Hello, well this is just a quickie for the other day, 31-5-12 Had a little time off, so went to Knightstone (again!) for a few hours. The tide was around 11 meters, and high was about 1600. Just using lug, usual clip down two hook rig.
As my previous trip at The Ladder, crabs taking the bait within 10-15 minutes of casting out. A real pain in the arse. Didn,t take an alternative bait, but bloody will next time!
There was only one occasion I saw what may have been a bite, so now that is two outings in a row that were fishless, and nearly bite-less! Must give this some thought and a bit better planning. Incidentally, nobody else fishing that I could see around me, so perhaps they know something I don,t. Hmm.....
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Friday, May 11, 2012
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Marks
Or, places to fish. I will add to these as I go along.
The `Ladder`.
Off of the Toll Road in WSM, a hunk of rock, not too big, with easy access from the main road. Almost sheer drop off of two sides, ladder on the other. Hence.....
Good acces down the ladder to the water too, before it comes in far enough to fish from above. Little danger of being cut off by the tide, but plenty danger of tripping and falling off the rock!
Sand Point.
I had a wander around here earlier this week, just to check out possible spots from what I have heard and read about. North of WSM and Sandbay, it is quite a walk from the small NT car park, and mostly very steep and rocky (read dangerous, again) But I wanted to find one little area in particular that was supposed to be a bit easier going (picture below), which has an easy retreat as the tide comes in.
It has possibilities for sure, but I would be happier if someone was with me. A bit remote here, and personal safety has to be considered I think. If I understand correctly, this can be fished at any state of the tide. This is very appealing to me as just getting 5-6 hours at a time where I have been going is a real chore, and aften the high tide has been at an awkward hour and I have been waiting days for it to come around again. So, good news!
More picures from around Sand Point here http://s833.photobucket.com/albums/zz253/ServoBasher/Sand%20Point/
The `Ladder`.
Off of the Toll Road in WSM, a hunk of rock, not too big, with easy access from the main road. Almost sheer drop off of two sides, ladder on the other. Hence.....
Good acces down the ladder to the water too, before it comes in far enough to fish from above. Little danger of being cut off by the tide, but plenty danger of tripping and falling off the rock!
Sand Point.
I had a wander around here earlier this week, just to check out possible spots from what I have heard and read about. North of WSM and Sandbay, it is quite a walk from the small NT car park, and mostly very steep and rocky (read dangerous, again) But I wanted to find one little area in particular that was supposed to be a bit easier going (picture below), which has an easy retreat as the tide comes in.
It has possibilities for sure, but I would be happier if someone was with me. A bit remote here, and personal safety has to be considered I think. If I understand correctly, this can be fished at any state of the tide. This is very appealing to me as just getting 5-6 hours at a time where I have been going is a real chore, and aften the high tide has been at an awkward hour and I have been waiting days for it to come around again. So, good news!
More picures from around Sand Point here http://s833.photobucket.com/albums/zz253/ServoBasher/Sand%20Point/
Tripod
Well, up to this point believe it or not, I have only been fishing in the one spot, at Knightsone in WSM.
There are a few reasons for this. Familiarity. I used to do a bit round here as a kid. Easy. No mud/water/shite to stand in, and as you can see from the above picture, pretty simple set up.
Now I have decided to get a little more adventurous I will not be able to always rely on a set of handy railings to lean my rod on, as I will be trying other spots. It may be the time of year (probably) the weather or something else, but all I am getting is small stuff. At least by trying other things such as a change of venue or different bait I may see better (or worse!) results.
Most of the places I intend to try next find a tripod neccessary, and so after a little thought and research I got this one today
Not the cheapest or most expensive, but at thirty quid actually the single most expensive thing I have bought for sea fishing so far. (remember, I am on a tight budget) It importantly has telescopic legs, so uneven rock surfaces are no problem. Going to try it out on Thursday. Great.
There are a few reasons for this. Familiarity. I used to do a bit round here as a kid. Easy. No mud/water/shite to stand in, and as you can see from the above picture, pretty simple set up.
Now I have decided to get a little more adventurous I will not be able to always rely on a set of handy railings to lean my rod on, as I will be trying other spots. It may be the time of year (probably) the weather or something else, but all I am getting is small stuff. At least by trying other things such as a change of venue or different bait I may see better (or worse!) results.
Most of the places I intend to try next find a tripod neccessary, and so after a little thought and research I got this one today
Not the cheapest or most expensive, but at thirty quid actually the single most expensive thing I have bought for sea fishing so far. (remember, I am on a tight budget) It importantly has telescopic legs, so uneven rock surfaces are no problem. Going to try it out on Thursday. Great.
Line
Thinking about it, my main line is some non-descript stuff that came already loaded on the quite cheap reel I have. I did guess that it was probably 18-20 b/s, and after some consideration have got some new stuff. Middle priced and recommended on a few websites by some people, I will try it out.
Being a fixed spool reel, it took a lot of line to fill up, after I had removed the definately suspect original stuff. I could have left a load of the old line on, as a backing I supose. Still, there is 750m on this spool! So it,s not like I will run out at all.
Being a fixed spool reel, it took a lot of line to fill up, after I had removed the definately suspect original stuff. I could have left a load of the old line on, as a backing I supose. Still, there is 750m on this spool! So it,s not like I will run out at all.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Beach Rigs.
