christmas Pikin and a happy new year!

Welllllll this is the last post of 2011....... been quiet the last month been hectic busy with various stuff so it was time i got out and had a road trip with buddys in search of a decent fish or two! so me Jim Odonnell and Matt Newcombe headed off to sunny Somerset looking for a Pike and Perch :-) but on this mission there was a tweak! Mr Matt Newcombe has never nailed a Pike.......... the pressure was on! i had a few venues lined up but with good old british weather the first was high and coloured after a few snags hooked up was time for venue no.2 and this was looking much better! brilliant visability and good and the signs all pointed to some fish being banked! after a quick faff around a few locks with a few chases and Jim finding a good shoal of Perch i finally nailed a Jack the pressure was on to get Matt his first Pike!

it wasnt long before Matt nails one on the good old trusty spinnerbait! we hit a patch of fish where me and Matt had a fair amount of chases and near misses, Matt was on a roll with nailin a few fish along a 300yard stretch Matt was getting into the swing of things by now with a good bit of banter between all of us we decided to hit one last venue which happened to be one of my banker spots which has always fished well for me! we parked up and headed off to "the spot" it wasnt long before we started to see results the surface was literally boiling with fish, chub pretty much everywhere with the odd big swirl where perch or pike happened to of been having lunch! i headed off to a likely looking swim

within a few casts i get totally slammed! and after a good spirited hard fight i nail this 10lb 14oz double! I could see Matts eyes lighting up as we took these pictures a Pike nails some bait fish off the surface behind us! you could of had hit on surface lures i reckon there was so much going on! Matt has now swapped over to a 4inch white shad and Jim has stuck on a Rattle'smolt it wasnt long before Matts luck struck again! and he was in to a cool rough and tumble fight with his new PB Pike of 5 and a half pound, you could see Matt had caught the fresh water lure bug, the grin on his face was awesome considering he's never fished like this before being a Light Game legend of plymouth.

after these shots it was time Jim had a few and it wasnt long before his lure was getting crunched! while landing yet another one of Matts jacks i could hear Jim's drag belting off the reel but the fish came off after a 15ft or so powerful run after the pike about 7-8lb nailed the lure from right under his feet! within a few more casts Jim gets hit again but loses it :-( im fishing the next swim and get completely slack lined and then connecting with a Jack tail walking to the bank! love this style of fishin! time was against us now with only a hour or so before losing the light and headin back to Ivybridge for tea! we fished around some features in hopes of a couple more before home time when i get a couple chunky Perch follow up behind the lure! the next cast see's this wee beastythis cheeky little one pounder wallops my cannibal shad gettin zapped on the Owner stinger which i make up for shad fishing. bloody love perch! if only they grew to pike size id never fish for anything else! the day was coming to a end now and was time to head back! Jimbo had blanked (but caught a jack the next day) Matt had caught his first Pike and then beat his PB in the same day, cant get better than that ayy :-) all in all a cracking day of with good company, we are heading back here next week i will wack a post up after we have nailed some more fish from here and hopefully got Matt his double figure Pike! so check back in the new year! hope you all have a good new years eve i know i certainly will be!! ;-)

tightlines

Rock Donkeys

This summer has seen some awesome fishing in me salt water antics and myself and James really put some effort in to catching one paticular addictive critter the Ballan Wrasse :-) this hard fighting brute of a fish is everything you could want in a UK salt water species for light lure fishing! Above is Jim with a lovely marked male Ballan which literally scraps like you wouldnt belive! such a small fish really does go off like a steam train and cannot fail to make your heart buzz and wack a massive grin on your face, Jim nailed this fish on a Hart absolute worm on a 10g ball jig fished no more than 5yards off the rocks in the deep clear gullies off south devon.

Above is a selection of some of the lures iv found to work well for me such as Senkos and the IT-shrimp from Megabass and Hawg craws, all these lure have caught some lovely fish from right in the roughest ground fished either on sled-head style jigs, hitch-hiker standard jigs and texed carolina and other weedless methods. Such a affective but simple styles of fishing that really do crack a smile on your face! this type of rock fishing is really REALLY addictive and although you will experience a few bits of tackle loss once you have figured out whats what you can reap the rewards of pretty much untapped potential for wrassin with softplastics :-)Heres my most recent wrasse after having my ass handed to me by Jim on monday on his local stomping grounds think he done me over something like 6-1 to him :-( most wrasse being a good average size all scrapping like demons! this fish nailed a giant Xlayer by megabass on a Owner sled-head it took on the drop on a small patch of boulders and kelp it made 3 good steaming runs to the point i had to palm the spool to stop being ruined in the rough stuff! bloody heart stopping stuff! after boga'ing it out and some quick snaps it was returned to swim another day! Jim had a cracking take where the wrasse was literally swimming along with the lure in its mouth plodding along nicely, before James whammed the jig head home and nailed the chunky wrasse. we are out again this weekend so will wack up some more as and when..... all in all a cracking day out with a good buddy catching awesome fish

