Nice Night for some Doubles :-)

Fished a really remote part of a southwest venue last night with Adrian and Martin Pike in Mind!!!!! as usuall armed to the teeth with Swampys and ready for action, the weather was crap all day with very strong winds and pissin it down with rain pretty much the whole day but we still managed to show those Pike who's boss..... I landed the first fish after casting my surface lure up into some heavy reeds and lillies in what is looking 100% pikey and instantly hook up within about 6ft of retrieving, it smashed the lure sooooo hard it just gets the heart pounding everytime and the fact iv not night surface fished in couple weeks really puts ya on edge!! after a spirited scrap i put her in the net

things looked good water was warm and the weather was settling the cloud lifted and winds dropped this could be turning into a mental Night session. we fished about a 3mile stretch of this venue abusing all the features and all of us turned a fair few nice fish! Poor Martin was lacking takes and wasnt even getting a sniff while me and Adrian put fish on the banks, we came to what i consider one of the quieter sections but that didnt Bother Adrian! i hooked and lost a nice fish and Adrian shouts he's in! i could hear the take from 50yards away awesome stuff, the fished weighed a good 11lb 6oz and scrapped all the way to the net great sport!

not the best picture quality but good enough for drizzle and a bit of fog. fishing with surface lures is hectic enough in the day you woundnt want to do this fishing if you had a dicky ticker i tell ya! heart stopping takes and runs these fish just bring a grin to my face everytime i get out for them! Now poor old Martin still hasnt even raised a fish yet! mind you the sod did managed to land 3 massive doubles while me and Adrian fished Ireland. the best bottoming out the 25lb scales which is always a good thing lol! a 18lb 5oz and a 15lb 3oz..... the 25lb plusser sounded like a fish yet to be caught by me as Mart tells me it had a old scar on the top of its back and all the biggies we'v landed this season have been clean of damage!! photo's as soon as he has uploaded them! Adrian is on fire at the moment and its not long to he's in again! this time with his venue biggest of 2010! a lovely fish of 16lb 1oz..... he didnt even shout for us with the net as he thought this fish was only a few pounds!! i walk over cool as a cucumber and shine my head torch over to the fish to land it and im greeted with this!! some tiddler!!

well after this it kind of dies the fish really quiet down and we fish a further hour and a half without a sniff, we head back to the car and manage two fish of 6-7lb and Martin has a real sulk on due to the fact he didnt raise one fish!! BUT on last nockings he winkles out this i believe low double, we didnt weigh it he reckons 9lb but i say at least a 10-11lb! nice fish and finished off a cracking nights fishing..... you cant beat this fishing and its still fishing as good as it did 2-3months ago!! with the best to come!!

roll on next time i say, me and Mart our Bassing this weekend and a cant wait to get out again, keep ya eyes peeled for more reports and hopefully some decent piccys

Danny

Blog id Deffo check out guys

Morning all. Heres a Blog iv viewed loads through Henry's praises over the last few months! this is deffo forward thinking Bassin and really shows how Lure fishing can be pushed and used to awesome effect! Keith has shown interest in my Blog for a while and we have chatted and decided to link the two blogs together, he will be having the odd article pushed on here and ill have the odd piece put up on his blog etc. Please check it out http://www.jerseybassguides.com/bassfish/blog1.php its updated as much as possible and will put the spark back into ya modern bassing, i look forward to crossing over some interesting articles this summer with Keith and the guys over in Jersey

Danny

Wrasse on Soft plastics

Its that time of year again where i am seriously struggling to keep off the rocks of south devon in search of the crazy hardcore Ballan Wrasse!! those who follow Henry's blog will know that Wrasse on the lure is the new Rock and Roll!! iv been lucky enough to catch some pretty massive wrasse over the years! and getting stuck into them over in Ireland really didnt help my crave. Now Wrasse on lures is a fairly new challenge and to most of us can be fairly tricky but if you willing to brave the reefs and rock ledges there is sooooo much potential

