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Well, like a little boy with a new toy (don’t know what I mean by ‘like’, I was a little boy with a new toy :-D) I had to go out & play with my new 8’ Mk 1 AFAW lure rod, Quantum reel, braid & plugs that I won in the Art of Fishing raffle.
Went down to Whitsand with Marq to be faced with a stiff SW breeze running across to in your face of where we were fishing, a bit of colour in the water & a fair bit of swell. Looked pretty much ideal conditions. Marq, who’d been there all day, said that in the morning there had been a bit of weed around, Not the best conditions to test out new gear perhaps but having walked all the way down was not about to turn around & go back up.
Moving from rock to rock, gulley to gulley over the next few hours I think I tried almost all of the lures that I have, including those that I won in the raffle, partly to see what worked best in the conditions but also just out of curiosity to see what action the lures had. Impressed by the rod. I’m not best placed to give ‘professional’ opinions on a rod but to me it seemed to have lots of feel at the tip & seemed to work lures of all sorts, big & small, very well. I also get the feeling that when you need a bit of beef in your rod (ahem) its there. I was also surprised with the Yamatoyo 4 strand braid – 20lb 1.5PE (0.203mm dia I think) – no wind knots in 5-6 hrs of fishing!!
Interspersed with all things fishing I had to swim to the rescue of my brand new yellow Patchinko 2 that was in distress stuck on a rock, ably assisted by Marq who was on dry land reeling in the line once I'd freed the plug. I feel closer to my plugs, swimming for them in the freezing cold sea :shock:
Later on in the session, spose about 8pm & fishing over some clean ground & deepish water I thought I’d give my OSP Rudra sinking plug a go.
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Down came the heavens too – damn. Soldiered on anyway. I’d just brought the plug on the retrieve to a temporary halt & BANG. 20ft out. Fish on!!! I could see that it was not the biggest fish in the world but it was a fish nonetheless. A fair scrap for a fish of that size was had before bringing him in & claiming my 2nd plug caught bass.
Here’s a photo. Taken in the rain by Marq. Excuse the black & white but I’d left the camera setting on b&w when taking a picture of the family earlier on in the day. If I may say, considering that I normally look a complete dork in photos, Marq’s done quite a good job with this one & made me look half decent!!
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Now I know that there’s been a debate recently about the rights & wrongs of Bogas. Being new to plugging I was not quite sure on what side of the fence I sat. I do now. I tried to play the fish out a little, not too much, just enough to ensure that it was not ultra lively when I landed it. To little avail however as when I picked the blighter up it would wriggle & flick & I’d drop it. Must have happened a couple of times. In the process it got one of the other trebles stuck behind its eye & narrowly missed sticking one in my hand.
With a bit of help from Marq, we managed to get the trebles out, & with a bit of TLC it was successfully released. I was relieved at this considering what it had been through. I think that Boga’s would have helped restrain the fish. I’m aware that there’s a chance that the mouth of any fish maybe damaged by using fish grips but used with a bit of care this would be much less harm than the distress/damage caused by a fish thrashing around & being dropped. There’s also the self protection element that fish grips afford you as I guess that getting trebles stuck in the hand is not fun. For me, Boga’s or some other form of rotating fish grips get a thumbs up. When I've got the dosh I'll get some. However I appreciate that they’re not for everyone
The wind dropped towards the end, leading to us being able to fish in relatively calm conditions. The sun disappearing over the horizon brought the session to an end. Only one fish between us (to me!!!!) but I enjoyed myself & had christened all of my new gear. I learnt a bit about the rod & how best to work the lures. An excellent session.
Cheers
Toby
P.S. Got home & dutifully washed all of my gear out in clean water. I thought I’d put one of the cupboards in our new kitchen to good use. My wife has not found the plug 'washing line'.....................yet! :???:;-):-D I'm hoping that at only 5' 4" tall that she won't see them:-D
![. 081.jpg]()
![. 082.jpg]()
Went down to Whitsand with Marq to be faced with a stiff SW breeze running across to in your face of where we were fishing, a bit of colour in the water & a fair bit of swell. Looked pretty much ideal conditions. Marq, who’d been there all day, said that in the morning there had been a bit of weed around, Not the best conditions to test out new gear perhaps but having walked all the way down was not about to turn around & go back up.
Moving from rock to rock, gulley to gulley over the next few hours I think I tried almost all of the lures that I have, including those that I won in the raffle, partly to see what worked best in the conditions but also just out of curiosity to see what action the lures had. Impressed by the rod. I’m not best placed to give ‘professional’ opinions on a rod but to me it seemed to have lots of feel at the tip & seemed to work lures of all sorts, big & small, very well. I also get the feeling that when you need a bit of beef in your rod (ahem) its there. I was also surprised with the Yamatoyo 4 strand braid – 20lb 1.5PE (0.203mm dia I think) – no wind knots in 5-6 hrs of fishing!!
Interspersed with all things fishing I had to swim to the rescue of my brand new yellow Patchinko 2 that was in distress stuck on a rock, ably assisted by Marq who was on dry land reeling in the line once I'd freed the plug. I feel closer to my plugs, swimming for them in the freezing cold sea :shock:
Later on in the session, spose about 8pm & fishing over some clean ground & deepish water I thought I’d give my OSP Rudra sinking plug a go.
Down came the heavens too – damn. Soldiered on anyway. I’d just brought the plug on the retrieve to a temporary halt & BANG. 20ft out. Fish on!!! I could see that it was not the biggest fish in the world but it was a fish nonetheless. A fair scrap for a fish of that size was had before bringing him in & claiming my 2nd plug caught bass.
Here’s a photo. Taken in the rain by Marq. Excuse the black & white but I’d left the camera setting on b&w when taking a picture of the family earlier on in the day. If I may say, considering that I normally look a complete dork in photos, Marq’s done quite a good job with this one & made me look half decent!!
Now I know that there’s been a debate recently about the rights & wrongs of Bogas. Being new to plugging I was not quite sure on what side of the fence I sat. I do now. I tried to play the fish out a little, not too much, just enough to ensure that it was not ultra lively when I landed it. To little avail however as when I picked the blighter up it would wriggle & flick & I’d drop it. Must have happened a couple of times. In the process it got one of the other trebles stuck behind its eye & narrowly missed sticking one in my hand.
With a bit of help from Marq, we managed to get the trebles out, & with a bit of TLC it was successfully released. I was relieved at this considering what it had been through. I think that Boga’s would have helped restrain the fish. I’m aware that there’s a chance that the mouth of any fish maybe damaged by using fish grips but used with a bit of care this would be much less harm than the distress/damage caused by a fish thrashing around & being dropped. There’s also the self protection element that fish grips afford you as I guess that getting trebles stuck in the hand is not fun. For me, Boga’s or some other form of rotating fish grips get a thumbs up. When I've got the dosh I'll get some. However I appreciate that they’re not for everyone
The wind dropped towards the end, leading to us being able to fish in relatively calm conditions. The sun disappearing over the horizon brought the session to an end. Only one fish between us (to me!!!!) but I enjoyed myself & had christened all of my new gear. I learnt a bit about the rod & how best to work the lures. An excellent session.
Cheers
Toby
P.S. Got home & dutifully washed all of my gear out in clean water. I thought I’d put one of the cupboards in our new kitchen to good use. My wife has not found the plug 'washing line'.....................yet! :???:;-):-D I'm hoping that at only 5' 4" tall that she won't see them:-D
