I tried my favourite spot first, a small island just off Borness point which is an absolute mare to get down to and made even worse if it's fishing poor like it was today! A couple of doggies, small pollack and a codling soon seen me off to pastures new, a high rocky outcrop about midway along the cliffs. Here there is a deep, kelp filled hole that often holds fish, cast ten yards to the side of it and you miss the fish. Luckily for me this time it was full of codling that often take on a reddish hue at this time of year due to living in the brownish, reddish kelp fronds.
Peeler crab is what these fish want and they were hitting my bait seconds after it hit the water. I ended up with five codling, some of which I'd have been proud to catch on my home turf along the east coast, a very nice surprise!
Info
I find that I catch far more fish during summer using "lighter tackle" as long as I keep my mainline heavy to cope with the terrain, 40lb mono is my choice, even though it is a bit tricky to cast lightish weights as I use. A bass rod combined with a penn mag 525, capable of casting a three ounce weight thirty yards is perfect and I've had cod to 14lb without a problem at all from the rocks using the gear in the picture. My terminal tackle is always as simple as can be in the rocks and kelp, basically a three way swivel, a twelve inch 30lb snood with a 3/0 sakuma manta extra hook doing the pointy work. To my three ounce weight, a three foot length of 30lb mono with an overhand knot tied in it which acts as a weakness to break the line if my lead becomes snagged. I never fish more than 40yds out with this set up and have great success with fish practically under your rod tip at times.
Unfortunately I didn't manage that elusive wrasse during this fishing session but had dogfish, beautifully coloured codling and a few small pollack instead. Tightlines, David.
No comments:
Post a Comment