As you may have seen in my previous few blogs I had some decent results with perch to 2lb+ & pike to 8lb. Now these sizes were not spectacular but when you know a few 4lb perch came out over the winter I'm sure I would have had bigger stamp if I had dedicated more time. Anyway that's a story I'll pick up on in the autumn......
My canal fishing buddy Paul had been mentioning a couple of trips (with a LRF expert, young John Wheeler) he had back last summer after the mini species.
Now my light perch gear would be spot on for this kind of fishing & as a sea fishing novice I really fancied a change of location. So with the river fishing halted due to the closed season, now it's mid March & it's a perfect way of getting my fishing fix.
After a typically very early start & a 2 hour drive we arrived early at our chosen pier
While we waited for the gates to open Paul & I talked through the terminal tackle of the day.
Very fine braided mainline (6 to10lb) & 6lb flourocarbon leader with a shirasu 2g jig head with the now famous, Isome worm from Ecogear threaded on the business end.
Weather was lovely & sunny combined with a flat calm sea with a chilly breeze, Mother Nature just letting us know it's not quite summer yet, good for fisherman but will it been good for the fishing ??
Our excitement quickly disappeared as we found the pier end lower deck was closed.
A quick chat with the guy that opened the gates & it was clear that this part of the pier had been closed over the winter months. But luckily he decided today was the day to open it up with spring just around the corner.
First drop down & Paul was in, just as his jig hit bottom. After a short darting fight he lifted up a lovely little Pollock.
A pleasing start & thoughts of catching hundreds were short lived as we tried various spots without a twitch for the next hour. As we tried every colour in the isome range, Paul finally had another tweak, followed by a better bite that resulted in a crazy looking scorpion fish.
Then Paul really got into the groove with three more different types of Goby.
Just as I started to think is wasn't my day, I had a small tug... that transmitted perfectly down the zero stretch braid, resulted in my first ever scorpion fish.
I don't know if that fish raised my confidence in the way I was fishing but within 30 minutes I had hooked into something altogether different.
A savage take & the clutch started zip-zip-zipping away, as he was burrowing for safety. A fast change of direction nearly caught me out again but he was soon safely in my hands.
As I sat back grinning from ear to ear I thought "I get this LRF thing now, a fish less then a pound fighting like a super fit 2lb+ chub".
Amazing power & strength for its size & I dread to think what a 5lber goes like. Safe to say I could be addicted.
Surprisingly next chuck in the same place & I'm in again with another wrasse.
Over the next three hours, either side of high tide the fish came in sporadic bouts, with plenty of Gobies & Scorpions for both of us & all on the isome colour of the day, brown !
As we started to discuss what kind of time we wanted to leave..... Paul had a sharp tap on the rod tip, he struck & the fish reacted well as he zoomed off with the clutch doing its work nicely & had him under control. Three or four lunging bursts later & Paul swung a cracking baby pollock into his gleeful hands.
With a new found energy after Paul's pollock we both gave our all for an extra hour. But with a long drive home & wanting to dodge the rush hour traffic we decided to call it a day with half a dozen or more fish each. I had a feeling that as the water warmed up in a few months this place could be prolific & I will be back soon.
Big shout out to Paul for showing me the tricks of the trade so to speak & also taking some of the great pics above, cheers mate, till the next time 🎣
