Gone to the dogs

Well I haven't quite got there yet - there's life in the old dog yet. But as they say in the movies when the going gets tough the tough get going....so faced with terrible bass fishing conditions yesterday we went after the dogs or small sharks to be precise.

The first trip of season 2014 could not have been better, the sun came out (weakly), the sea was calm (ish) and the fish bit! Tactic was to anchor in a strong tide on the edge of some rough ground just to see what was patrolling the margins. I thought whiting, what we got was way better than that.

A pack of big spur dogs were at home and what fun they proved to be; big heavy females - one weighed out at 11.5lb and hard fighters too. Both Mark and Kate had a real battle trying to get them aboard and out came the landing net. It is always nice to wet a net!

These fish are great eating but we put them back. It just seemed too much to kill in pup dogs. There will be more swimming for another time. A double hooked trace with one bait hard on the bottom and the other on a boom 50cm up and big chunks of ammo squid were the bait. I would have loved to put a live whiting down but one never came up...

The water is warm, much warmer than this time last year. Reaching 9.2 C on my sounder...hmm,. nice. This is going to be a good season!

Season 2014 is here!

If it is going to be the first time fishing with us this summer, where an earth have you been? If you are a regular then it will be great to see you again!

Shhaarrkk

Lucky me or perhaps lucky you. Why lucky me? Well, I get to go shopping for fishing tackle for my job - or a least a small part of my job! Why lucky you? Well, you get to use the kit I go shopping for! And let me introduce 3 Fishes Porbeagle shark fishing kit.

Before I get into the detail I should start by pointing out that all the kit I carry aboard 3 Fishes is nice stuff. The thing is I'm a fussy sod. My lovely wife Corrine rightly moans at me for being so but I can't help but like things right. I'm as happy eating fish & chips as I am Sashimi but they both just have to be good. And so my kit (or at least 3 Fishes kit - as I see it as her's) is good. I've been on charter boats that hand over old tired tackle of mixed vintage and heritage and my heart has always sunk. Even before I have left the harbour I know what is coming and that it is unlikely to be great! I recall one time being in Thailand having at great expense (c.£700.00 worth of expense) chartered a trolling trip for sail fish and tuna. I'd not seen the boat beforehand and as we walked down the pier I could already tell how the day would go.. well even at that late stage one still hopes! Two hours of diesel fume filled chugging later we arrived in open ocean and out comes the kit. Well the only positive thing I can find to say about the kit is that it may once upon a time have been Penn. Rusty, broken rings, replace reel handle, worn line, rusty hooks... ouch. We did see a couple of sail fish. We caught one suicidal 3lb barra and sun stroke!

3 Fishes shark kit is a lovely 6'6'' Okuma cortez rod at 30 50lb, paired with a Shimano TLD 25 lever drag reel which is to be loaded with 60lb nylon. This brand new shiny kit will give us the edge when we hook up. And I'm certain we will hook up because Cardigan Bay is a porbie hot spot and no one is chasing them. We'll hear more than one yell of sshhaarrkkk this summer and I can't wait!

'Bass on'

Getting a 'bass on' is a lovely feeling. That first micro second when the take comes and you realise that you have a 'bass on' is a heart stopping moment. It is why we fishermen and women fish. I had this discussion with a very famous (now retired to somewhere a hell of a lot warmer) TV angler once. What was the single most exciting part of fishing and he concluded after much thought that it was the take. And I agree with him totally.

It matters not whether you are a quiver tip man on a bream filled gravel pit, or a tench man studiously watching a float as it sits motionless next to a lily pad, or the pike guy riveted to the sight of his bung swimming gently to the tune of a live roach, or the beach guys studying a rod tip 13 ft in the air for the vibrations caused by a six inch dab. No its the bite or take that is the drug. Its the point at which the fish takes, the quiver quivers, the float dips and the bite comes that our hearts bang, our adrenalin surges and our dreams come true.

When bass lure casting the ultimate thrill is to bring a wild and wily bass to the surface to Muller our top water bait. That way we get to see, hear and feel the take. When fishing the shallow runner its all about the slam, the hit, the rod wrenching hit when you know its on - next question how big is it? Is it the 10? So shallow runners are about feeling the thud of the take, soft plastics are about feel as well but the feeling is totally different. A take to a soft plastic is subtler, cleverer even and perhaps more thrilling because of it. What generally happens, although this is fishing and therefore there are always exceptions, is that the line goes gently tight almost as if you have pulled into a snag. Most of the time though its a fish swimming away with your softy. This has the massive advantage of making the actual pulling into a snag fun and exciting as it could be a bass!