Danny

Bassing the Sound

Sorry been quiet recently had a busy time etc with trade shows and some half assed fishing sessions. but as usuall iv managed to have a bloody good giggle while iv been doing it! on the last warm period me and James had the pleasure of getting out in a Westport Marine Pilot6 CC for the day slashing around the plymouth sound on some Bass and Wrasse stopmping grounds...... and what a cracking day we had! we got down the quay at first light armed to the teeth with our softplastic rods and one 6lb class just incase mr Conger wanted to play!

heres a picture i took of james blasting out the back of the breakwater before we headed back in towards Plym for some pictures for Jims new book for the RYA. Jim knew we could crack on with the Pigs almost straight away with the tides and weather playin ball for once! it wasnt long before we were both into fish! Jim smashes the first wrasse on the Hart absolute worm while i search the ground with a HWK craw's and almost instantly im in to a nice wrasse of a couple pound! as we sit just out of the main tide behind a lovely feature we continue vertical jigging for wrasse and i get a massive smash in 20ft of water this rough and tumble fight sings out decent wrasse as the fish battles hard under the rod tip! james readys the net when we get a nice surprise as it comes into sight! a gawjus bass coming in at nealry 5lb i was dead chuffed!

as you can see in the photo above the bass nailed a HWK craw aimed for wrasse but hayyyy beggers cant be choosers :-) after a few quick snaps and a bollackin from the harbour police for drifting in the path of some bloody great german battle ship (cant they see we are fishing!) the Bass was safely returned to fight another day! we managed a few more hits here before we decided it was time to more to more open water on some of Jimbo's old stomping grounds when he chartered these waters! we had results almost instantly with hit after hit on numerous lures fished in around 40ft of water. i had my fishing brain on while James cracked on with doing images for the new RYA book and of coarse some magazine stuff for our TSF mag features it was all happening nicely! i had one more wrasse but only a tiddler and james nailed a wrasse on his Absolute worm

the colours on these more open water wrasse are such a warm orange compared to the fish caught right in under the rocks off the shoreline where they were more greens and reds but hayy wrasse on lures is a real guilty pleasure of mine anyway! you cant imagine if you have not caught wrasse on light gear when there right in the rough stuff how hard these beasts fight! talk about hit and hold tactics they are brutal! and never fail to wack a huge smile on my face, and i know James has also caught this bug of pigs on SP's with numerous 4's and 5's falling to the lure! it wasnt long before james's mate came along on his charter boat so i could transfer boats to shoot some images for james new book of him basting around the sound and some anchored up shot!
this was some of the last shots before the weather decided to take a complete turn for the worst! and i kid you not within the space of mins we went from vests and tshirts to chucking on the hoodys and getting battered by cold winds and mist! the seas lumped up and forced us to get back into the sound to shelter from the brunt of this bad weather hammering in! we tucked away behing the breakwater where James and i both had decent bass smash our lures on numerous hits but no results! it literally was proper shocking out here now and light was going rapidly! the mood dropped and we decided its prob best we headed back in! but not without one last highlight of the trip and one of the funniest things iv had happen to me in a long time!..... whats round, grey and weighs about 80lb and fights like you wouldnt believe!! i accidently foul hooked a sunfish! we got it close enough to see what the hell i had hooked before what can only be described as the most violent rod and line fisht iv had! i knew i was in trouble when i had one of the most experienced skippers behind me laughing like a school girl! well all in all a cracking day and once again its angling days like this with good friends that make fishing such a special part of my life! cheers Jimbo for another cracker :-) check out www.westportmarine.co.uk for some serious kit!

