Reeling in the New Year

I have been out a couple of times so far this year with no sign of any bass and just a few pollack being caught. I am determined to keep trying metals this year mainly off shore.

I have just bought a secondhand VSB 250 I know it is a bit powerful but the good price meant that I could not resist it.

The thing I notice about this photo is the loss of coloration on my VS 100 pictured on the lefthand side. I have emailed van staal to ask them if this is normal. I will await their response. The reel has gone to Germany for a service.

I am hearing that bass are still being caught including a few in the bay where I caught my last one

Christmas Joy

Out with Callum today as Derek is laid low in Hospital. We actually turned right out of the harbour and headed west, we tried a number of marks with nothing doing and we moved out a bit into about 35ft of fast flowing water. I was using a metal Duo, jigging just off the bottom.

The first drift produced nothing whilst the second drift I got hit by a fish, at first I thought it was a wrasse as it did little in the way of fighting. As it came to the surface we could see a flash of silver and also another larger bass swimming with the hooked fish.

After a neat bit of netting from Callum a nice 5.5lb fish was landed


The fish was measured at 62cms and tagged and released



Callum later managed a couple of wrasse but this fish was the only bass caught in the few hours we were out.

Winter has arrived

As winter fast approaches the fishing seems to be abating, especially on the eastern side of the island, Although Derek tells me that there was a lull last year in November.

Well Friday came and it was a beautiful day and anticipation was high, unfortunately it was not matched by the fishing.

we managed to get two bass at an offshore reef with all the other spots proving negative. I had been trying a new surface lure which has been made and designed by Keith White. I had one rise to this, I have to say this lure worked well and has a tantalising wiggle.

A beautiful scene at Seymour.

Yesterday I ventured out, solo this time and tried all the way up the coast with no luck apart from a few pollack. I made my way back up to town and proceed further west. I fished an offshore reef and immediately landed two bass on a madness shad.

This was about an hour after low and I then noticed a large number of gulls feeding well inshore. When I arrived I could see fish on the surface. Using Keith,s bone idol Percy lure I immediately hooked a small bass and this was quickly followed by four more. The fish and the light soon disappeared but it was fun whilst it lasted

Catchup

It has been a few weeks since I wrote up my fishing trips and have been out a couple of times with Derek. Derek has continued his success with his Savage Gear Eels until today that is.

fishing seems to have slowed and we have been catching at the point as the tide has turned, most of our usual spots being devoid of fish.

Today was totally different and perhaps means that the fish are turning their attention away from eels to larger profile bait.We were late going out and did not get out until around low tide I had my z claw on whilst Derek continued with his Savage gear Slugs.

It was not long before I had the first fish on, and it turned out to be the best fish of the day, It was really fat and weighed around the 5lb mark

I continued to catch fish as the tide began to flood whilst Derek struggled missing a number of goes at the various surface lures he tried. However we ended up with 15 fish not bad for a couple of hours fishing

A few bass and a defective pollack

I have not posted for a while as the weather has been bad and getting out has proved to be more difficult. However I got out today at just after first light. It was two hours before low.I failed to find any fish before low but as the tide turned I picked up 3 fish just past gannet gully. Fishing a z claw in about 8ft of water a number of fish were snapping at the lure.

I then moved offshore to fish on a reef were the pollack would be, fishing a metal lure I picked up about 30 fish, nothing big but it did include a disabled pollack

A few fish over the last week

with Autumn fast approaching or actually here it is important that we make the most of the good days left. So with this in mind I ventured out with Derek on the high tide last week in thick fog. We managed to locate the mark and I was using the madness shad whilst Derek stuck to the savage gear slug.

Fish were difficult to find but I managed to hook a few on the shad

The fish later changed their feeding preference and began taking the surface lures. I think we had a dozen fish that day. The quiet period was half an hour either side of high tide,

Yesterday we had a break in the strong winds and again we were out this time over the low. Fish were again sporadic and Derek managed to take a number of fish on various reefs. I kept missing bites but I was using the largest savage gear slug whilst Derek was using the medium sized ones.

After the tide turned we moved to another mark where we picked up a few more fish including a nice 5.5lb fish for me

Heavy metal fan

having returned from my holiday and also being ill, I ventured out by myself today to try a few different spots. I decided to use a metal 28gm P Booy and using a sink and draw method soon hooked into a number of pollack.

I then hooked into a lovely bright red wrasse which weighed in around the 5lb mark

I moved west and noticed that netters had laid nets all around Elizabeth castle and St.Aubins. But fishing a mark I know off Portelet I picked up a number of bass around a head that was just uncovering

A nice day out in calm conditions