Mr Fish
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2020
- Messages
- 19,099
- Reaction score
- 65,947
- Points
- 116
- Location
- North Devon
- Favourite Fishing
- Shore
It was raining as I drove towards North Cornwall on Sunday morning, despite none being forecast ?
Typical, I thought, as I’d taken a chance and borrowed Bruce Grobbelar’s short shorts for what would probably be one of their last summer outings.
It also didn’t help that I’d set the alarm for 4am but woke up at 5.50 thinking ‘shouldn’t the alarm have gone off by now?’
Traffic was still light though - only had to overtake one camper van and a couple of biddies, so not TOO bad and I was on the mark by 9.
Wrasse were the target again, after a successful comp-winning trip a couple of weeks ago and yes, this weekend was also a comp, 48 hours and you may have seen my report on the (unsuccessful) Friday night bass session.
This time, I’d remembered to bring the bag in the freezer containing spider crab peeler legs and normal peeler, which I’d forgotten previously.
The mainstay of the bait was pre-peeled spiders, which worked well last time.
Funnily enough, although triggerfish like them, I’ve otherwise had next to nothing on spider legs.
Unfortunately the actual spiders were still rock solid so I took a couple out to defrost in the muggy air and quickly swooshed some spider legs and a couple of normal peeler in a rock pool to give me enough bait for a first cast.
I’d barely poured a coffee when… bzzzzzz! A ratchet was going and I turned around to see the spider legs rod bent double.
Naturally I missed it ?
Got the gear back (one of few today I did) and quickly rebaited with more legs and put it in roughly the same spot.
This time it took a few more minutes but soon enough it was bent over again with a wrasse bite. They do hit it!
She wasn’t huge, just under 2lb maybe, and got her back as quickly as I could without weighing.
The Rapala sling-cum-unhooking mat is pretty big, btw, and can take a double figure hound easily enough, so a wrasse is dwarfed in it.
In hindsight I should have taken my smaller sling, or as well as, because weighing a smaller fish in a huge sling is very awkward!
Obviously spider legs were now my all-time favourite new bait (this week anyway) and I was regretting the dozens of legs I’d not bothered keeping while peeling spiders ? (plenty more in the freezer though!)
Sure enough, I got another bite on them, then another (which I missed, obviously ?)
It was one of those sessions when clearly fish were there but they weren’t quite jumping on your hooks.
Lots of small wrasse nibbling the baits to buggery as well.
But then I had a cracking bite and struck into something much better.
It was clearly trying to stay in the kelp and I could feel much grating of the line until I eventually got it into open water.
It gave a good account of itself and when it surfaced…. was this the much longed for 5lb plus fish?
As I swung it up to the rock there was a round of applause and cheers to seaward!
A tourist sightseeing RiB had stopped to watch the show ???
Unless they were cheering the Fishmeister wearing Bruce’s shorts and not much else, but I doubt it ???
I swear it looked bigger than the 4lber I’d had there previously but after weighing the sling and zeroing the scales, it does didn’t live up to first impressions and went 3lb 15 and 1/2.
Ah well, it was a high 80s percentage fish on the board anyway.
(Yes I need a shave…)
And new shorts ?
I had another fish after that which I weighed very quickly without zeroing the sling and it was just about 3lb, so didn’t bother recording that as I knew at the very least someone had already weighed in a huss on a par with my existing wrasse.
As high tide approached I tried a bit of feathering with my float/flattie rod and two feathers, after reeling in one bottom rod (well, getting snagged and snapping off), because any large mackerel I caught would then be legal for the comp (max two rods, three hooks).
No mackie anyway. I didn’t do it for long, so tedious…
The until then reasonably light SW wind suddenly decided to shift around a bit and become MUCH stronger.
Plus a fair amount of spray was flying up. I wasn’t wearing much so cared nothing for getting wet but I didn’t want my phone or scales wet, so decided to move around the point to a sheltered spot.
That was slow. I had a strap, then one wrasse a pound and a bit or so.
Nope, no good. So I moved back about halfway towards where I’d just come from.
So frustrating. Had about three screamer bites there and all ended up under a ledge that was just in front of me.
Got two sets of gear back and one snapped off, but no signs of fish in any case, apart from the bites.
The wind dropped again. And the sun came out for a couple of hours! The forecast said next to no sun all day ?
So sod it, back to where I’d started for an hour or two. That spot had gone dead before I moved, whether because of the tide state or the fish had become spooked, I’m not sure?
It was back to missing bites, or getting one decent bite then when I picked the rod up, nothing.
Eventually I landed one more wrasse, no weight but I guessed about 1lb 8-12.
I’d more or less had enough and it was a long climb/walk back, then a long drive home, so I let the last two casts soak a bit, pulled one in and feathered for no more than 10 minutes (still no mackerel), then set off on the hike back.
I took a tin full of leads down and went back with about three - I reckon I must have lost 14 or so ??
Par for the course, can’t be helped when the fish you’re after live in rocks and kelp, but it does rather make the wallet wince somewhat! Dusty shall be receiving a new order very very soon…
I do like this mark. It’s ‘relatively’ easy to get to (as long as you’re part goat) and certainly holds wrasse.
However, today I heard about a mark just along the coast so might have to check that one out next time, I do like new marks! ?
Thanks for reading y’all! Oh, I didn’t get a placing in the comp this time ?