Red Eye Sessions

Last week saw a few of us take on a challenge......... road trip and fish devon and cornwall! Myself, James, John Barribal and the north devon bass fishing bandit Joel Squires had a fun couple days lined up. on the thursday Me and Jimbo headed up to north devon to have a days banter and fishing with North Devons Finest Bass Guide Joel Squires http://www.joelsoul.co.uk/ he's a fully insured bass guide with over 6years guiding under his belt up on that beautiful part of the world. we would be crambling around on the secret squirrel club rocks hoping to nail one of two spikey buggers.

as you can see the north devon coast is a demanding bit of coastline and i would highly recommend help from locals or a guide Joel. this fishing is about as fun as it gets as you can be a kid again scrambling in and around rocks casting in and around these stunning rocks and gullys which every inch just screams BASS! the ground here is fairly shallow so surface lures and shallow divers like Popkeys from IMA and X120's and X140's from Megabass are just what the doctor orders..... i started with the Popkey as this lure can be worked to chug just under the surface and in this choppy water i stuck on a Limited edition Candy flashing plate version which had a good amount of flash and bright colours to stand out in the white water crashing in and around the rocks. Joel sticking with his long range minnow type lures which certainly did the trick! i managed to rise a nice fish which tail slapped my lure right off the surface but i couldnt get the bloody thing to hit again...... in steps Joel :-(

flukey sh&t i swear i warmed that fish up ha ha ha good on you mate. after a spirited fight which i would of put money on the fish snapping Joel up on some rather frisky looking rocks right in from if us...... talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place! after some quick photos this plumb 4lber was returned to fight another day, you cant beat seeing these fish swim off :-) the tide was pushing now and was time to head off to the next spot where after 10mins of me thrashing the water to a foam with my IMA Sazuke 140 up pops a face i didnt want to see...... and no i didnt mean the Ex Mrs it was a couple hundred pound seal...... :-( so that nailed that on the head! off to the next spot we go

now talk about out of this world fishing....... clambering along this rocks like a bunch of mountain goats it surely couldnt get any more remote and bass fishing bliss, i honestly couldnt care if we caught or not i just love being on places like this, and thats what i love about being one of the truly luck ones who does this on a regular basis i have some amazing memorys of being to places like this with like minded guys and above all friends! what more can you ask for? i actually managed pretty well to get every bass within 20miles to stay clear of my lures (doing my bit for the conservation of bass ;-) ha ha ha) after a couple hours playing around the weather decided it was time for us to stop our north devon adventure as the swell and wind had other ideas. still a fantastic days fishing with a top guy, thanks Joel your a star and look forward to joining you again soon either bassin or on my turf for the pike! please look this guy up a truly great guide and a true gent well worth hooking up with for a days guided bassin! http://www.joelsoul.co.uk/

so after a long drive home from North devon all the way to Ivybridge where me and James would grab some grub and a couple glasses of red before another early push friday morning down to meet with John Barribal owner of the Lure Heaven lure shop and of coarse his own online shop http://www.lureheaven.co.uk/ which stock pretty much all you could ever want for you modern lure angling! we had a quick poke around the shop looking at the lures he imports himself as well as the giants like Megabass, IMA, Savagear, Graphite leader and many more it was time to head off to some rock marks James and I had spoken about over the last few weeks it was finally time to get out and have a chuck! as you can see above it isnt the type of fishing you can just turn up and flick you lure out! you really do need to have your comman sense about you when venturing out like this to these marks....... pretty much most of this climb was shuffling around on your ass and all fours! not for the weak hearted thats for sure! remember fish arent worth your life be safe all three of us are experienced fisherman with many many years of this kind of stuff under our belts!

