A few sessions before the rivers open

I like to class myself as an all round angler, with a leaning towards lure fishing. I am sure that there are many more out there like me, that are looking forward to the opening day of the river season on Thursday. I can’t wait to get out with my lure and fly rod in search of River Pike, Perch and Chubb. However there are a few days and fishing sessions I can get in before then and with some pretty good fishing from the shore at the moment, I have a lot to choose from.

I might do what my friend Nathan Edgell did and have a great few hours Wrasse fishing on lures. I know Nathan, who is well known as a top Pike angler, can’t wait for Thursday, but it didn’t stop him having another great session using LRF techniques, to target the Wrasse.

Ben Stockley continues his good run of catching some nice fish, with a decent Bass and this lovely Smoothound from the Ferrybridge end of Chesil. I have yet to get out and have a go for Smoothound this year, so that is high on my list for this week.

Just to give you a taster of what I will be targeting on Thursday, Fishing Tails contributor Paul Monaghan went and fished a tiny backwater and found his fly was engulfed by this cracking Pike.

This brings me on to an idea that I have been thinking about for a few weeks. As you may have noticed, we are now featuring a much larger number of fresh water articles, than we have in the past. I know when I started this site 4 years ago, it was primarily a sea fishing website. As my obsession with catching any species via lure of fly has increased, so have the number of articles on the subject. What I want to do is give you a chance to decide the future format of the site. I have created a simple Poll, that will allow us to know which direction, you would like us to go. Please participate in it and add your own ideas, if you think they will help.

Chesil Beach: 1.5m swell and chop with lightly coloured water

Portland: Slight swell with lightly coloured water.

Portland harbour: calm and clear water

Weymouth Bay: Calm with clear water

Chesil Beach forecast: I have just had a look down on Chesil and I can see a bit of a swell and some reasonable sized waves. A few are exceeding 2m. These are the summer conditions I look out for when I want to target Bass on Chesil. The fish move in very close to pick up the food being disturbed by the surf. It is not too rough that you can’t fish it or hold bottom but it is certainly rough enough to get the Bass feeding. You need to fish in close. If you are casting 20yds you are too far out. Use a Mackerel head or a whole squid. Use a light rod if you have one and hold it if you can. The hits are ferocious, so never wander far from your rod. These are exactly the conditions and tactics used by our own photographer Gavin, last year, when he landed this 11lb stunner.

So what else can we expect from Chesil this week? The water will be a bit stirred up for a couple of days. With luck that should break up the remaining May Water, leaving us with clear water. The Mackerel will then hopefully come back. If it does clear up then we have a good chance of seeing some Gurnard and maybe the early Bream. Once the swell leaves us, the Smoothound will move in again. I have noticed that they don’t like a lot of swell.

Portland: Wrasse are another fish that don’t really like the swell, but you should be able to find more sheltered water around the East side of the island. Pollock fishing wont be great until the water clears, but Bull Huss are not put off by swell or colour in the water. They are normally targeted at night, with large fish baits.

Portland Harbour: With the tides picking up towards the weekend, the harbour should produce some Bass, Pollock and Wrasse. large shoals of Mullet can be found around the Marina and in the bay at Sandsfoot yacht club.

Weymouth Bay: If you want to sit out of the fresh wind and enjoy a couple of hours of fishing, then the piers offer a good venue. Wrasse, Pollock, Mackerel and Garfish can all be had during the day. Once darkness falls you will get even more Pollock and Pout.

Preston Beach should produce Dabs and the odd Ray, especially at night. This is normally a good mark for Gurnard this month and there is always a chance of a Red Mullet.

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Varivas Saltwater Super Match Hooks review

I don’t normally do hook reviews, because a hook is a hook, right? Wrong, very wrong. One of the main areas that many anglers, especially novices skimp on is hooks and for the life of me I can’t understand why.