Just check out the views from the venues im lucky enough to be able to fish! these coves are just stuffed with Wrasse all waiting to be nailed by the angler willing to up his or her's game. within the next few weeks im going to be really pushing wrasse on soft plastics and know just what lures to use! im thinking small 8-10gm jigs with the likes of small natural coloured Megabass Xlayers and spindle worms. as well as Kaolin grubs and Savagear grubs and hopefully will produce some amazing results! we have had Ballans from the spot in the above photo to over 6lb's!!! and on nothing more than light spinning rods and reels loaded with braid WOw what fun its going to be!These photo's are taken by my good mate Henry Gilbey check it out on my links bit or here. www.henry-gilbey.com the eagle eyed angler will spot rag worm hanging on for dear life in the above picture but there will certainly not be any bait on my next session for the spirited Ballan Wrasse. keep ya eyes peeled for a full catch report in the next few weeks

Danny

Sakura Gold

Well as you know iv just returned back from fishing ireland and putting some gear through its paces!! i took over a couple Plano's full of hard and soft lures to try for Pollack and of coarse the new Sakura Aplax 4008FD...... as posted many times before you can prob see i have a unhealthy issue with shimano in the fact i really have no interest in using any other brand for my cranking power, BUT i can safely say i am completely blown away by the Sakura Alpax from start to finish!! this really is a bargain at just under a 100smackers i believe there is no reel that comes close to performance and styling! all the details from Micrometric front drag to the bio T-handle which didnt slip once while battling the impressive "crash dives, hold on for dear life" fight of the Irish Pollack. with a once piece billet spool anodised in black and Sakura orange, with milled out holes in the spool for lightness and sheer style-appeal! for this styling and performance i would at least be looking along the lines of reels twice the price and more!

I fished this reel pretty much all week through the rain and winds i even got a goo walloping by waves and the reel got a good royal soaking! i even dropped the rod in sheer panic while unhooking fish the reel got dunked a good few times i got back to the bungalow that night and took the reel apart to try and dry it up and to my surprise it was bone dry inside...... with only a bit of salt water under the spool which io dried and whipped it back together, the reel still spins as smoothly as when i took it out of the box. even when wet the drag was smooth as silk and packed allot of punch for such a small unit! the bio handle really worked well its very well ballanced and is well designed for pumping up the biggest of fish from the deeps on lighter gear! it swallowed up a fair bit of 30lb braid with a bit of backing. even after dropping it a few times and giving it a bit of barnicle rash it still looks the business and performs really well indeed. time will tell indeed but after 500plus Pollack i reckon i got a keeper here and wouldnt think twice of splashing my own cash on getting another one! they can be purchased from www.basslures.co.uk and i cant fault it..... Go on treat ya self

Danny

Oooops i did it again!

well i had only been back in the country half a day and i was asked by my Dad to join him and my Brother out tiddler tickling in one of the local small rivers. they were armed with feeder rods and brandling worms etc for tackling the small perch and dace etc. with litterally 50-60 small Perch and a nice dace i managed to blag the rod off my Dad! i cast out the small ledger and piece of meat under some over hanging trees.

i managed to winkle out the best fish of the session right under there noses LOL. Dad didnt stop complaining and my Bro didnt look best pleased ha ha ha nice little chub didnt fight all that much luckily it got its head stuck in the weeds and it got blind sided, anyway nice little end to the weekend not the double figure Pollack but good fun especially when i whipped it out of the swim my Bro and Dad tried and tried to catch from. its a dirrrrty job but i love doing it

Mind Blowing Fishing

I have just returned from a lure fishing hols in Ireland on the wild southwest Beara coastline! Me and Adrian flew over last saturday to Cork then drove the 2hours treck to Castletownbere, we dumped our suitcases off and did a spot of shopping then headed strate out to the water in search of our main target MASSIVE shore caught Pollack!! the Beara is by far the best shore Pollacking spot iv ever had the pleasure to fish, its mind blowing i was completely overwelmed by the scenery and sheer wildness of the place! we tackled up with what most guys would say was light gear for sea luring, 7ft ML rods loaded with 30lb braid. Lure wise it was jigs from 8-12gm's on Owner and Gama hooks, using Grubs and shads from 3inch to 5 in various coulours also nordic spoons and small pilks to get down in these really deep seas. on the first session a couple hours before dark we managed over 50 fish between us a mix of small Pollack and Coalfis, Adrian landing the best fish of the night being just a bit over 4lb.

