paulthefish

Pugs you have PM Paul

Hi Pugs methinks you are getting in a bit deep on the technical side 1. Don't worry about it, if you really want to calculate it it is 3.14x spool dia x 4.5 per turn of the handle. Point is though a bass is more than capable of swimming much faster than you can ever retrieve. 2. Current direction can be all over the place it depends on local factors but tide direction is marked on your local chart for different states of the tide. 3. Again it depends on your mark but try both especially if you are wading as it's not uncommon to have fish behind you! Generally though I find casting at an angle more productive than straight out. 4. Tidal currents never flow directly away or towards the beach. 5. Again marked on your chart, but as a general rule a normal walking pace is about 4 knots. 6. If there's food coming down the river they won't go far away, indeed may not even leave the river, big bass are often caught beyond the tidal stretch on livebaits intended for pike. Otherwise look for any patches of rocks Hope the above is of use Paul

Thanks Jaffa if I come across anything useful I'll post a link cheers Paul

Hi Pugs, I fish predominantly arounrd the harbour entrances of the solent but have fished the estuaries of southern Ireland so have some experience of the type of mark. Don't take the following as gospel as I've found the thing is to experiment as every mark has it's own foibles, but this is my experience for what it's worth. 1. Depends on the current speed, above about 2 knots bait fish do not tend to hold position so retrieving at any speed directly against the current is not natural but across the current is fine and my experienc is that a plug retrieved across the current is often taken as it turns into the current in the last 5 yds or so of the retrieve. I would say its definately worth fishing as the tide floods but often flat low water in estuaries is a 'dead' time. My technique would be to find a likely holding spot and fish until you start getting takes then follow the flood upriver casting both up and down stream. 2.Essentially the same thing as 1. retrieving against the tide doesn't look natural. Across or with the tide is ok. Lets face it though unless you fish from a boat,bridge or pier you will almost always be casting across the current whether you cast up or down river. 3. If you fish as the tide floods the natural flow lessens then reverses which gives you the chance of trying all options. 4. Applies to all, including natural baits. 5. Look for banks.rocks,bends,piers etc, anything that disrupts the smooth flow of the river and look out for the baitfish cos that's where the bass will be, if the water is too coloured for you to see the baitfish the terns will find them for you and a few hours watching where the terns feed at different states of the tide is never wasted. As the water will be more coloured than the open sea try brighter coloured lures than you would normally use and fish lures with rattles. Finally and most importantly remember that all of the above is general info only and sometimes doing something different can really make the difference. One of my best lure caught fish can on a rapala retrieved at speed against at least a 3 knot current after a tangled cast! hope this is of some use Paul

Hi Jaffa, yes a list of useful links would be great, save me having to sort through all the dross. Must admit I'm not sold on the idea yet, I can anchor the canadian as you can move around inside the canoe and I haven't seen an anchor rig for a yak yet. Is it possible? Paul

Hi Jaffa Wecome to AN, I fish from a canadian canoe occasionally but I must admit I'm thinking about converting to a Yak after Yakety waxing lyrical about them. Do please share your opinions with us as it makes for interesting threads, just don't ram them down our throats Paul

Though there are several different species of sturgeon, all with slightly different feeding habits. They are nearly all bottom feeders taking shellfish and worms in the wild. Where they are fished for with rod and line, fish baits are the norm. Think of them as a bit like Thornbacks, which are mainly shellfish eaters but don't turn there nose up at a chunk of mackerel, when they don't have to catch it!

It's not only bass that matter, we all know that but I believe that it's the fish that we stand the best chance of protecting because: 1. It is relatively unimportant commercially 2. We really only need to protect the spawning stock, during a relatively short period of the year. 3. It is a fish that a lot of anglers do pursue and spend money to do so. 4. In pair trawling for Bass, Dolphins are a by-catch and we all know how the general public feel about them. The point is if we can get protection or sportfish status for bass then the precedent is set and more species can follow.

Must agree with Chippy re the sandeels and the tackle, if you've got any freshwater gear try a floatrod or a fly even, small orange and white flies work well. Believe me a gar on a light floatrod is the closest you'll get to marlin fishing in this country, they spend 50% of the time leaping about all over the place.