Hooks are probably the single most important piece of terminal tackle. You can get away with not having things like clips and swivels and even weights in some cases, but without a hook you are most unlikely to catch a fish. I have seen loads of different rigs made up by many anglers and even some disreputable rig makers, that have cheap, rubbish hooks. The normal type I often see are cheap shiny silver ones, complete with barbs on the shank to help hold the bait on. They end up doing more damage to the bait than good. They are normally too thick for use with worms and if the points are even sharp to start off with, they soon dull.

For most of my beach and rock fishing I normally use Kamasan Aberdeen style hooks. For those of you unfamiliar with Kamasan, they are pretty good hooks, but they are expensive for what they are. They are super sharp and keep their point reasonably well. My main concern with them, is I have lost several large fish when they have simply snapped.

This year I have decided to try some alternative hooks. After looking around, I noticed that Varivas had a new range out called Saltwater Super Match hooks. For those of you not familiar with Varivas, they  are a Japanese company. It seems that most of the best hooks in the world come from Japan and with their latest offering, Varivas are keeping up the tradition.

The super match hooks are a Limerick design hook, which are shorter and have a larger gape, than the Aberdeen hooks I am used to using. The other main difference is that they have a bronze finish. This is a major plus for me, as they last a lot longer before corroding. The wider gape (that’s the distance between the hook shank and the point through the bend) means that the hook point is less likely to be masked when using larger baits. They come in a number of sizes from 8 to 3/0. I am not sure I have any occasion to use a size 8, but if you are scratching for Dabs and Sole in a match, they would be ideal. With the exception of using size 6 hooks for Garfish, I normally use sizes between 2 and 5/0.

The hooks are extremely sharp, but do they stay that way for long? I thought I would put them through a rigorous test. One of the harshest environments for hooks has to be using them for Wrasse fishing on Portland. Wrasse have extremely strong mouths, as they are used to crushing crabs and ripping limpets off rocks. It is usual for your hooks to jam into rocks and weed on almost every cast, unless you are lucky enough to catch a fish.

As you can see from the picture above, they passed the test with flying colours. Another harsh environment to test the hooks out is Chesil Beach. With the shingle continually moving and dulling the point of your hook, you need to be confident that even after 8 hours of hard fishing your hooks will be sharp enough to catch anything that swims past.

Chris Buxton, put the hooks though several heavy sessions on Chesil and once again they came through the test on top. The selection of fish he had on them tells it’s own story.

One of the best things I like about the Super Match hooks, is that they come in packs of 30. No money is wasted in fancy packaging. You get what it says on the packet at a very reasonable price. I can see these being used by anglers all over the UK, from novices to the top match anglers in the country. So where can you get hold of them? They are exclusive to  Veals Mail Order and start at only £3.20 for the size 8’s

Varivas Saltwater Super Match Hooks

Summary

A great hook, at a very reasonable price that will serve you well and land many fish. It stays sharper for a lot longer than many other hooks I have used. What more can you ask from a hook?

Build Quality

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Stingrays in Essex

Since my last update things have picked up quite a lot! I have heard reports of some awesome fishing all along the Essex coast The weather hasn’t been that  great for this time of year but it does not seem to have affected catches too much. What has got in the way is the mayweed,  which has been shocking this year in Essex. Thankfully it’s starting to die off now leaving us to deal with the usual quota of seaweed.

Walton on the Naze:

Thornback rays are still being caught from the pier in good numbers and this, in turn, is attracting fishermen from all over the county and beyond, who fancy a piece of the action! Walton is a fantastic place to visit with plenty of attractions for all the family including the pier itself. I recommend you visit Meta-Tackle for your bait and tackle needs. its owner Richard is very helpful and is a font of invaluable local knowledge. I think it’s  important that we all try to support our local tackle shops, as in this internet age, its all to easy to take them for granted until they are gone!

A 10lb female thornback caught on a large bluey bait.

