[Keith White]

Well, another tough night last night but, 3 of us fished along the east on a very small tide.

total 9 fish to 1 3/4lb Pollack.

The major event of the evening was seeing the light bulb glow as Mark Sleep finally clicked with 'on the drop' takes.
It really is amazing, the takes are sometimes so subtle.

Anyway, I reckon now, he'll be a force to be reckoned with.

Tom fell over, gashed knee.

I broke a rod !, cormoran is now spliced tip and I lost Jaco, my new micro pet metal lure. Sadness fell over Jersey and I flew my flag at half mast today. He fought hard and served his nation well.

Takes on metal are 'lightening' fast. You have a mere split second to react.

Tom lost a good fish under a shoal of grasdos. Rod keeled over, line and drag screaming....the end. Just wasn't ready. I reckon it was a specimen grasdos LOL or a Bass.

We are out tonight and camera is on charge so the photo's from last night I'll put up later.

We are still killing em out there and in reality, the fishing probably couldn't get any harder if it tried.

Lovin it...

 

[Tim Griffin]

Keith, how did you manage to break the cormoran? Pleased to hear you are still catching and I expect a 13/4lb pollack is a hoot on the light gear? With "the one that got away", did it just pull the hook, or smash Tom up?

 

[Keith White]

Keith, how did you manage to break the cormoran? Pleased to hear you are still catching and I expect a 13/4lb pollack is a hoot on the light gear? With "the one that got away", did it just pull the hook, or smash Tom up?

I fell over m8.

No point crying about it. Ordered another one today, great rod, tons of feel. I've spiced a solid tip into the existing one and reused the last 2 guides. It seems fine. Will test later.

Trust me, a 1 3/4lb Pollack is a real blast. In any current, totally awesome in fact and when they just keep coming they are tearing your arm off bit by bit.

Tom's fish went heavily to ground after a short bust away from him. Either a Bass (likely) or possibly, a big Wrasse.

We are looking at lighter reels to go with the rods now as we are all aware that added weight dulls the rods feedback.

 

[Mike Kennard]

Another interesting night by the sounds of it. We have a milky tea coloured sea and nowhere to find any clear water around here. We will get some decent weather eventually. Whatever happened to clear frosty nights....
Daiwa Japan do LRF specific reels in two price ranges. They are 2004 size and relatively light.
If you are looking for reels to use with mono or FC you could do worse than to look at Daiwa SS Tournament 1300 from the US. They are as close to indestructible in normal fishing as any reel ever will be. The only downside is they have a SIC line roller so they don't work that well with braid. They are very popular with the guides in the US because of their reliability and they are unchaged for the best part of 15 years. That is testimony in itself. I have a 700 too which is very light but might be considered too small. In fact I have a 700, 2 x 1300 and a 1600! The 1300 were very popular for bonefish years ago.
I am working on a quick trip over there after Nantes possibly. I can't ignore this LRF fishing any longer and the weather is not providing any windows of opportunity over here at the moment. If I can sort it are you guys up for showing a Googan some LRF fishing?

 

[Keith White]

I am working on a quick trip over there after Nantes possibly. I can't ignore this LRF fishing any longer and the weather is not providing any windows of opportunity over here at the moment. If I can sort it are you guys up for showing a Googan some LRF fishing?

Yep, all are welcome.

You can teach us.

A trip to LRF heaven is good for both your sanity and your health.

 

[Jeremy Taylor]

I fell over m8.

We are looking at lighter reels to go with the rods now as we are all aware that added weight dulls the rods feedback.

I was actually thinking about reel weights on my trip last night.

Anyway after some bad advise from my brother a long long time ago I bought a Ryobi GR1 which with 25LB line was being cast all out on a regular basis when targeting Blue fish in South Africa. It is a rear drag which probably adds weight but it is really tiny. Holds max 140yrd 8lb (that's printed on the spool so presumably mono)

I brought that reel back from SA to use and I know I am just starting to get into this whole lark but on a fairly stiff rod, Berkeley Lightening rod 9' 15-40 gm I am still able to get a lot of feel. I think that is due to the fact that I can hold the rod and reel with a very very light grip due to the minimal weight of the reel. Can't imagine what it is going to be like on a 6' ultralight 3-15g

What size reels are you looking at ?

 

[Ben Field]

I'm looking at getting a very lightweight Daiwa soon. ...although rather than going down in size to a 2000 or below, I'm thinking about stepping up a couple of models and sticking with roughly a 2506.

I need to get a 'proper' rod sorted for this I think. Hate missing out on this kind of action! Good work again guys!

 

[Keith White]

I was thinking 1500 or 2000 sized but now Mike has mentioned specific reels, I'm going to try to find those.

What are the actual models Mike.

Another real temptation is the 2500 Branzino or a 2010 Certate.

trouble is, we are all finding a real need to carry multiple outfits.

Seriously, 1 outfit is nice, 2 is better, 3 is perfect.

Why ?

