Wrassticals

Headed out yesterday for a long awaited trip out Wrassing with the Portland Penetrater Karl Fox, this was my second wrassing trip since the Keys and after the last session was a flop due to pants conditions i was raring to go and was looking forward to hitting some cool ground in south devon. Tackle wise we had simular set ups karl fishing his Nories Rockfish to 18g and i had my trusty Mazzera to 21g loaded with PP braid and 3000/4000 Shimano's perfect wrassing gear to put the hurt down on these lumpy Ballans......... It wasnt long before we got stuck in, literally the first gully i cast into and Boom i was in after half a dozen casts!

After the most tiny gentle bite i wound into this Booooty above on a texas fished Xlayer, it belts off braid straight out the gully and into the kelp! i had to put the hurt down and beast the fish from the reef and it swims straight out trying to get into the next gully but i cranked down and got it to the surface where Karl lands in for me. after some quick photos and weighing 5lb 2oz it was returned back to the gully! dead chuffed as we had only been there 5mins so we headed off to the next set of gullys and reefs. The tide was still fairly high and allot of the gullys we wanted to hit still had 6ft of water on top of them so we upped sticks and headed around the corner to a spot where Jim and i had some awesome action last season, it wasnt long before the Crab crunchers started to show there faces!

We had both swapped over to Hawg senko's by this point and pretty much instantly got into the fish casting out to a reef 20yards off the rocks within a few casts we started gettin hits on the Texas rigs, i cast out and on the drop get smashed good and proper! i wind into it and this thing turns and heads off to france with a solid deep powerful run and then bites me off! almost straight after Karl shouts out he's in and after a quality scrap off the reef he lands this wrasse above. The tides going out nicely now and i scrambled down the rocks and whammed out my black 4" senko im into a wrasse straight away on the same reef Karl had his first fish not as big as my first but still a blast!

We decided a move to the next set of gullys which just looked amazing and screamed wrasse it was literally mouth watering and anyone who does this kind of rock hopping would be in pieces seeing the ground we were covering! it looked amazing deep gullys under our feet and rock pinnacles and reefs scattered everywhere. we managed some amzing sport and some hefty smash ups which every time has your heart buzzin and gagging for the next fish! after a awesome bit of coastal path in the middle of no where we hit our next spot but there was a bunch of noddy danglers on the main patch of gullys so we clambered around the corner down into the guts of the cliff such awesome coastline, almost moon like! Karl is first in the main gully and i was on the ledge above him and could actually see the wrasse chasing and hitting his lures! i couldnt hang around any longer and cliff hanged to the next rock and flicked of my Black/red glitter senko and we both hooked up straight away!

Two gorgeous ballans nailed under our feet the colours here were amazing, deep reds and oranges with white and electric blues amazing sport and such pretty fish! light lure fishing cant really get any better than this, and the sport just got better and better with almost every cast our lures getting hit or hookups!

I must of landed on a wrasse pit..... i had 4 good wrasse from the same spot all around the 3lb mark all caught on Senkos these lures are trully deadly all these fish apart from one looked shit hot with there deep reds and blues these photos dont do them justice. Karl had clambered up around and was now on a ledge to the left of me where he also gets into the fish with another fish about 2.5lb, it was long to i was in again! with another Boooty of a wrasse this one smashed me up good and proper and dragged me around the rocks i could feel the braid on the rocks but managed to turn it and get a quick snap.

we gave this spot another 10mins and it got quiet so we lumped up the rocks to the ledges on the front of this headland where there was some guys fishing for plaice, we squeezed in under there rods and chucked a mixture of senkos and other lures at these awesome wrasse i think it was my second cast and i nailed another 3.5lber and Karl gets one about 3lb. Karl was on the ledge above me to the left when i catch out the corner of my eye his Nories looping over and some drag pulling off his reel! this fish was in a big hole right under Karls feet so i scambled down to land this Boooty

Karl with his PB wrasse caught on some AGM soft plastic which was like a ribbed senko it got absolutely nailed and put up a awesome scrap this was Karls second PB breaking fish of the session! it just doesnt get any better than that! it was getting late now we had been on the water 13hours by now and had a good clamber along the rocks and coastal paths to the car both of us had a beaming smile and really enjoyed the day out wrassing! it was well over due as iv been gagging to get out on them for weeks now. good banter all round and already planning the next trip. wellll keep your eyes peeled for the next session in the next week or so

Danny