it wasnt long before we had fish nailing the lures.... on 3-4 occasions i had fish nail me on the drop fishing off a point where there was lots of busy water and they werent tiddler pollack thats for sure! after a few changes of lure from Megabass Flutta'bait the Savage sandeel and then i stuck to my guns and wacked on the trusty Owner SledHead weedless jig and a Megabass Giant Xlayer in smoke and glitter and i didnt have to wait for the fish to react well to this change! on the very first drop in to a good 30-40ft hole just off the rocks the rod slams over and iv got some good head shake and a charge but off it comes....... the very next cast i retrive slightly shallower hoping to hit a good Pollack or Bass rather than risk tackle loss with the monster rock pigs here, BANG im in!
heres a plump little 2lber which scrapped like a beast under the rod tip. awesome fun on my Sakura Mazerra 742ml to 21g and Shimano Stradic FG4000 loaded with sunline super PE 24lb a pure pleasure to use :-) you should of seen the colours on this whipper snapper while it was scrapping in the water..... an electric blue running through the fins and dark as night on its back a truly differnt fish when there yanked from the seas by us anglers! after some quick snaps it was returned for another day and behind me i could hear John into a fish too a small Pollack had nailed his Bait Breath lure on the Owner 3/16 OZ Sledhead too. it the day was flying by and we wanted to up anchor and head to the north coast of cornwall to get some gawjus sun set scenes over the wild storm beaches and hopefully a bass or two......
but as again you can see here good old mother nature had other ideas........ the winds had ment to of swung due south but plainly had stuck at southwesterlys which gave us some interesting coastal conditions....... now im a lure junky and to be honest there is much i wont fish within reasons but i must say im proud to admit when nature has beaten me! Me Jimbob and John scrambled down some ledges in search of some rocks to attack the seas but from up here it looks rough as a tivvy rave caves lass's undercrackers but trust me when your stood on the ledges with wind, swell and choppy seas its a different ball game, you canb usually fish two of these conditions but all three work against you to a point its hopeless. we pissed around in hope but then pops up a pair of seals and then a pod of dolphins GAME OVER.we moved off to this stunning beach which had gullys and deep holes dotted all over it just as the light was dropping, while Jimbo and John shot some product shots i did what i do best and scrambled across the muscle beds in search of Bass but it just didnt happen, i think if we had been here a hour before so the water wasnt so low it would of been a different story! all in all a brilliant days fishing here in sunny cornwall and by this point the looks on mine and James face said it all we had just about ran out of energy after this two day long fishing marathon covering Devon and Cornwall with some of the most back breaking cliff stomps and the most beautiful surroundings you could ask for! if you want a adventure head down our way for some awesome fishing in the salty stuff!

The Drop Shot

Drop shotting is a awesome method for presenting a soft plastic in a way that it is kept "in the zone" with deadly results! this method came here with real bonus's for the likes of big Perch and Zander fishing where the presentation is about as good as it gets! i used this method in the sea also for Pollack and Bass with good results, but for me my heart still sits on the fresh water side where you can work docks and locks with ease in a way previous methods just dont cut the mustard! im going to take time out to put a few piccys up to show how to rig "drop shot" with my fav softplastic the Megabass Xlayer :-)

here im about to tie the Palomar knot, form a tight loop with your Fluro (20lb in this case as there are pike present on my local venures, you can uptrace with wire if needed) this is the part you push through the eye of the hook so forming a nice small tight loop is important, the lighter the fluro the easier this bit is. flure strength is a totally person choice between 15lb and 20lb covers all my needs even in salt water.

then you form a simple overhand knot with the loop you have just pushed through the eye of the hook. I generally use carp hooks from Korda in size 6's and 4's as there sharp as shit and really do hook the fish specially in boney mouths! at this point in the above photo you pass the hook through the loop created hanging here on the right of the picture and then moisten the knot and slowly pull tight, making sure eveything is nice and tidy.

now at this point you will have one end of the fluro attached to ya braided mainline and one end will have nothing attached and hanging

you need to now pass this lose end back up over the hook and thread it down back through the eye (making sure hook is pointing up like the abive picture) this keeps the hook always pointing upright like a scorpions tail, this also is important as it helps the overall action your imparting on the lure.

as you can see the Palomar/drop shot knot is now tied and ready for action. now on the lose tag end you attach your lead/weight this can be tied like i do or you can get leads that have the pinch pull system where leads can easily be moved or changed as well as less snag resistant. i start at about half a ounce for my general drop shotting and if needed move to a heavier weight to keep my gear in the zone!

once your lead has been attached your pretty much there ready for action! all you need now is to choose your soft plastic to wack on the hook :-) i LOVE the Megabass Xlayer as its action literally dances around on the drop shot and perch go pretty much cross eyed when they see them! rigging couldnt be any easier and more deadly

you insert the hook point in the end of the Xlayer and pull it out just before the first rib (ribs always up on the Xlayer for better hook position) you can also rig this just nipped on the nose or even "wacky" which gives you even more lure movements if you want to spice it up a bit! push the Xlayer around the shank so the eye of the hook lies tight into the end of the lure.
once the Xlayer is on the hook you are ready to seriously upset some Perch or even Wrasse etc! this method has accounted for fudgin loads of decent fish in the last 5years or so and apart from it being awesome fish catching method the Drop Shot is a brilliant fun way of catching you fav fish on a cracking method! please do give it a try :-)

Guernsey G.B.A.S.S

In August a Motley crew of Anglers ventured across the channel to Guernsey like a bunch of pirates armed to the teeth with numerous rods from Mullet to our Bass lure rods...... we had just over a week to play around hunting down the legendary channel islands Bass! the first day we arrived we headed out the the campsite to set up base and have a quick scout about in time for some late afternoon Mulleting in the harbour at st.petersport and more importantly get midlands based angling sniper Andy Hart his first Mullet! after a bit of pre baiting and hunting the harbour for the mullet it wasnt long before we found a good shoal.....