Years ago there used to be an old boy who used to fish with golfball sized pieces of cheese on about a 2/0 treble from Southparade pier in Southsea. What did he catch?................Bass and reasonable sized ones at that, he reckoned that was all he ever caught on it. Never tried it myself, but now you've reminded me....................

Hi Kieran, I also fish in on the Waterford side, but using the spoon I have had fish on the flood as well, though the ebb outfishes it 2-1. Regarding the coloured water, if the Blackwater is in flood and very coloured it does cut down on catches considerably, a white spoon gets slightly better results in coloured water. The spoon also works on the Youghal side, (though I know what you mean about the spectators), and up the river at least as far as the old abbey on the Ballynatray estate. Have a good holiday, and don't forget the wire traces! Paul Mills

Yes Jim, we obviously fish the same marks. My comments about not going against the tide were specifically with regard to a spinning type spoon where I have many times seen 1,2 or 3 flounders following a spoon with the tide and as soon as it swings below you and turns into the tide they lose interest and swim away. Bear in mind I am talking here about a fast enough retrieve to keep the spoon off the bottom, I have fished the spoon for the best part of 30 years now and have never had a flounder take against the tide unless there is no appreciable flow (although bass will). You don't have to retrieve exactly with the current I normally cast uptide at 30-45 degrees and then retrieve with the current and across it. Twitching a bait across the sea bed is a different matter altogether, the fish see a puff of mud/sand and come over to investigate but by then the bait is static again and they don't have to chase it. One thing I think we can agree on is that a bit of movement is always a good thing where flounders are concerned. BTW Kieran the spinning flounder spoon is deadly at Youghal, retrieved acoss and with the current I've had several catches of 20+ fish in a tide..............Wonderful spot. Though I've never had a fish take there against the current either so it seems your fish are just as lazy as ours.

Some observations from the solent ( home of the baited spoon) There are 2 different types of spoon used down here, the fluttering, attached at both ends type and the spinning blade type (similar to a large mepps). The fluttering type can be fished almost static if there's a reasonable run of tide but catch more fish if allowed to swing round on the current with a suitably small lead. The spinning type needs to be retrieved or trolled at a slowish speed so that it slowly 'ticks over' just above the bottom and must be retrieved with the current as flounders will almost never follow a bait against the tide. The best way to fish these if you haven't got access to a rowing boat is to use a spinning rod and fish into channels as the tide is making, you don't need a lead as plenty of flounders can be covered with a 10yd cast. If you're really interested try and get hold of 'Sea Angling with the baited spoon' by John Garrad published by Herbert Jenkins in 1960, it's very difficult to find now but one of the finest fishing books I've ever read. best of luck

Yet another, which even has some in Scotland ! http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/Maps/United_Kingdom.shtml

Hi Pugs welcome to AN. don't know much about the area so my advise would be, get an admiralty chart and read anything you can get your hands on by the late, great John Darling, he did most of his fishing in the area so his advice would be relevant. best of luck Paul

Hi Nobby, don't know if these things are stiil available but there used to be a gadget called a 'Bait Safe' which was basically a plastic, coffin shaped, box with lead moulded into the nose. The side of the box opened up and you put your carefully prepared bait inside, replaced the lid and when the box hit the surface after your cast, water entered the box through a hole in the nose and forced the door off and the bait out. They worked a treat, cast ok and gave you perfect presentation of even the most delicate baits every time. Haven't seen them around for a few years but if you could find some I'm sure they would give you the result you're after.

Hi Nobby, Abu Terminator (single not jointed), Rapala J11 and J13 (with rattles added) Duel Magnet slider and Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow. Also worth trying a surface popper like the Chug Bug if you're fishing fairly shallow marks or the bass look for food near the surface where you fish. Try to 'match the hatch' ie lure size to bait fish size (can be difficult at the extremes) and make your retrieve interesting, or at the very least try a different speed if you're not catching. I fished with a guy last year who had never caught on lures until he realised that retrieving a lure is not the same as reeling in a 6oz lead. Let us know how you get on.