Frinton on Sea

I tried to fish this venue a few times this week but the weed was absolutely terrible and I just couldn’t cope with the amount of  line and tackle I was losing. Those that did manage to avoid the worst of the weed were rewarded for their perseverance. If this double header of Bass and what looks like a Turbot, is a sign of things to come we are in for a good summer.

Turbot and Bass double header caught by angler Tim Wilkins

St Osyth Beach

Now things start to get a little bit special!  This beach is being mobbed with anglers from all over the country all hoping to land an elusive Stingray! Many have tried  but only few have been lucky, so hats off to Matt Clark who battled for over twenty minutes to land this beautiful Stingray caught on a big king rag bait. The exact weight of the fish is not known but it’s estimated to be around 60+lbs.

Estimated 60lb+ Stingray from St Osyth Beach

Matt wasn’t the only one to have caught one of these amazing creatures and angler Russel Cole was also lucky enough to landed himself one on a Squid and rag cocktail. Again the exact weight is not known but estimated around the 5olb mark. Well done guys.

Estimated 50lb+ Stingray from St Osyth Beach

If you feel there is anything I have missed or you would like to add to the next post on fishing tales please do get in touch with me either via Facebook (East Coast Fishing Reports page)  or simply leave a message on this post.

Thanks for reading

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A ‘Fresh’ Take On LRF

Picture the scene. You’re an avid Sea Fisherman on holiday with the family this summer, you’re staying at a holiday park that has a fishing lake, but you only have your LRF gear on you as it’s all you could fit in your packed out car. Your first instinct would be to head to the nearest harbour and fish what you know, in doing that though you would be missing out on a fantastically fun way to catch all the Coarse species you don’t normally associate with Lure fishing.

LRF or Light Rock Fishing is already popular in Freshwater, going by names such as Light Range Fishing or Finesse Fishing, whatever the name the technique remains the same – using ultralight rods and small reels, trying to lure out the predators big and small from the water in front of you. The popularity of dropshotting for Perch & Pike makes them the natural start point for the beginner Fresh’ LRF’er, but what if your holiday lake contains no predators? This is quite a common occurrence in farmer’s ponds and commercial fisheries, due to the owners not wishing to replace their silver fish every few years. So what baits do you have in your tackle box or lure bag that could tempt the much less predatory Carp, Roach or Tench? Small spinners and spoons aren’t likely to do much other than foul hook a fish and we aren’t interested in that, small rubber shads on jigheads have a slight chance of catching but the real weapon in your arsenal is good old Isome Sandworm, preferably Maruyka or Power Isome, these not only drip with amino acids but also have a delicious fruity scent – perfect to tempt a sweet-toothed Coarse fish. The revolution of these baits in sea fishing has been massive and freshwater is no different, there are a multitude of ways to fish it and they need not be any different to how you fish at home. It’s well documented how greedily sea fish gobble up these bio-degradable lures but not so well known that Coarse species love them too.

A Nice Solid Carp Who Couldn’t Resist Pink Isome!

With LRF, quite often dropshotting is the go to tactic especially around harbour walls and other strong features. Dropshotting really keeps you in contact with your lure and helps you detect every bite, miniscule or huge. Using this tactic in the sea we can trick all the inhabitants that make tight spaces, right beneath your feet, their home.  Lakes and Ponds are not much different in the fact that (especially in the summer) you’re most likely to find fish right in the margins. Carp are renowned for this, if you are still and quiet you will see them with their broad tails nearly out of the water as they stir up the silt only inches from the bank, they have a clever habit of picking up the dropped bait that anglers accidentally drop when they are baiting their desired spot. So it doesn’t take a massive leap of imagination to see that, with a little patience and stealth, you can tempt these fish too.