Andy nails this beaut almost instantly after me and James fed them up and what a cracking first mullet! quick scrap under the rod tip it was shot with the camera and returned to fight another day! we all headed off to the outer piers and break water where we found some awesome looking spots for later on in the week, Andy also nails a Garfish on a jointed plug hunting for Bass. the next couple days are spent wreckying for venues for the G.B.A.S.S comp at the end of the week where me James and Andy would enter in hopes of taking at least the visitors prize :-) we new where to hit after a few nights out with local leg-end Tom Brock where we nailed a few smaller Bass and Tom got proper smashed up by a beast of a thing! i reckon the fish he lost had every ounce to of been the winning shore fish!

Heres James fishing on a mark where i had just nailed two more bass on the Sakura magic eel fished on a glider jig head this lure just looked amazing fished in the really busy white water where these fish cruised the rocks...... check out the full reports and pictures in Total Sea Fishing mag in the next couple of months, the next few evenings we would go to the weighins at Boatworks in st.petersport where we could see there wasnt much happening which made me happier knowing i had'nt had many decent fish just schoolys etc this was certainly tough fishing but does it get any more beautifull than these wild rocky beaches and bays Guernsey is deffo a place ill be visiting again very soon! the last night of the comp we all stood around the weighin waiting for the beasts to be weighed in when two young lads who had already managed a 7lber for the small boat section the young lad only being 7! his slightly older fishing buddy had only nailed yet another beast just scraping the double at just over 10lb! this turned of to be the winning fish with a few guys weighing in 7's 8's and a few 9's please check out http://www.gbass.co.uk/ for more info on fishing for Bass in and around Guernsey. i highly recommend it! keep your eyes peeled in TSF mag and world sea fishing for more reports and features
all in all an amazing week with good company!

Urban Beautys

Hectic few months things have finally settled and with that comes the shite weather :-( i havent been out as much as id like but after some pissing around on my local canal doing small wrecky sessions and a few evenings on the topwaters i decided it was time to figure out where the big perch have been hiding throughout the summer, and boy did i stumble across them! Theres a urban fishery not to far away that for the last say 5years has really come into its own with good heads of perch and pike i posted up last summer a few trips here and always managed to pull it out the hat. i know of some huge perch being caught here so i got my self down there armed with drop shot and carolina rigs hoping for some action.....

after a full morning of fishing the carolina rigs through this stretch i managed 14 perch to just over a pound all to carolina rigs either texposed or on mozzi hooks, the best lure by far was the smallest size of the Megabass Xlayers..... there action is superb and perch just nail them! but here i was struggling to hit the 2lb plus fish! i turned one perch which was bar far the biggest iv seen here locally and was deffo over 3lb and for a moment got my heart pounding :-) but nothing came from it! i decided to head to a small corner where two trees are sunken from the near bank where instantly i get what im after! in the first drop (now on drop shot) i get smashed up and get two 1lb perch one after another.... then a tiddler which had 3 perch follow it up, all over 2lb biggest being a good 3lb! the very next cast i nail this beauty which on the lie detectors hit 2lb 3oz :-) i managed by the point 40plus perch from quarter of a pound 8 of which went a pound plus! the biggest being this 2lb 3oz. drop shot deffo showing the larger fish and such a enjoyable method!

Me and Ady decided that enough was enough i needed to head out to piss off some pike! the same local urban spot has always had the potential to throw up some monsters...... people are feeding the swans/ducks and geese all day long here and the place was crawling with roach and dace perfect pike prey! it wasnt long before the action started! Ady having the first bit of action when this awesome fish nailed his twin tail out in the deeper channel she tipped the scales at 12lb 7oz and certainly started the day off well :-) in the very next swim i cast out my savagegear Da'bush spinnerbait out and half way through the retrieve i felt a sharp knock but no take.... as i lifted the bait of the water up comes a big old head! another mid double comes charging in after it! i was buzzing now, but i think she saw me as it didnt comeback :-( it wasnt long before i had some more luck with another fish of around 9lb smashing my lure but again not hooking up i was now a nervous wreck as seeing Adys double got the juices flowing! the fish couldnt come quick enough!
finally i nailed this lively pike it literally lept 3ft out the water i couldnt believe it! proper took line like allot bigger fish! gotta love summer pike there soooooo explosive! quick photo and it was returned the afternoon then went very slow with only one more small jack showing when it hit my spinnerbait and came off the conditions of the weather and venue couldnt of got any better but it just didnt happen :-( we at least thought more jacks would come out to play! so we headed back to where we had the fish in the morning, with almost instant results! i had another big double i would say a good 13-14lb plus..... it was super long and very meaty this fish chases 3 times even head butting the lure but again wouldnt smash the lure VERY frustrating fishing! while i was playing around tryin to get this fish to take Ady hooks another fish the rod looped over but even that one came off with a twin tail pulled down the hook it was getting a bit downhearted now! couldnt complain though as there was obviously a amazing head of decent double plus fish all within half a mile stretch! we walked back to where i saw my fish double of the day and managed to turn it again right under the rod tip but still no take! :-( ohhhh well i know the fish are there i WILL be back end of the week to settle the scores all in all a great day out with surprising results