Hi Nobby, never fished the Thames but my experience of dirty water is that bright green and even orange lures help but most importantly use something that rattles, that way they can home in on your lure. As far as area I look for anything that provides the bass with an ambush point, groynes, rocks, ledges, etc and the presence of baitfish along with enough tide to give some turbulence in the water. Give it a try I've certainly had fish from pretty dirty water before in estuarys on the south coast of Ireland. best of luck

I take roughly the same as you except I leave out the rod rest and only use one rod as I fish mainly for bass. Coleman do a small cool box, roughly 7"x10"x7" which I stick a piece of perspex to the top of to act as a cutting board. The only other thing I take is a waterproof camera (you never know). Paul

Hi Dave, welcome to AN. I fish around the solent, 10' spinning rod rated 10-50g, small fixed spool loaded with 8lb nylon, and I fish almost exclusively with floating plugs for bass as my best spots are relatively shallow with a fairly rough bottom so a floating lure cuts down on losses considerably. I used to fish mostly with rapalas (J9, J11 and J13)and caught some good fish until abu brought out the terminator which is now my favourite lure (best catch last year 13 fish to 6lb in an hour). The best advise that I can give is put the hours in, concentrate on first and last light and try likely looking spots at different states of the tide until you build up a picture of your local area and keep notes of every trip so that you can spot patterns emerging. It takes time but can be very worthwhile. It took me 2 yrs of trial and error until I found my favourite spot which only fishes well at first light for about an hour and a half on tides of a given height but it's the nearest thing to guaranteed fishing I've ever come across. I fact if I was so inclined I could take orders for fish. The best thing is I've never seen anyone else fishing there..............Ah Bliss best of luck Paul PS.If you find a good spot please put most of the fish back otherwise you can fish these localised marks out.

Davy's absolutely right John. Whilst their blood chemistry is different to ours they definately do have coagulants, otherwise they would have to be armour-plated to stand any chance of livung past their first birthday, given the number of sharp objects they come across ( mostly teeth)

Fished in Cuba about 5 years ago and took a telescopic carp rod with 10lb line and a selection of plugs and spinners. I fished from the rocks into deep water and also at the entrance to a natural harbour which had a reasonable run when the tide got going. Had a few small things (looked a bit like parrot fish) and quite a few barracuda up to 20lb+ estimated which fought extremely well on the relatively light gear. I found they liked a really fast retrieve and the usual rapalas etc did well especially in bright colours like red and white and hot orange. I would certainly endorse cranfields comment about a little snorkeling to find out where the bait fish congregate at different stages of the tide and just for the beauty of it all. The area I went to was away from the most popular tourist areas and I couldn't find anyone who knew anything about guides, hiring boats or gear etc. Also found the best time for shore fishing was early morning which gave you a couple of hours fishing before the wife got up and breakfast. Only time we've been away and she hasn't moaned about me fishing! Don't forget the wire traces and it might be worth taking some poppers, I didn't have any with me but a tangled up rapala provoked a good deal of interest when retrieved across the surface after a less than perfect cast. Hope you have a good time

It's a fly reel being used correctly. Fraid I don't know the make

I use the same set up as Grant mainly because I think the braid is too visible and the clip makes changing lures dead easy. I have always been a great fan of the Rapala J9 and J11 until last year when I tried out the new ABU Terminator, on my patch (solent) it outfished the Rapala's 3 to 1(could be because of the rattle, I'd be interested if anyone has any views/experience). For most of the season the 70mm fished best but towards the back end the 110mm came into it's own. I also have had success with the Rebel J30 jointed lure and the Storm Chug Bug for surface work. The redgill of course must not be forgotten. Hope this is of help, Paul

Hi Fishy 1, the 'paravane' you mention certainly works, Ive used them for spinning with devon minnows (salmon fishing) to great effect but they only stop twist induced by the lure. What they will not stop is twist induced by the reel which is actually the problem that most people have as very few sea lures actually spin so Grant's tip of using a good reel is one I would heartily endorse. Paul