Bass, Mackerel, Herring, and Anchovies 27-07-13

Although Bass are around earlier, I usually focus on catching them from September through to December.  Bass fishing can be addictive and there was a time when it was the only fish I really wanted to catch however, since taking up kayak fishing, I can now access marks I could not access from the shore, and my target species at different times of the year has become more varied.  Having said that, sometimes opportunities arise that tempts you to change your normal game plan.

A couple of days ago, I was collecting razorfish for future bait stocks and personal consumption.  Out in the bay, I noticed a great deal of surface activity from baitfish trying to escape their predator.  As this was shallow water, I was certain that the predators were Bass.  Judging by the activity, there appeared to be plenty of Bass around therefore; I decided at the earliest opportunity I would return in the kayak.

My plan was to start fishing at dawn, which was about two hours into the flooding tide.  I had fished this location before and caught Bass within the first three hours of the flooding tide.  I am a great believer in the Solunar Theory and the time I planned to start fishing, fell within a major period of solunar activity where according to the theory the fish would be most active.

The mark is a shallow rough ground mark with a mixture of sand and weed covered rocks. Due to the nature of the ground, I fish this mark with surface plugs, shallow diving plugs, or weedless soft plastics.  My choice of lures today was shallow diving plugs.

On arrival at the mark, I immediately noticed the surface activity I noticed two days earlier, which was a good sign that the Bass were here once again.  After working out the direction of the drift, which would keep me close to the shoreline, the fishing began. When lure fishing for Bass in shallow water I deploy a drift chute at the stern. This turns the stern of the kayak into the wind, which means I am facing down wind making it easy to cast the lure down wind or to the sides and work the lure back to the kayak.

The fist cast immediately produced a take on the Savage Prey 130.

The Cornish Inshore Fishing and Conservation Authorities landing size limit is 37.5cm and although I could have kept this fish, I have a personal size limit of 40cm therefore; I returned the fish as there is always a better fish around the corner.

The fish were still very active chasing the baitfish close to the surface so I changed the plug to a Tackle House Feed Shallow, which dives just under the surface, and the first cast produced another fish.

 

 

 

 

This fish was under both my size limit and the IFCA's size limit therefore, returned.

 

The next three fish were all a better size of 42cm, 40cm, and 45cm and all fell for the Tackle House Feed Shallow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As usual, with Bass fishing the activity stopped and the takes stopped therefore, I decided to paddle out into deeper water and jig a Herring Rig in the hope of Mackerel or Herring. 

 

The fish finder showed plenty of baitfish and to my surprise, they were Anchovies.

 

 

 

 

Commercial fleets catch Anchovies in UK waters and have done for several years now but it is a first for me to catch them on rod and line. This highlights the advantage of jigging mini feathers on small size 4 to 6 hooks rather than conventional Mackerel feathers on size 2/0 hooks. There is always the chance of a bonus catch using the small lures and of course, they will still catch Mackerel.

 

I managed to catch more Anchovies along with a couple of Herring and a good bag of Mackerel as shown below.  I apologise for the quality of the following pictures.  Salt spray must have got onto the lens!

 

 

A very pleasing mornings fishing and worth getting up at 4 o'clock although I must admit, I nearly rolled over and said forget it!

 

 

 



Cornish Gilthead Bream Fishing 06-07-13

In the spring and summer months, one fish that I love to target is Gilthead Bream.  To me, they are a great fighting, great looking, and great eating fish.  Although I really enjoy catching and eating Sea Bass, Gilthead Bream have the edge in both fighting and eating qualities.

The Cornish Gilthead Bream season usually runs from April through to early October and in the UK, they are most abundant in the South and South West.

I am fortunate to live close to one of the areas they like to feed which are the creeks of the Fal Estuary.

  

Selecting locations similar to the locations for Flounder fishing are good locations to try for Gilthead Bream.  In addition, like Bass, they will swim right into the shallows hunting for food therefore; the tactics for catching them are very similar to Flounder fishing or scaled down Bass fishing.

From the kayak, I like to use a light 7' 10g to 35g spinning rod and a 4000 size fixed spool reel loaded with 15lb braid and a 15lb nylon leader.  At the business end, a running ledger with a 2ft to 3ft 15lb fluorocarbon trace and hook sizes 1 to 4.  Weights range from 1oz to 2oz and baits can be lugworm, ragworm, peeler crab, mussel, or razorfish. 

The size and the sharpness of the hook are very important.  Gilthead Bream have a small mouth with the first inch lined with rock hard teeth.  This area of the mouth is extremely difficult to penetrate with a hook.  Unless the hook gets beyond those teeth into softer parts of the mouth, there is every chance of losing a fish during the fight simply because the hook has not been able to secure a firm hold. 

Two ways I have found that increase the chance of a secure hook on the fish are to allow the fish to take line after the initial bite giving it more time to get the bait well into the mouth. To achieve this either use a bait runner reel or set the clutch of the reel very light to enable to fish to move away with the bait before the strike. The other is to use strong carp hooks between sizes 1 to 4 depending on what bait is used.  For shellfish, I use size 1 and for worm bait size 2 or 4.  That said due to the structure of the fishes mouth, a percentage of fish would still be lost during the fight.

