Monday 12 September 2011

Single Bass Saves My Sanity 13-09-2011

With the super-strong winds across the country, and down here in West Cornwall, decided my best chance of a session was to head out to the East side of the Lizard. Decided to try out my 'rockfish' rod with some plugs, not done it before. So geared up with the Nories Rockfish Bottom Light 6'10 7-15g rod, with a '10 Certate 2506 loaded with a fresh spool of Sunline Castaway 0.8PE

Started out near Coverack (not fished there before), heading away from the small harbour to the shelter of a headland point. Started working a Patchinko 100, amongst the rocks in generally calm water. Just meters round the corner of the headland, strong wind and waves crashed in. Then the fun started....

Wind knot number 1, thankfully I was able to work some magic and unpick it. Next cast, adolescent seagull likes the look of the lure, dive bombs it resulting in a seagull hooked. Finally brought it in, one treble in the web of it's foot, one in the roof of it's mouth. Then I find I left my forceps in my LRF kit bag. So with a firm grip of the gulls neck, manage to get both sets of hooks out, leaving the gull to fly off.

Next few casts, wind knot number 2! This one needed to be cut out, so back onto the rocks, scissors out, only to fumble them down a deep crevice in the rocks, lost for good. Proceed to tie a double up braid knot to a new leader, and having to bite through the braid, rasping it off on my teeth! One very messy looking leader knot! Repeat twice more, with a total of 4 wind knots, 3 badly bitten knots, and feeling very peed off, I decided to give up on that mark. Tide was dropping, and did not show much promise! Saw this ship skeleton on the way back to the car;


Mark number 2, again not fished there, was Porthoustock. Strange place, with the active quarry right next to the beach. Decided to try out the LRF gear, but not even a sniff. Was convinced it would be the go, but the wind was managing to wrap around, and making contact tricky. Might explore it more when the winds drop.

Final mark was a familiar one to me, near the mouth of the Helford. Have fished here a few times, but usually for Wrasse. Back on with the Patchinko, and casting from a rock over the clear water, sandy bottom with a few submerged rocks. Soon saw the lure disappear at distance, and it was fish on! Brought it in close, and the welcome sight of Bass was thrashing about under foot. Not a monster, but has been a while since I landed one;



Fished on for a while, and all the time decent fish were cruising by, some in shoals. A few Bass, but mainly Mullet, heading up the Helford. Couldn't get any more interest, even with the lures passing by the nose of the fish, so called it a day, happy to have avoided a day out with a blank! Took the fish from the rocks in this picture;


On reflection, the good bits: My braid scissors are 99p stainless nail scissors from Morissons, so picked up a couple more pairs, so I can carry a spare. The reel spool was overfilled by 10m or so according to spec, so brought the wind knots on my self, and with some line stripped off, the final session was hassell free! The Rockfish rod was ok with the plugs, but think I will keep it so soft plastic duties in the future. Will see what tomorrows session brings, hopefully a bit less wind! 

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