Sunday morning meant a full day out on the rocks in search of the beasts which we knew lurked below in the kelp! the swell was pounding in due to southerlys blowing up the cliffs luckily they didnt cause to much trouble! we headed to a mark which had white water sweeping round the point and gorgeous blue water surrounding it. i cast my Savagear grud out past the point and Smash!! im into a decent fish!! i knew strate away it was a Pollack by the rough head shake and brutal dives and runs, i got it in to about 30ft of the point and it steams off and screaming drag off the reel!! this fish had other ideas!! i managed to turn it and moved it to a pool beside me and Adrian handed her out the water. 5lb10 oz and my Irish PB now in the next three casts i nail a Pollack over 4lb on every cast this fishing was not the average tiddler tickling like in the UK.

after a hour or so casting around the numerous reefs we managed 8 fish from this mark all over 3lb Adrian managed to tickle out a smaller fish from under the rod tip which was explosive fishing! anyone who has caught Pollack from the boat on light gear will no the panic we went through hooking these fish they out run any fresh water fish iv hooked 6lb Pollack with a reef in its sight will out do 20lb pike on the first runs without even thinking about it and we had nothing more than the usuall pike and perch outfits lol! we headed back for a quick stock up of food and drinks then headed out to one of Adrians previous Fav headlands where he promised fish! he didnt let me down!!! we fished a point in the sound where Adrian reckoned the biggies hang around and within 3 cast i had a fish of 7-8lb chase and nip the grub my heart stopped as in the gin clear water you can see these fish chasing up the reef ledges! almost the next cast Adrian hooks up under the rod tip, this fish steams off the rod bending through the handle and drag screaming off at a stupid pace!! but it pulled the hook! Adrain holds up a owner jig which has just been snapped by a Pollack!! we headed around the point to a gorgeous cove where my dreams came true! i have never fished anything like it!! every cast hooking up with Pollack between 5-6lb, these fish just abused us! my ribs hurt where i was slamming the rod butt under my arm trying to stop these fish peeling 30-40ft of line off the reels...... the drag on my Sakura Alpax was up as hard as i can twist it with me still having to palm the spool to slow them!

Adrian with a Pollack of 6lb6ozthe first 5lber plus from the cove, after 20 odd 5lb plus fish nailed from this spot i kid you not my arm was aching and wrist hurt these fish are shockinly strong! we fished this spot for a good hour when Adrian shouts he's in! this fish was a different league!! the run started soon as it was hooked and could not be stopped! it just went and went by the look on adrians face it was a monster iv never seen fish run like it then PING its off...... Adrian reels in the line to another jig completely bent strate!! guttin. the couple days see's simular fishing on every mark we fished it was mind blowing fishing truelly amazing to witness. we also managed some other species being Ballan Wrasse and Cuckoo Wrasse all on small jigs, guys who follow Henry Gilbey will know that Wrasse are more than catchable on lures and are a great target for the lighter angler

Along with with the slimey Maks the fishing just got better and better, we fished some amazing looking marks which all had fish brimming from them, these fish are sooooo easy on lures due to the fact NO ONE is fishing for them over here! we had a slightly quieter day in the week where we didnt really fish as much but still managed to show some decent Pollack and a massive surprise for me! i saw the boards saying the various fish that could be caught off the Beara and one fish that i thought naaaa not a chance i actually managed to nail one!! i had this huge take right up in this cove i though it was another decent 5lb plus Pollack then the fight just died... almost like a lump of sea weed lol, then up she pops from the deep and me and Adrian looked at each other i couldnt believ i had nailed the John Dory i was after!! what a Gorgeous fish, it nailed a Savagear cannibla shad in lumo orange fished really aggressively hard to the bottom this fish was beautifull and really put a massive smile on my face! can the fishing get any better than this??