Three words of warning before we start on Carp though, set your drag! I cannot stress enough how even the smallest carp can push your ultralight tackle to the limit. Imagine a Ballan Wrasse that has stamina and grows significantly larger. So be prepared for the fish to run, nobody wants snapped lines (or Rods!), lost tackle or a potentially dead fish. You don’t want it too loose, just enough for the reel to comfortably give line but provide some resistance to a hard fighting fish. I find that adjusting the drag mid-fight can also help land the bigger specimens should you hook one – loosen the drag as it gets nearer the bank just to save any unexpected last line-snapping lunges. Now you’re prepared to fight one lets talk about actually getting one on the line. I do not use any bigger than a size 12 hook for this kind of fishing and prefer a size 14, if you can get hold of the longer shanked Fly Tying Hooks even better, I find the hook-ups to be significantly better due to being able to thread your isome further along the hook, hindering any pesky little Rudd or Roach who just want to pull the worm off the hook without taking it fully. It’s not always easy tying a Palomar Knot on tiny hooks as they have very small eyes but it can be done with cleanly cut fluorocarbon no stronger than 6lb. After the hook is tied it is just a case of placing your weight (4-5 grams is perfect) around 3-5 inches below, this can obviously be adjusted higher or lower depending on where the fish are feeding, if they are hard on the bottom then even just a inch will do. It’s worth remembering though that carp use their fins to ‘kick’ up the silt below them, suspending their food items briefly in front of them then slurping them into their rubbery mouths, so a bait item a just off the bottom is quite a natural occurrence to them. What size isome to use is important too, I’ve had the best success using small to medium size as I believe this gives the most natural presentation as it twitches and moves in the water.

Carp Can Really Put Your LRF Tackle To The Limit!

If the fish are not showing in the margins and you wish to guarantee results (and lets be honest you’re on holiday so that’s a given), bring a tub of maggots or worms with you, feed up an area and lower your set-up into the water. Rudd & Roach are normally first to any bait and you will quite likely hook quite a few of these, at least until the bigger fish arrive. The Carp, Bream and Tench will normally push out the majority of the smaller fish and shouldn’t be shy taking your imitation. I don’t move the rod in a traditional ‘dropshotting’ manner, I keep it still and wait for the bites, all the commotion should make the lure move by itself, too lively and its likely to make the fish wary. When a Carp takes the lure it quite often feels the weight and bolts off, hooking itself and giving you a shock, other species like Bream & Tench are more gentle but hold on to your rod tight as its likely to fly!

A Lovely Double Fully Scaled Mirror, Caught On Dropshotted Isome

I obviously do not recommend this technique for waters where there are lots of large carp over 15lb or so, your LRF set up is only built to take so much and nobody wants to see their favourite rod damaged, but on a regular day ticket water or farmers pond it can be exhilarating sport and I can’t recommend it more. Try seeing how many species you can tempt and with different size isome. Be aware that some waters do not allow Imitation Baits, so far I have not had any issue with isome due to it being biodegradable and digestible.

Other ways to finesse fish these Commercial waters involve your typical light jigheads with either Isome or small rubber lures twitched along the lake bed, this is a fantastic way to land the big Eels that commonly frequent coarse fisheries, growing to surprisingly large sizes on a diet of a small fish and carp baits. Free-lining small isome can prove deadly too for wary carp or big Rudd as it falls naturally through the water. It really is about using your skill and imagination to make the most of different fishing conditions. If you fancy Trout for dinner then LRF techniques have been proven to be almost too successful at catching them, be careful not to end up with a massive bill at the end of the day with your bag of fish! Speaking of Trout it’s worth saying that Simpson Valley Fishery in Holsworthy, Devon allows catch and release Trout Fishing in the winter months using LRF, giving you a fantastic chance to boost your freshwater skills whilst playing some of the best fighting fish you can find.

One of the things all of us love about LRF tackle is it makes every fish, from the tiniest Goby to the largest Carp, so much more fun to catch. So on whether you’re on a Summer holiday or you just fancy giving it a shot, try ‘Fresh LRF’ and I’m sure you will be a true convert.

Best of luck and I’ll see you on the bank!