Fishing Adventures 2011

Me and James have been busy doing features the last 9 days and wow what fun we'v had! its been tough weather wise and fishing but as per usuall we nailed it! southwest ireland is such a gorgeous place to fish, what more can ya ask for that pure blue sea's fish literally everywhere and stunning coastlines its anglers heaven! we headed out with the Legend Nick Dent on the first day in search of monster pollack and cod on the light gear, we took our shore lure rods 7ft rods and 4000 size reels loaded with braid abusing jigs and grubs fished over the Fast Net reefs and rock ledges. the water was between 80 and a 140ft and had to be crawling! it was literally instantly into fish on the first drop! braid screamin off the reels

heres James lifting into one of the first braid melting runs off the Fast Net anyone who says you cant use light gear off boats is wrong! there is deffo conditions where its hard but as long as you have some water sense the fish are there to be abused good and proper and boy dont Pollack and Cod scrap on light lure rods! we had tons of Pollack to just under doubles all on our light jigs and grubs. it was the Delalande GT shads in the smaller sizes and Buster shads that truly came through with the results! coupled with Decoy jigs around 3/4 of a ounce to a ounce. it was cracking sport and i would be lying if i didnt say im addicted!

Not being one to turn my nose up at this sport i soon put down the camera and put the stomp down on these beautys..... between us we had 30-40 decent pollack to 9lb all on the soft plastics and it wasnt long before we lost the tide so out came the big gun rods the 20/30's for the conger and ling fishing! and after some funny rigging techniques shown by Mikey.H which worked a treat! we were soon into the fish! nearly 13lb Huss conger to 20lb ling to low singles your have to stay tuned to TSF mag for the full report and pictures.

the next day after a trek and a half we headed out on Nealy's boat out of Valencia as you can see above the weather did its usuall irish trick of pissing it down with rain but not being one to mess around i soon rigged up my lure rods and put on the Danny show for the cameras with action from the get go! we drifted casting distance to the rocks in 60ft of water loonking for structure it wasnt lomg before the fish came out to play! with this 6lb Ballan being the first decent fish to nail the jig's after a brutal fight it was released after a few piccys and again the rain pounded and pounded! we nailed a good 20 or so nice Pollack off this mark we moved on to what can only be said as the mother of all inshore Pollack marks...... after feeling a take on one of the first drifts on the drop and striking lifting into what can only of been a monster Pollack it comes off GUTTIN! but the next drift see's this corker showing

anyone who's done light shore pollacking knows how well a 6-7lber goes and when you nail doubles like this it really is a hold on for dear life style angling! they really do try and F%&k you up and after 4-5 steaming runs i still hadnt seen this fish i knew it was a brute due tonthe sheer power it had i pulled it pulled back! the water here is gin clear i got the Pollack under the rod tip, in about 15ft of water i finally saw it and panic sets in! one more run and it was over strate in the net! 11lb cant be all that bad! after a few more fish it was time to head in! again wait for the mag features for more details and fish! after this we headed off to the beautiful Beara

we stopped off at Kenmare in the hills of the Beara for a spot of Salmon bashin while the water was still running high fro recent rain! i think it was my second cast in the first pool this little bugger nails my flying-c spinner and wow what a heart stopping second...... if only it was 10lb heavier lol. but still my first Irish salmon dead chuffed! mean while Jimbo has the beast of all braid wind knots, iv seriously never seen anything like it ha ha ha . it was long before james was in and nails his first irish salmon too :-)

by this point the bass were calling us and who were we to say no to that! first stop was a spot tucked away fro the irish secret squirrel club on the Beara which no one knows about! thanks Mikey.H it was long before they were soon charging up behind the the soft plastic surface lures :-) but after a good few near misses and countless swearing from me and Mike nothing was banked to head off to Clon for the serious Bassing with local guide Allan i fished from the small boat with Pete and James stayed with Allan where they nailed 2 nice bass to 4lb on live eel where as i blasted out pollack after pollack on the hard baits Megabass X120's and IMA Komomo's i had fish to 6lb which again was a ball on lighter gear! me and Pete headed back up the beach to meet James and allan where i cast out my IMA lures for bass in the estuary, second cast and Bang!