we ended the week fairly wet as the rain bolted in for two days strate which made the day a little bit more harder due to the leathal wet rocks which was like walking on ice! we decided to head to one of the islands where we could see some amazing looking coves from accross the bay, we found some amazing spots all extremely deep and gin clear. we had almost instant action from kippers and the odd fish 3-4lb i managed to land yet more Pollack on surface lures which was one of the highlights of the week as its something iv always wanted to do i managed about 8 fish all week to poppers and wake baits the best by far was the sebile Stick shad. we headed to a point where Adrian hooks up instantly with a decent fish of 5lb4oz at this point i was ready for my Double figure fish lol. i put a assist weight from lunker city on the braid and headed to a rough point where i managed several fish all over 5lb all one after another!!

the fishing was just mental!! in two casts i nailed a 7lb4oz and my Irish PB of 8lb7oz!! one after another both on Savagear grubs these fish fight like demons i really was shocked at the pressure these Pollack can put on you! iv had a couple 30lb plus pike and these fish do them over...... truelly gobsmacked by the power and garce of these beasts soooooo much fun on simple lure fishing gear!

7lb 4oz taken on white grub 4inch

8lb 7oz Irish shore PB taken on 10gm owner triangle jig and yellow 4inch grub this sums up ireland for me numerous PB's broke and over 500 pollack between 2 of us! 300 plus being between 4 and 6lb with a dozen massive fish over 6lb! i cannot explain the feeling to witness and catch fish like this in such unspoilt surroundings truelly amazing sport. a MASSIVE thank you to Adrian for letting me come along and experience this salt water luring!! i WILL be back

Lovely Chubbly

Me and Martin headed out last nite with Chub in mind..... Huge chub! we headed off to a stretch of river known for its massive Chub taken on feeder gear, there is reports of 6-7lb chub coming from here on a weekly basis! but all to bait, we really had a open field to play with here being a fairly un-lure fished river specially for chub. we started off on the more well known stretches with surface lures hoping Mr Pike and Possibly Chub i had on a large swampy and Martin stuck on a tiny Jitterbug. the venue looked awesome with lillies fringing the inside bends and bull rushes lining the banks... it just screamed fish! the bottom sections failed to produce so after a bit of head scratching we decided to hit the faster stretches and had almost instant takes from the greedy Chub!

Martin being the first to land a nice fish of 4lb in nearly the first swim, this chub really tried to do him over in the weed and snags. i fished the next swim above Mart and had another chub bow wave up behind the lure 4-5 times this fishing drives you MAD its soooooo frustrating i managed to hook this tiny chub of around half a pound but it still managed to put a good scrap for itself! in nearly every swim fished chased and hit the lures (both on tiny JitterBugs now) we had some huge chub smash our lures and we both hooked and lost fish over 5lb. Martin managed another two fish of around 3 to 4 pound. along the pools i finally landed a better fish which done me over in the reeds and streamer weed! i thought it was possibly a pike at first but once i yanked it from the streamer weed i could see it was a chub of around 3lb, great sport on our fairly light Chubbing gear!

we ended the river session back down on the first sections where Martin flicks his JitterBug into the wier pool and instantly SMASH the best chub of the night of nearly 5lb is landed, i didnt get a photo due to rain but was the usual fat chunky southwest river chub! all in all awesome chubbing on surface lures in the pitch black of night. we ended the night with 6 chub banked and god knows how many hooked and lost!! heart stopping fun. we headed back to one of our Piking spots where we hooked and lost over 10 pike and i managed to land a fish of 9lb. it was getting late so we headed back. great all round session with a good head of fish, i highly recomend!!