How lite can you go?

I seem to have blown up a storm over in the World Sea Fishing Forum where the local inhabitants have got very excited (and a tad too personal) about a Blog of mine that is posted there. (Find it here http://www.worldseafishing.com/columns/tim-harrison/). I chose to call the piece 'Bass don't fight', knowing as I did so a title such as that would challenge entrenched preconceptions and stimulate grey matter. I believe that it is right that those of us that write about lure casting for sea bass do so in a manner that challenges convention and promotes discussion. After all, discussion stimulates ideas and by using ideas we anglers all better what we do.

I am now firmly of the view that it is better to fish lite for bass. And that equals using lightweight rods and lightweight lines. Braid technology is advancing quickly with some of the new on the market (and often Japanese) 8 weave lines having an incredible strength to diameter ratio. These materials are strong and when teamed with the right rod more than able to handle any bass that still swims. Five years ago I was using 20lb bs Powerpro. I am now spooling some of my main reels with 15lb and the HRF stuff with 10lb. Remember though that I don't use leaders and as such feel totally confident in lite line running through to the lure (as above picture shows).

The argument for fishing heavier than this is that you might get broken by a big bass. Truth be told I can not remember being broken by a bass? Must have happened I guess but it does not stick in my memory, so its so infrequent as not to be an issue at all. As I am boat fishing, bass don't seem to fight mean, they don't run for cover and the only time I am ever fearful of a lost fish is if one is taken across a barnacled reef. Then cut off's do occur but no matter how strong your line, it will always shear when taking on barnacles.

Lite line casts better, cuts through the water better, produces better feel and allows for more skill full fishing - thereby more chance of a bass hook up.

So I stand my ground. Those of the closed and blinkered minds that are unable see the advantages, I implore you; please stick to your firmly held views and beliefs and keep doing what you are doing. You are quite correct you will catch plenty of bass: But my clients and I will catch more.

What a load of Scallops

Living close to the sea or rather next to the sea, practically in the sea and for all of the summer on the sea; one of the things we are never short of is fresh seafood. You will know that I put both lobster and prawn traps out, you will understand that we are well blessed with fish to eat and you will recognise that a healthy network into the local commercial fishermen brings foody rewards. Our only problem is one of time because in mid summer after 12 hours at sea I simply can't face gutting, preping and cooking more fish.

At this time of year things are very different and with a office full of to do's its a welcome relief to go hunting and then spend time preparing, fresh sea food. My latest great get was this batch of 30 odd scallops. I'm indebted to local fishermen Len for these splendid shells. He was kind enough to keep some from a fresh batch ready to go off to market that day and then charge me a very fair price. I was salivating as I collected them, more worked up still as I journeyed home, listening to the beasties flapping in the back.

There is only one way to treat live scallops and that is to sashimi them. The Japanese consume more sea food per head of population than any other country in the world. And the vast majority of the fish they eat is eaten sashimi...So many Japanese can not be wrong and they are not.

I am told that it takes as long to train as a sashimi chef in the Japan as it does to train to be a doctor here. Boy do they take their raw fish seriously! I can't possibly compete with such skills, so for me its dive in, shuck the scallops out and go for it. Shucking out scallops is not all that difficult, doing it well and without waste takes practice. I'm ok at it and what I do leave behind on the shell I scrape off with a spoon to pan fry. Once a scallop muscle is in your hand wash it well before drying it in a piece of kitchen paper. Then with a samurai sharp blade hold the meat on its side and slice it at least three times. Suddenly you now have three thinnish rounds of scallop. If you are lucky the muscle will still perceptively shimmer.

Waste no time now. Grap the rounds with chop sticks (well you have to be authentic), dip in slightly vinegared soy. I like Kikkoman's sashimi soy, dab with the best wasabi you can find, lob a round into your mouth and enter food heaven.

I can honestly say this is one of my top foody things to eat. Sashimi scallop and sashimi tuna would be both be in my top 10. Correction top 5, yes they are that good.

Timely reminder

Very recently I spotted a press release from CEFAS (the Governments fisheries research wing) about a new tagging program that has been initiated in a effort to better understand sea bass populations. You may have spotted that I posted their flier on my Facebook page and if you haven't already done so you can check that out here.

Blessed with or should I more properly say; trained with all the relevant skills to undertake fish tagging I once seriously considered doing some small scale tagging aboard 3 Fishes. It is easy enough to import Floy Tags (a firm in Australia supplies them through an online portal) and Floy Tags are easy enough to use on bass. Their signature dorsal fin provides the perfect base in which to lodge the T of the tag. If you have never seen one close up they are very like the annoying bits of plastic that clothing retailers seem intent on using to add pricing labels to garments. And better still bass are very obliging when it comes to the tagging process as, if you lie them upside down (on their backs), they will become motionless as if in a trance. Other fish do this too but bass are particularly receptive to being still on their backs. So there is no need for anaesthetic which is good news as in order to use some a whole tranche of bureaucratic hoops must be jumped through.

So getting the tags is easy and not very costly, doing the tagging is easy and getting the bass is not all that difficult either - lets face it I make a living taking people fishing for them so if I haven't got a ready supply of the things then I have no business.

Why in hell have I not done it then? Well for two prime reasons. Firstly although bass tagging is easy it does demand attention if it is to be done well and without harm to the fish. I have a myriad of other things demanding my attention at the moment a bass comes aboard, primarily 3 Fishes and take you mind off her for a few seconds and you are asking for trouble. And secondly, just imagine for a moment getting a customer a nice six pounder, tagging it and releasing it (all fish over 55cm are released aboard 3 Fishes anyway). Job done you might think. True it is until a few days later when someone hands me the very same tag pulled out of the very same fish that they had caught and killed. Now that is going to hurt.

Call me overly emotional but I want to believe that the fish I release head off to survive, thrive and recreate. I certainly don't want to know that someone killed it.