But its on the top surface lure fishing where the real fun lies. Simple really because when fishing below you can only feel the take. Up top you see, hear and feel the take and that makes the whole experience triply more exciting!

Rapper

Rapala's X-RAP is a clever little lure. Well if the definition of clever is catching bass then it is an Albert Einstein of the bass lure world. It has only two weaknesses; firstly it is quite light and can be a trouble to cast into a breeze and  secondly it swims at around three metres. Both of these critical factors never made it a star choice for me when I was working the shore. I was often fishing significantly less water than three metres and nearly always are you casting into or at least, across a breeze.

However from a boat this little 10cm lure is a rap king. It loves to be trolled if trolling is your thing, its not mine nowadays as I prefer the activity of the cast but if trolling is your thing then get one. Indeed a trio of a J11 (or J13), a sliver and an x-rap is an all you need trolling kit - it seems that Rapala dominates the trolling scene. 

The xrap is best being cast and retrieved and its a bumble bee of a lure on the retrieve. Its buzzes back with an action that I have never seen on any other lure; it is tight in its wobble, fast and buzzing, creating noise and disturbance. Bass must feel this thing coming from metres away and that may be a big part of its success. But colour is key as well; so the fish obviously like what they see as well as hear. I like the one that has a mackerel livery and I like the spotted minnow and all the rage at the moment is the Ayu as seen above. Its the wanted one and a really tough find on the internet. I was lucky enough to get my hands on two recently and I can't wait to swim them. Size 10cm is the one - the bigger one simply doesn't fish; or never did for me anyway.

There is two simple ways of working this baby: - 1. Fake and burn it. Make it buzz back then stop it dead and then start again. Remember my golden rule though never stop any hard lure for longer than it takes to say the words 'stop and start again'. 2. Steady retrieve then short sharp rod tap to accelerate the little fellow for 6 to 8 inches (its a critical distance in many ways). Short and sharp... the thing is with bass if they are following a shallow runner back (and they like to do this) then you need to provoke the hit. All the provocation they need is a simple tap of the rod tip, this induces a dramatic increase of speed on the lure, the bass thinks hello its getting away and bang....................

No flies on me

Truth be told I'm covered in them; well at least there is around 100 bass flies aboard 3 Fishes. From poppers to clousers and deceivers to shrimps they are there awaiting a salty swim. The wet one in the mouth of the bass in picture above is of the Belgium fly maestro Guido Vink who fished with me a couple of years back. My god could that guy throw a fly; mind you I shouldn't have been surprised as I believe he was right at the top of his game and represented Belgium across the world.

A few years ago I did a hell of a lot of fly casting for bass but now I do less. Over time I have found that the severe limitations of casting a fly at sea on a boat make the game almost too difficult. When I say this I must caveat it by also stating that fly casting for bass remains extremely effective on its day. Give more shore based opportunity I'd probably have continued but boats are tough.

This comes as a surprise to many of my clients as those that enjoy the fly often start the day believing that they are more than capable of getting a fly out there swimming. Indeed they are normally. However a pitching, yawing and rolling boat on the open sea  is a very different platform - even to the closest inland example of the expanse of Rutland Water (been there, done that). The sea moves in a different way and this movement is less predictable and therefore more difficult to balance on when standing. And you have to stand at sea because those clever boys at the Maritime Coast Guard Agency make it a legal requirement that boat railings (for passenger carrying boats) are over 1m above deck level. You simply can not sit and cast over a 1m railing. In one or two localities the MCA allows County Council Officers to authorise boats for passengers and a watered down set of legislation is applied. So there is a couple of guy offering trips aboard tiny boats with no railings and sitting and casting is there a possibility. Even there though life is never simple and you have to wear a bulky lifejacket the entire time aboard. Not on the spacious and safe 3 Fishes though.

So the physical activity is challenging but as I said earlier, it can be very worthwhile; especially if you have found some bass. The movement of a bass fly through the water is more natural and the fish seem easier fooled. This is something that I will at times exploit when lure casting by rigging a teaser about 3/4m above a hard lure can be bloody successful. And these two reasons are why I have flies aboard  3 Fishes. Teasers and when I'm on them (and have a fly caster aboard); out comes the fly gear.