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Incredible weekend of fishing

For several months now, I have been struggling to find enough content to make the fishing reports interesting. Today I don’t know where to start. It feels like the sea fishing season has finally started. Well let’s start on the Chesil Beach and the first mention has to go to Max Bryden, who fished with his mate Rudie, at Abbotsbury. Rudie managed this nice Thornback.

But top marks have to go to Max for this stunning 4.5lb Plaice, that fell to a classic ragworm bait tipped with squid.

As I predicted on Friday, there was no shortage of Smoothounds. The one surprise was that a fair few  of them were caught down at the Ferrybridge end. Jase Sheath landed this one on Ragworm mounted on a Pulley Pennel. Just goes to prove you don’t need live Peeler, to catch them.

Those of you that know me, know the one fish that seems to elude me all the time is an Undulate Ray. Imagine my despair, when I was sent this picture of a stunning Undulate Ray caught by Graham Cook, on a Mackerel fillet during the day, on Chesil. When will it be my turn?

Switching to the boat, I had an email from  Matt Gant, who had been fishing for Turbot on his own boat, on the Shambles. Matt had a great day with 8 Turbot, but the highlight was this fish of a lifetime 22lb Turbot.

I had a major dilemma this weekend. With so much great fishing on offer and my wife wanting me to do at least a few of the hundred jobs I had promised to do over the past few months, I only had Sunday to play with. Was I to go and have another shot at the Bass, after last week’s great session, or should I go for my favourite summer species the Smoothound? I was torn, right up until I got a message from Luke Pettis saying he had a space on a wrecking trip on board Snapper.

We had a pretty slow start, as the May water was affecting the inshore wrecks, even as far out as 12 miles, but once we crossed our national territorial border, the water turned a deep blue. The fishing suddenly switched on and some better sized Pollock started to come aboard. We were not really expecting Pollock, as by this time of year, we would expect the Cod to have moved onto the wrecks. It didn’t take too long for them to start showing. I managed a nice low double, which put a big smile on my face.

What made me smile even more, was a new personal Best Pollock for me on the next drift.

Once again, it is a big thank you, to those that sent in reports and pictures of your fish. You are helping to continually improve the site. Talking of the site, we are really pleased to announce that after months of work, we have been accepted by Apple News as an official contributor to there news feed app. We join only a few other prestigious fishing websites in the world, that have been accepted by Apple. If you have an Apple device and the latest IOS you can simply type Fishing Tails in the news search bar and find us.

Chesil Beach: calm with lightly coloured water

Portland: calm with lightly coloured water.

Portland harbour: calm and clear water

Weymouth Bay: Calm with clear water

Chesil Beach forecast: It looks like another great week ahead on the beach. Once again, don’t expect Mackerel, but Rays, Smoothound and Plaice are all on the cards. Dogfish are around in large numbers, even during the day. The reduced visibility caused by the May water, means that they will feed confidently during the day. Try to avoid fish baits if they are on your mark, and make sure you have plenty of bait with you.

Portland: This is one of the marks I will be guiding on today. Target fish will be Pollock and Wrasse on lures. My friend and Pike enthusiast Nathan Edgell has been passing away the days until the opening day of the river fishing season, by targeting Wrasse on lures. He has been putting the new Fladen LRF tackle and their Verm worms through there paces.

Portland Harbour: There was a lot of anglers fishing in the Harbour over the weekend. It proved to be a good mark, with lots of Garfish, Pollock, Wrasse and Bass landed.

Weymouth Bay: Not so many Mullet visible in the harbour over the weekend, but I am sure that they are still in there. I know a lot of holiday makers took advantage of the great weather last week and spent many an hour on both the Stone Pier and Pleasure pier. They were not disappointed, as the piers fished well.Quite a few Garfish and Pollock were caught along with lots of Wrasse. I expect the same this week.