a golden grey mullet....... from a distance i thought id nailed a small schooly but once i got it to my feet i could see it was a mullet! and it nailed my IMA komomo good and proper! while james rung Mikey.H we were told this was a seriously close contender for the Irish rod and line record!....... chuffed to bits but we later found out i was a couple ounces off, but still its the second biggest nailed and on a lure...... brilliant result! it was now time to trek off to Cobh in search of the monster Bass from cork harbour the second biggest natural harbour in the world! literally Bass central! on the first night it wasnt long before my Bass brain started churning and we got out with Kev and Howard (father son compo) and owners of the biggest fishing hotel base this side of the sea's. ill post up about these guys in the week . we headed out in the stunning Warrior 175's in search of Bass

This fine nearly 6lber was the first to show its face to a Cultiva shad and Decoy football jig combo banged out to the treeline you can see behing me in this picture. by this point we were both shattered as we had covered serious miles getting here it was time for Rum and coke! we steamed of back to the hotel for a well earned bit of grub and smash back some drinkys! i nailed three decent bass in the next sessions all over 5lb and the biggest being 7lb sooooo much fun and on the last days session we nailed yet another 8 more bass to over 8lb again watch out for the reports in features for TSF and Boat Fishing mags soon. ill post up more stuff as and when we deal with it. a cracking week with amazing people behind us big thanks to Micheal Hennessy, Paul Harris, Kevin Murphy and Jim Clohessy for the support and friendly welcome while me and James had a tough yet awesome week!

tight lines Danny

Free stretches...... :-)

Just recently me James.O and briefly young "lure Guru in the making" Jamie have been seeing what the local free stretches have on offer! with mostly chub and perch in mind we'v managed some good results, one of the most comman comments i hear on stretches of water like these are "you aint going to catch anything decent there mate" we lets hope this short report and pictures spurs you into having a venture on you local free stretch.

heres James with a chunky chub on one of our recent outings just touching 4lb and taken while stalking fish in gin clear water, none of this sitting there and waiting for it to happen, when your fishing these type of venues you gotta make ya own luck and getting out using water craft and reading the swims is key to successful fishing we knew these fish were here it was a case of setting the trap and going for it, remembering to keep off the skyline and keep out of the chubs crafty view and bingo this was one of twelve fish over 3lb mostly 3-4lbers one under the 3lb mark! not bad hay for a "useless water"

heres the biggest from that session at 4.5lb a cracking scrap as i was in the usuall snagged up chub swim "hold on tight" with light gear as they dont half pull, you gotta have ya witts about you when near cover as chub know there homes better than we ever will! all you need is a good pair of polaroids we wear Costa Del Mars which are pricey but they are the best you can get leading the way in the fishing glasses scene! http://www.costadelmar.com/ and some nice dark clothing as you can bet your last quid the fish will see you before you see them! we bumped into to a couple fairly large perch some 2lb plussers but we couldnt get any to play but hayy Danny knows where you live now!!

we fished today on another free stretch me and Jamie with some cracking results..... the sun was beaming kids were climbing the trees and jumping in it wasnt what you would call my kind of scene while our light lure fishing but i wanted to get out and show jamie some nice local fun fishing! now iv done very well here before and have had perch to over 2lb and chub well over 5lb here but to the locals its just a "roach bashing" venue with tiny perch, roach, gudgeon crawling the river bed, i often get asked how iv caught such big fish here as its just not seen as a big fish venue. but if your willing to put the effort in and sculk around looking for the features there is plenty of whoppers here, just most of you spook them before you get a chance to see them! after a hour of tickling out half a dozen small perch on texposed kalin grub i get to my banker swim :-)