Today it was low water at 11:20 and it was important that I was ready to start fishing two hours before low water.  Similar to Bass, I have found the most productive time is a few hours either side of low water.  The best time of day is dawn however, it is not always possible to match low water with dawn and fish can still be caught at any time of the day.

My choice of bait today was razorfish otherwise known as razor clam.  Compared to lugworm or peeler crab, razorfish is an underrated bait yet it has a fantastic scent so much so, that it is difficult to get rid of the scent on your fingers long after using it!  It has caught me a great number of Sea Bass in the past and is a very good bait to use for Gilthead Bream. 

Razorfish is soft bait therefore; it can be difficult to keep on the hook.  One way to make this easier is first bind the bait with bait elastic making a sausage.  Once done, it is very easy to thread onto the hook in exactly the same way as you would thread on a lugworm or ragworm.

The first bite came well before low water but unfortunately, the fish was lost close to the kayak.  Gilthead Bream are very strong and fight very hard with repeated runs.  As mentioned above, fish can easily be lost in the fight.

Fortunately, I had another bite around low water and I gave the fish plenty of slack line before the strike and managed to land the fish.  The initial pull and the fight of a Gilthead Bream is something to experience!

I fished on but that was the only Bream of the day however, when Bream fishing you often catch small Bass.

Apart from the fact that this Bass was under the legal size limit, I was fishing in a Bass Nursery Area, which means from April 30th to January 1st, all Bass are protected.  It was good to see this Bass returned safely for future stocks.

It is always pleasing to catch a Gilthead Bream, They are a challenge to catch, the fight is tremendous, they are great looking and even better tasting so it was off home to prepare the catch for the barbeque.





Update June 2014:

Although you can fish for Gilthead Bream from April to mid October in Cornwall, I like to target them in June, July, and August.  With a warm settled forecast, I decided to head out for my first Bream trip of 2014. The trip contributed to the making of the video below.

Cornish Pollack Fishing 30-06-13

Unlike other parts of the UK such as the east coast, Cornwall is not really known as an inshore Cod fishery.  Rod and line anglers do catch the occasional Cod but not in the same numbers as other parts of the UK.  Instead, we do have an abundant fishery of another member of the Cod family Pollack.

Once known as a fish you feed to your cat, Pollack has now become more popular as an alternative to Cod and Haddock.  Some people enjoy eating Pollack others hate it personally, skinned I enjoy it.  Whether you enjoy eating Pollack or not, one thing is for sure, for the rod and line angler, they offer great sport on light tackle.

 

Pollack start to populate the inshore reefs in April and are abundant in the height of the summer through to the autumn.  The bigger fish tend to be over the deep water wrecks however, Pollack up the about 4lb and the occasional larger fish can be found around rough ground marks closer to the shore therefore, accessible by kayak.

 

The mark I fished today is mainly a clean sandy seabed however, there are some small isolated rough ground patches that act as an oasis for the fish particularly, Pollack.   My plan was to lure fish over both the clean and the rough ground.  Over the clean ground, my target species would be Mackerel and over the rough ground Pollack.

 

For kayak Pollack fishing, I carry a variety of lures for example, Sidewinder Sandeels, Savage Sandeels,  Twin Tails, Sidewinder Shads, and Nordic Herring Jigs.  All will catch Pollack and it is more a matter of finding the feeding fish and the method used than which lure is presented.




If I was only targeting Cod I would jig the lure close to or on the bottom because that is where the Cod tend to be however, Pollack tend to be suspended above and around the rough ground therefore, the method is to lower the lure to the bottom then slowly and steadily retrieve up to a certain depth.  The Pollack will follow the lure and occasionally you feel a tug before the actual take.  If you feel the tug, the secret is to keep winding and more often than not, the fish will take the lure.  Although the rough ground is not showing, the following example shows Pollack suspended near rough ground.

To enjoy the fight of the fish I like to keep the tackle light and use an 8' 15g to 45g bait casting rod with an Abu bait-casting reel loaded with braided line and a 2' fluorocarbon leader.  The thinness of the braid means lighter weights can be used and the lack of stretch gives a greater feel.

My plan was to set the drift up over the clean ground, jig a Herring Rig for Mackerel, and when the rough ground started showing on the sonar, switch to a rod set up with one of the larger lures for Pollack.

Jigging the Herring Rig over the clean ground produced Mackerel and a Gurnard.

One of the rough ground patches showed several Pollack suspended above and fortunately, I managed to catch some using the Savage Sandeel.

Whenever lure fishing there is always the chance of catching a species of fish you are not really targeting and the rough ground also produced a couple of nice Wrasse.

 

Pollack on light tackle offer great sport and the dive after the initial take of the lure as the fish tries to get back down to the rough ground is a lot of fun.

In general, although a lot of paddling involved trying the different rough ground patches and paddling back up tide/wind to reset the drift, a productive day with a mixed catch.