Oh yes, and very bizarrely, my mate fished local to try for triggers and had a wrasse… that weighed 3lb 15 and 1/2oz…. Lol…
Typical, I thought, as I’d taken a chance and borrowed Bruce Grobbelar’s short shorts for what would probably be one of their last summer outings.
It also didn’t help that I’d set the alarm for 4am but woke up at 5.50 thinking ‘shouldn’t the alarm have gone off by now?’
Traffic was still light though - only had to overtake one camper van and a couple of biddies, so not TOO bad and I was on the mark by 9.
Wrasse were the target again, after a successful comp-winning trip a couple of weeks ago and yes, this weekend was also a comp, 48 hours and you may have seen my report on the (unsuccessful) Friday night bass session.
This time, I’d remembered to bring the bag in the freezer containing spider crab peeler legs and normal peeler, which I’d forgotten previously.
The mainstay of the bait was pre-peeled spiders, which worked well last time.
Funnily enough, although triggerfish like them, I’ve otherwise had next to nothing on spider legs.
Unfortunately the actual spiders were still rock solid so I took a couple out to defrost in the muggy air and quickly swooshed some spider legs and a couple of normal peeler in a rock pool to give me enough bait for a first cast.
I’d barely poured a coffee when… bzzzzzz! A ratchet was going and I turned around to see the spider legs rod bent double.
Naturally I missed it ?
Got the gear back (one of few today I did) and quickly rebaited with more legs and put it in roughly the same spot.
This time it took a few more minutes but soon enough it was bent over again with a wrasse bite. They do hit it!
She wasn’t huge, just under 2lb maybe, and got her back as quickly as I could without weighing.
The Rapala sling-cum-unhooking mat is pretty big, btw, and can take a double figure hound easily enough, so a wrasse is dwarfed in it.
In hindsight I should have taken my smaller sling, or as well as, because weighing a smaller fish in a huge sling is very awkward!
Obviously spider legs were now my all-time favourite new bait (this week anyway) and I was regretting the dozens of legs I’d not bothered keeping while peeling spiders ? (plenty more in the freezer though!)
Sure enough, I got another bite on them, then another (which I missed, obviously ?)
It was one of those sessions when clearly fish were there but they weren’t quite jumping on your hooks.
Lots of small wrasse nibbling the baits to buggery as well.
But then I had a cracking bite and struck into something much better.
It was clearly trying to stay in the kelp and I could feel much grating of the line until I eventually got it into open water.
It gave a good account of itself and when it surfaced…. was this the much longed for 5lb plus fish?
As I swung it up to the rock there was a round of applause and cheers to seaward!
A tourist sightseeing RiB had stopped to watch the show ???
Unless they were cheering the Fishmeister wearing Bruce’s shorts and not much else, but I doubt it ???
I swear it looked bigger than the 4lber I’d had there previously but after weighing the sling and zeroing the scales, it does didn’t live up to first impressions and went 3lb 15 and 1/2.
Ah well, it was a high 80s percentage fish on the board anyway.
(Yes I need a shave…)
And new shorts ?
I had another fish after that which I weighed very quickly without zeroing the sling and it was just about 3lb, so didn’t bother recording that as I knew at the very least someone had already weighed in a huss on a par with my existing wrasse.
As high tide approached I tried a bit of feathering with my float/flattie rod and two feathers, after reeling in one bottom rod (well, getting snagged and snapping off), because any large mackerel I caught would then be legal for the comp (max two rods, three hooks).
No mackie anyway. I didn’t do it for long, so tedious…
The until then reasonably light SW wind suddenly decided to shift around a bit and become MUCH stronger.
Plus a fair amount of spray was flying up. I wasn’t wearing much so cared nothing for getting wet but I didn’t want my phone or scales wet, so decided to move around the point to a sheltered spot.
That was slow. I had a strap, then one wrasse a pound and a bit or so.
Nope, no good. So I moved back about halfway towards where I’d just come from.
So frustrating. Had about three screamer bites there and all ended up under a ledge that was just in front of me.
Got two sets of gear back and one snapped off, but no signs of fish in any case, apart from the bites.
The wind dropped again. And the sun came out for a couple of hours! The forecast said next to no sun all day ?
So sod it, back to where I’d started for an hour or two. That spot had gone dead before I moved, whether because of the tide state or the fish had become spooked, I’m not sure?
It was back to missing bites, or getting one decent bite then when I picked the rod up, nothing.
Eventually I landed one more wrasse, no weight but I guessed about 1lb 8-12.
I’d more or less had enough and it was a long climb/walk back, then a long drive home, so I let the last two casts soak a bit, pulled one in and feathered for no more than 10 minutes (still no mackerel), then set off on the hike back.
I took a tin full of leads down and went back with about three - I reckon I must have lost 14 or so ??
Par for the course, can’t be helped when the fish you’re after live in rocks and kelp, but it does rather make the wallet wince somewhat! Dusty shall be receiving a new order very very soon…
I do like this mark. It’s ‘relatively’ easy to get to (as long as you’re part goat) and certainly holds wrasse.
However, today I heard about a mark just along the coast so might have to check that one out next time, I do like new marks! ?
Thanks for reading y’all! Oh, I didn’t get a placing in the comp this time ?
Oh yes, and very bizarrely, my mate fished local to try for triggers and had a wrasse… that weighed 3lb 15 and 1/2oz…. Lol…