Well, I have been out a fair few times now and used mainly shop-bought rigs.
Having tried the obvious and common ones for shore work, I thought it time to make some of my own and perhaps find which ones work best for me in given circumstances and conditions.
From what I have learned so far, a two hook set up is easy enough for me to handle/cast, and obviously doubles the chances of catching that a single hook does. I was using a three hook flapper sometimes but how I had it was not casting too great. Clipped down rigs (when you get them right) cast much better.
It is apparent to me that as with most types of fishing, bait presentation is of the top most importance, and casting as I have to, quite hard and longish, into the sea my bait was suffering with the forces involved in flying through the air and hitting the water hard. Nothing very scientific, and very common practice, but I will only use `clipped-down` rigs as far as possible now.
I did use another type of clip at first, but the hook lengths seemed to stretch and didn,t work for long. So I am now sold on the Gemini Imps.
So far, and as others have reported, these have not let me down and work really well. Like this.......
Obviously, in the above picture the rod tip is off to the right and the lead to the left. At the moment I am only using the Imp on the upper of two hooks and an Impact shield for the hook nearest the lead. I suppose there is no reason why another, say third and upper hook, could not be set up the same. I will try that out later on.
The Impact shield then. Same sort of principal, uses water hitting or pushing it to release the otherwise `clipped down` hook. So aiding casting distance and keeping the bait in better condition, not bashed around and hanging off the hook or up the line.
The black plastic `shield` moves up the line on impact (to the right) hits the stop bead and pops the hook off. This is situated at the bottom of the rig, near the lead. Works pretty well. I did try using one further up the line, but it did not always work for some reason.
Another change. From just a little experience the type of hook makes a difference also. You can just see it in the picture above, a small barb on the hook shank. One of a variety of pattern called baitholders or wormholders. Not that I have used many types, but these are my current ones.
Size 2/0 fine(ish) wire bait holders seem to work for me. They hold one big/two small lug just right.
So, from limited experience and taking catch rates into account my favourite set up goes like this...
18lb main line, fixed spool reel. 60lb shockleader, about twenty feet of it (more on that later) Breakaway lead of 150 grammes or just over 5oz, Impact shield holding down the bottom hook, Imp holding down the top hook. The rig body is made of the same shockleader line 60lb Greased Weasel. The G-Point hooks of the above selection seem great.
Another alteration I have made is to hook lengths. I was getting a few fish that were a little deep hooked, which bothered me. So now I have shortened my hook lengths to around a foot and the problem has just about gone away. Also, now using rig winders for all of my home made kit.
All things considered I feel I am making progress. Last time out, six fish (the first of which after just five minutes!) eight the time before, four the trip prior to that. I am now looking for other spots to try and will experiment with bait more. I just need a few fish a bit bigger than I am getting!
Having tried the obvious and common ones for shore work, I thought it time to make some of my own and perhaps find which ones work best for me in given circumstances and conditions.
From what I have learned so far, a two hook set up is easy enough for me to handle/cast, and obviously doubles the chances of catching that a single hook does. I was using a three hook flapper sometimes but how I had it was not casting too great. Clipped down rigs (when you get them right) cast much better.
It is apparent to me that as with most types of fishing, bait presentation is of the top most importance, and casting as I have to, quite hard and longish, into the sea my bait was suffering with the forces involved in flying through the air and hitting the water hard. Nothing very scientific, and very common practice, but I will only use `clipped-down` rigs as far as possible now.
I did use another type of clip at first, but the hook lengths seemed to stretch and didn,t work for long. So I am now sold on the Gemini Imps.
So far, and as others have reported, these have not let me down and work really well. Like this.......
Obviously, in the above picture the rod tip is off to the right and the lead to the left. At the moment I am only using the Imp on the upper of two hooks and an Impact shield for the hook nearest the lead. I suppose there is no reason why another, say third and upper hook, could not be set up the same. I will try that out later on.
The Impact shield then. Same sort of principal, uses water hitting or pushing it to release the otherwise `clipped down` hook. So aiding casting distance and keeping the bait in better condition, not bashed around and hanging off the hook or up the line.
Another change. From just a little experience the type of hook makes a difference also. You can just see it in the picture above, a small barb on the hook shank. One of a variety of pattern called baitholders or wormholders. Not that I have used many types, but these are my current ones.
Size 2/0 fine(ish) wire bait holders seem to work for me. They hold one big/two small lug just right.
So, from limited experience and taking catch rates into account my favourite set up goes like this...
18lb main line, fixed spool reel. 60lb shockleader, about twenty feet of it (more on that later) Breakaway lead of 150 grammes or just over 5oz, Impact shield holding down the bottom hook, Imp holding down the top hook. The rig body is made of the same shockleader line 60lb Greased Weasel. The G-Point hooks of the above selection seem great.
Another alteration I have made is to hook lengths. I was getting a few fish that were a little deep hooked, which bothered me. So now I have shortened my hook lengths to around a foot and the problem has just about gone away. Also, now using rig winders for all of my home made kit.
All things considered I feel I am making progress. Last time out, six fish (the first of which after just five minutes!) eight the time before, four the trip prior to that. I am now looking for other spots to try and will experiment with bait more. I just need a few fish a bit bigger than I am getting!
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