nothing - and now its raining too.

As the time was against us, we had a last ditch effort with some lures in the basin of the double locks themselves, but had nothing.

At 4pm we gave up, despondent at our seemingly crap luck and crap results, but trying to stay positive at the lessons we had learned, and making plans for the next trip.

We had, after all, carried on fishing in the face of adversity, and in sub-stupid temperatures, and still managed at least 1 fish and learnt lots. :-)

Baits

We tried ledgering smelts in smelt oil, half mackerels, and also the new Dynamite baits predator brush on stuff, that was actually impressive. Its easy to use, and left a very clear oil slick even in such dire cold conditions, and little 'bits' in it washing off the bait.

Also tried small chunks of mackerel on a large circle hook under a float set quite deep.

Next time you lean green toothy buggers....... next time !

Pike

I was thinking that now the weather was colder, I needed to wet a line for Pike. A mate, Karl, who I know from carp fishing mentioned that he had never been after Pike and really wanted to try, so we hooked up and went to a large complex not far from us.
Because of the light fading so fast now its November, we decided to go for a roving approach with one rod and a box of lures to cover more ground and save time.

We arrived at lunchtime and had a few casts in one of the smaller lakes, and discussed Lures and types of retrieval. No takes saw us move to the largest lake. We spent the afternoon strolling round under all the oaks trees, chucking lures and spoons along margins and into the distance, but nothing grabbed them.

After moving round to the top of the lake, we found a fantastic walkway that led around under trees over a foot of water, very reminiscent of a mangrove swamp. It was clearly made with a lot of effort and work.


We discovered a cracking swim, in a narrow inlet, with trees opposite. We spent the last of the day there trying all sorts of diff lures. No takes gave me the idea of trying for Perch instead, so I clipped on a tiny little 1inch Heddon Torpedo surface lure, that skims along just a few inches below the top. On the second cast, just feet from the bank, there was a swirl, and an angry jack pike thrashed the water in front of me.


We fished until it the light faded so much we could barely see the trees and gave in, but at least we didn't blank.
Karl had fun and seems very keen to try again. He wants a Pike!
Im sure we'll be going again soon :-)

Lure Componants

Here's a truly amazing site in the USA that supplies just about every component for making your own fishing lures you can imagine.
With these bits you could make lures for just about any predator you wanted.
Ive bought the parts to make 12 Big casting spoons for Pike, along with the hooks and rings, for just £20 :-) You could spend that on just one or two over here in the UK on Branded Spoons, and Stamina's spoons are very thick awesome quality metal.

Stamina Lure Components
http://www.upnorthoutdoors.com/stamina/

Canal Pike

Last Sunday saw me driving up to the Exeter Ship Canal. Mike was busy, so I was alone.

I haven't fished it before, so it was all new to me. Here I was, with a box of lures, new water, and mental images of the monsters that the website and rumour mill told me about.

It was a bit chilly, but at least the broken cloud was allowing rays of late winter sun to peek through on occasion. The most annoying thing was the wind, whilst not too bad, had occasional gusts that stopped me casting, and put a right riffle on the surface.

Apart from the wind, it was very pleasant, and its always exciting exploring a new water.

The Exeter ship canal runs for six miles, and varies about 5 to 15 feet deep, and wide at some points, with a much narrower section further up. Plus there's the Double Locks pub halfway up, that's very nice indeed :-)

I parked up in the middle section near the old lime kilns, and walked down flow about a mile, then back up the other way the same. The lower section seems very reedy, and good for pike, but not as easy to fish. A small boat or skiff would have made all the diff, and in fact I saw a couple guys Piking in one. The section above the lime kilns is far more picturesque, and easier to fish. In fact one old chap explained that up by the lifting bridge, was usually a good shoal of roach, meaning the Pike aren't far behind.

At the last point in the day, and having a chuck here and there, I noticed a little concrete ledge with a bit of dry earth below it before the waters edge. I dropped down, and chucked the lure sideways down the reed line.

At this point I was retrieving very slowly and daydreaming about a cup of tea and taking my boots off. I felt the usual little knock of a rock on the bottom or weeds, when I realised the reeds were pulling back. This woke me up, and a tingle of 'yes!' ran though me and I'm sure I grinned like an idiot. It was only a little jack pike of about 5lb maybe, but at least I hadn't blanked.

Id tried big spoons on a recommendation, and fished them deep and slow, but no joy, so I started to try others. The jack came to my Megabaits Charlie, in trout pattern, fished very slow.

This lure has the most amazingly realistic action, and for all the world looks like a trout in trouble.

Unhooking was a nightmare, as I suddenly became all fingers and thumbs, and must have looked like a right nancy, plus I had 2 lads watching me across the water, with great sickly wafts of their 'Colombian roll-up' blowing my way - the audience putting me right off and making me uncomfortable. With this attention, I quickly slipped the little fella back into the water, forgetting to photograph it, hence the lack of a piccy.

I wandered back to the car, happy to have caught, and making plans to return and fish the other bank, which seemed to have better access.

All time Lures?

Are there really any all time best lures ?
Well apparently so....

FRESH WATER (Pike, Perch, Zander)


Rapala - Super Shad 14cm
Big lure. Floating version. Dives when cranked back. Great for Pike.


Kuusamo - Professor
Big spoon. Sinking. Great erratic movement. Copper color good for Pike.


Muskie Innovations - Bulldawg
Big Soft plastic (Rubber) Lure. Sinking. Very famous. Available in lots of new sizes.


Heddon - Crazy crawler
Daft looking but very successful surface lure that floats and wobbles along making ripples on the surface.


Creek Chub - Pikie
Classic. Very effective lure.

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I have personally had success with the Rapala Jointed shad rap 7cm. The action on this lure is fantastic and I particularly like the colors.


There is also the Rapala "X-rap Jointed Shad" 13cm.
This Lure is near neutral buoyancy with a very slow rise (suspending with wire leader), has the action of a Jointed Shad, the size of the Super Shad, and great versatility. A Fantasic all round lure fishable in many diff ways.


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SALT WATER (Bass, Mackerel, Pollock etc)
General consensus claims seems to be that these are very good.


Dexters - Wedge
Famous silver wedge of shiny metal. Good casting weight. Very easy to cast. I personally have never caught on it, but then that's probably more a reflection of my skill.


Rapala - Jointed 'J13' (13cm).
Floating lure (available in diff sizes) that dives on the retrieve. The J13cm is just big enough to have a little casting weight. I have several colors of this lure including a couple of copies that were a little cheaper but have almost the same action if not the build quality of the rapalas :-)


NOTE.
A great deal of the lures for Fresh or Salt water can be used in either. But remember 3 things.
1 - Are the hooks meant for fresh or salt water? Fresh water hooks on a lure wont survive long in salt water use. However hooks are easily replaced with different salt versions.
2 - The buoyancy of a lure is inbuilt, and designed for either fresh or salt water. So a sinking lure designed to sink at a particular rate, may behave differently in fresh water. Or a neutral buoyancy lure may sink or float. Bear this in mind, but don't let it bother you.
3 - Your lures are designed to mimic a bait fish of the species in the water your fishing. eg. use a perch pattern in fresh water, and mackerel pattern in salt water. Having said this, you could always try anything you like. You never know what might work on the day!