Guiding: The new guiding season is underway once again. Although we can’t keep any Bass at the moment, we can certainly catch them. I am hoping that the winter fishing ban and the new commercial quotas, combined with an increase in the minimum landing size, will make for some great Bass fishing. I specialize in lure fishing and I am offering Fly fishing this year as well. I am still more than happy to go after the multitude of species in this area with bait, whether that is big Wrasse, explosive Smoothound fishing or targeting the tastier fish such as Plaice and Bream. If you want to book a session or find out more information drop me an email at [email protected]

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Rockfall danger to anglers.

A number of large landslides have occurred this week in Dorset. These are a result of the dry, warm weather we have had recently.  As the soil drys out and constricts, thus further destabilises areas of cliff that are already close to collapsing. Great care should be taken when fishing any mark that is under cliffs, in particular the West side of Portland,  West Bay and Kimmeridge.

It really has ben a smooth week this week, and I am not talking about the weather, though that has not been bad in Dorset. The week has seen loads of good sized Smoothounds being caught throughout the South of England. As usual the largest have been caught in the Solent and the Bristol Channel. However many anglers fishing Chesil and Lyme Bay have been rewarded with personal best’s . This one was caught by Ryan White.

Rob Emery also managed a PB smoothound and a cracking 4lb plus Wrasse for the Cobb at Lyme Regis.

The beach is fishing well if you can get through the Spider Crabs. It seems the only bait that doesn’t get eaten in seconds is fresh Peeler Crab. The great bonus is that the Smoothounds and large Plaice home in on it pretty quickly.

Chesil Beach: calm with lightly coloured water

Portland: calm with lightly coloured water.

Portland harbour: calm and clear water

Weymouth Bay: Calm with clear water

Chesil Beach forecast: The latest reports suggest that the May water is starting to break down in the west. This means that Cogden, West Bexington and Abbotsbury will start to clear before Ferrybridge and Chesil Cove. This is unlikely to happen before mid next week, so the prospect for Mackerel this weekend is poor. However the same can not be said for Smoothound, Rays and Plaice. If you have live Peeler, your chance of getting a hard fighting Smoothound is high. Smoothound are one of the species that does not need a massive cast to catch. They will home in on a Peeler Crab that is only 50m from the shore.

Portland: If you are looking for a session where you are guaranteed of catching fish, then head to Portland and have a go at some Wrasse fishing. Be prepared to lose tackle and have some great sport. Wrasse can be caught on float fished Ragworm, which is the best way of avoiding tackle loss.

Portland Harbour: There was a lot of anglers fishing in the Harbour over the weekend. It proved to be a good mark, with lots of Garfish, Pollock, Wrasse and Bass landed.

Weymouth Bay: I normally point out that the piers at Weymouth will provide good sport and if you are after a fishing fix, they are an almost guaranteed mark to catch fish. The normal species you get are Wrasse, Pollock, Pout, Mackerel and Garfish. It is not only the usual species you get. Every year the piers throw up unusual species, such as John Dory and in the case of last year, a lump sucker. This year it seems is no different. Seven year old Tamika Attwood, has managed to catch a fish that is on many an experienced anglers hit list, a Topknot. This species is far from common and is unusual in the flat flat fish world. It is the only flat fish that lives in rocky and broken ground. It can cling to pier legs and even hang upside down. Well done Tamika, I think I might have to have another trip down to the pier.

Guiding: The new guiding season is underway once again. Although we can’t keep any Bass at the moment, we can certainly catch them. I am hoping that the winter fishing ban and the new commercial quotas, combined with an increase in the minimum landing size, will make for some great Bass fishing. I specialize in lure fishing and I am offering Fly fishing this year as well. I am still more than happy to go after the multitude of species in this area with bait, whether that is big Wrasse, explosive Smoothound fishing or targeting the tastier fish such as Plaice and Bream. If you want to book a session or find out more information drop me an email at [email protected]

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If you want to find out more info about sea fishing reels, check out www.myseareels.com