second cast with a pepper pearl Kalin grub tex rigged on a decoy offset hook weightless chucked over a raft of weed where i could see 4-5 2lb plus chub and this beaut of a chub, i let the lure sink and started my retrieve and bank the biggest nails it! after a spirited fight under all the weed and snags i managed to get it up on the top. with anglers line wrapped around my braid i was worried this chub was going to snag me up but after some crafty netting by young Jamie and it was ours :-) weighin in just over 5lb proof is in the pudding this fish and many other was no more than 20yards from spots where other anglers sit on bait nearly every day of the week! this fish didnt have a mark on it, no hook damage and yet again it is another big chub from the venue that "aint got no decent fish"

i also managed to whip out two pike from the same swim this little bugger Jamies holding and one of about 6lb also. which Jamie actually has attack his savage gear grub again on our way back! just showing these aggressive little chaps are here for some fun on light gear even if its only a hour after work. we ended this session with 10 perch 3 pike and a decent chub all on the same stretch of river not far from exeter, cant complain it was awesome seeing the smile on jamies face every time i called him over to show him another fish :-) jamie also had 2 pike on but they came off and lost a coulpe small perch too he was beaming with smiles which makes me a happy bunny as i remember being his age and catching pike and perch, i wouldnt be the man i am today without those experiences. tight lines to next time

Danny

Exeter Float Tube Zeds........ ;-)

I must say this is the most fun you can have with you clothes on....... float tubing is gotta be the best way to explore new and exciting venues...... just the thought gets me smilling ear to ear! you fish light none of this 10tons of gear shite, all the unhooking tools on ya chest a small bag of lures to allow easy movement to unhook fish while there still in the water! you only need to take fish out if you wanna quick photo sheer fun and really good for fish handling. and most of all you wont stop laughing from start to finish by beiing towed around the place by the pike etc.
here's adrian with his first of a very very very long drawn out start to the session on a "apparently" stuffed full venue it was hard going with me losing every single bloody pike that came anywhere near me after a solid 3hours jigging and drop shotting for the crafty Zander that call this place home....... which didnt show a sign of coming out! we decided to head back down the venue in search of pike on the spinnerbaits and that soon showed us some results from jacks around a few pounds but just great to get a bend in the rod :-) Me and Adrian met up with Adrians bass junky mate Kev and he had what can only be called a shite morning for all the wrong reasons...... he's a Spinnerbait virgin and manages to hook from the bank what can only be said as a horse of a pike well over the doubles right in the lillies its going ape shit! he only had on 15lb super PE braid and his trusty Berkley skeletor ultra light gear...... after a explosive 2mins the braid goes and the fish swims off :-( guttin losing a PB but losing it still attached to a lure is truly guttin :-(

after we had fished the sections which had ment to of been a dead cert for the Zeds we thought lets take a short drive to a free stretch we knew of which had saved my bacon a few times over the years for pike and zeds and we had almost instant action! on only my third cast from the tube i see a fish charge up to look at my Delalande buster shad thinking it had been my Zed as it followed up literallt 10inches from my legs i dropped the shad down and smash it was on! i could tell instantly i had a pike! but all good fun :-) i also had two other pike in only a few casts the biggest being this plump of a pike on the sebile magic swimmer. while being towed around by this fish and i mean being towed around the pool Adrian was paddling over to take the piccy. its released and strate away Adrian shouts im in! a big congrats to the Dorset destroyer on his first Zander you should of seen the smile on Adrians face...... this Zed took a fox hornet spinnerbait in hopes of a pike! i couldnt believe how aggressive this fish was literally nailing the lure right to the back of its throat...... you couldnt see the lure unless you opened its mouth, the state of the spinnerbait was awesome! all mangled and twisted! Adrian lost a zed on our last trip out for them and we'v been sayin we wanna come back and hit it with the tubes ever since...... a big well done and at a respectable 6lb 7oz a nice zed for your first! by this point i was a man crazed with the zed feaver! as we released this fish Kev shouts up and he's into a zander too.... :-( where was mine? i frantically cast all my small shads and lures in hopes a zed came out but after another pike i had got pretty pissed off
I turned around to drift back down the pool toward the other where i could see bleak scattin and being chased around so i stuck on the Delalande shad again and it wasnt long before my zed showed up! result at last! after a quick scrap it was mine i tailed it out to unhook the zed which got nailed on my owner st-36 stinger treble took a quick photo etc and got it back safe and sound! a nice plump 5lber....... mission accomplished! the problem is this midlands venue is a good 2hours drive for us which sucks as its doing my head in i wanna get back and break the double figure zed! well it was a slow start but it all came together nicely with Ady and Kev getting the first ever Zeds :-)