1 X jig setup, 1 X drop shot, 1 X carolina as an example. Switching takes seconds.

Or

1 X HRF 1 X LRF + 1 X Float Jig rod + centrepin.

Times are a changing and I can honestly say, since fishing for Roach under a stickfloat on the Trent, I've never found anything so challenging and yet, as rewarding on the effort to reward ratio as what we are doing here.

It simply is, the skills you learn help you catch more fish and you don't get the rewards a year later. You see it happening over days and weeks.

Fast reactions are needed sometimes and you are constantly expecting takes. Some of those hits are faster than a Bleak picking off the tip of a floatfished caster.

Mark started to curse last night which is good. Why...

Because rather than being oblivious, he knew he was missing bites.

Awesome.

 

[Mike Kennard]

Yep, all are welcome.

You can teach us.

A trip to LRF heaven is good for both your sanity and your health.

Teach you? Are you sure?!?!?

It does sounds like LRF heaven at the moment!!!!

 

[Ben Field]

Fast reactions are needed sometimes and you are constantly expecting takes. Some of those hits are faster than a Bleak picking off the tip of a floatfished caster.

Has that just become more noticeable now that you're fishing hard baits, or was the case the same with the softs?

 

[Ben Field]

If you don't manage to find Mike's specifis models Keith (depends what Micks got in I guess), then here are some that I was looking at myself (http://www.fostersofbirmingham.co.uk/ST73314). Have used the 2500s in the past and they're good reels.

 

[Mark Sleep]

I use my Shimano 2500.

And Keith, I recall a couple of colourful words coming from you as well!

 

[Mike Kennard]

Keith, these are the LRF reels that Daiwa make:

http://www.bass.jp/reel.php?c=reel&mode=itemlist&tcat=Spinning&series=GEKKABIJIN

They are made to take 100M 4lb mono or equivalent and lower gear ratios than the 'normal' equivalent sized reel.


For the money though the SS1300 would make a great LRF reel for use with mono and last forever almost.

 

[Keith White]

Has that just become more noticeable now that you're fishing hard baits, or was the case the same with the softs?

Fast anyway but with little metals...jeez, real fast.

If you don't manage to find Mike's specifis models Keith (depends what Micks got in I guess), then here are some that I was looking at myself (http://www.fostersofbirmingham.co.uk/ST73314). Have used the 2500s in the past and they're good reels.

Will take a look. Mick has 1 X 2500 sized reel that keeps calling my name.

I use my Shimano 2500.

And Keith, I recall a couple of colourful words coming from you as well!

Oh yes. Little devils m8.

Keith, these are the LRF reels that Daiwa make:

http://www.bass.jp/reel.php?c=reel&mode=itemlist&tcat=Spinning&series=GEKKABIJIN

They are made to take 100M 4lb mono or equivalent and lower gear ratios than the 'normal' equivalent sized reel.


For the money though the SS1300 would make a great LRF reel for use with mono and last forever almost.

Cheers m8, will take a good look around.

 

[Andy Marquis]

I've stuck a shimano Sedona 1000fd on the ultra light and it seems good so far. Not the smoothest reel I the world, bit of an annoying feel of the gears when winding slow but suspect opening up and a few drops of oil will fix it. The drag has managed well so far but yet to be tested above a very sprightly pollack on the baby rod. It's also cheaper side so happy with what I got for the cash.

 

[Keith White]

Just to say...

15 more Pollack tonight. Toughest tide so far.
figuring em out was hard.

Biggest fish still came on the drop.

 

[Mike Kennard]

But the good thing is that you did figure them out! Kudos for that.

What was the method tonight? More importantly what did you learn that you can pass on?

 

[Keith White]

hmmm..

What did we learn ?

Last night, tide was slack, very slack.

We also figured that although fish were there, some nice ones too, the window available to drop through them to get takers was extremely narrow.

Small sandeels were seen too and larger flashes just not quite in sight.

Some bites, loads in fact were happening as a lure was held at a certain depth.

We figured that, the Pollack were active within a very narrow band.

To counter that, I switched to carolina rigged and started fishing 'countdown' and slow retrieve small pause and fall style.
5 fish came quickly but of smaller stamp. Kevin switched to a held depth retrieve and he too started to get bites. However, he couldn't connect anywhere near as often due t the felt jig weight I think.
Tail nipping bites many of them. I went down to a size 6 hook.

Long story really but we always learn stuff out there.

Anyway....

Selected pics missing from this thread............

 

[Mike Kennard]

Keith, not sure how practical it is but have you tried a float to maintain depth or even some type of submerged float to act as casting weight but behave in a more neutrally bouyant way? Sounds interesting though.

 

[Keith White]

Yes Mike.

We have. Usually during warmer months and float jigging is quite the method.

As you are probably aware, we fish Bombarda too and we are currently searching for a 1 - 5g range to supplement our bigger collection.

Accumulating all this stuff takes time and costs money of course. Both of which are limited in nature.