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Not a massively exciting report, but I ended up going on a bit of a spur of the moment LRF mission last night. Was going to go, then wasn't, then did!...
I took a much wider range of tackle with me than last time so that I could have a proper play around. The Cormoran rod case was a godsend, being able to safely carry both rods around safely. Having them folded up in the car would also have been dodgey without it.
Anyway, I started (and stayed) under the main light on the right hand inner corner of Mevagissey harbour, just the other side of the carpark. I'd only take then solid tipped rod last time, so started on the hollow with a tiny Jackson vibration bait from the rocks. I think I had 3 fish in about the first 5 minutes, all small pollack. Then they seemed to disappear, or just started ignoring me. I had a few chucks along the wall and apart from one lost fish it was quiet. There didn't seem to be as many fish present as Friday night, although in fairness on friday i just kept moving around whenever the fish got shy. This time though I wanted to stay put to see what I had to do to get them to bite again. It could have been mission impossible, but I just thought that I'd probably learn more if I wasn't chucking baits at easy(?) fish all night.
The hollow rod/reel was loaded with 4lb Fireline Crystal (which I'm actually really liking!), but on the solid tip I was trying 4lb Fluorocarbon mainline for the first time. I'd set it up with a very light Carolina rig - just a no.1 shot about 12" above a size 14 long shanked barbless hook. This looked pretty perfect with a 1.5" Smith bait on the end. Casting was a little more limited on the Fluoro than I think it would have been the Fireline, but I was casting far enough to be in amongst the fish (if they were there). Being sat on the wall I think I would have been better at water level with the tiny bait as it was difficult following where it actually was on the retrieve - although the rod was still more than sensitive enough to feel it so it didn't matter too much. Still, on the second cast I did get another fish. For the third cast I actually upped the weight to an SSG just to see if I still caught. To my surprise, as the bait got to my feet I could see 3 small pollack crowding around the shot! - totally ignoring the bait! Bu**ers! This kind of lead me to think all sorts of things about what the fish are actually thinking, and what they're doing when they're bumping baits!
I probably caught odd fish in between, but I carried on chucking small baits at the small group of fish that I could see at my feet. It was also interesting to note that if I twitched a bait too hard or fast, the following fish scattered, or temporarily turned away.
...there was a lot of playing going on here and not necessarily a lot of 'eating'. Reaction bites will be as much a part of LRF as they are bass fishing.
I also did a lot of playing with colours. I'd tried small, almost transparent baits previously and although I'd caught one or 2 they hadn't been as good as I thought they might have been. Previously working on the idea that I needed a bait to look as natural as possible when it became hard, the opposite appeared to be true and bright pinks and chartreuse caught fish when natural ones partly failed - and this was in gin clear water so it wasn't about them being more visible through the murkyness. In theory, this again seems to suggest that the bites I was getting were really just more aggressive reaction strikes than proper hunting, eating fish.
I'd not tried drop-shotting before, so that was next on the list. This harbour is well known to hold a number of mini species, from various wrasse types to rockling and scorpion fish, so I put a white Jackall worm down in the hope of maximising chances with any of these other fish. I must admit, fishing this technique was harder than I expected. When I got there and started doing it I actually realised that I didn't really know what I should be doing with it! Eventually aftera few minutes of playing I actually got the hang of it though and quickly whipped out a couple more small pollack. Still need more practise on that one though.
I briefly clipped on a 2.5g size 4 jighead with a lovely looking, ribbed Reins soft bait to chuck out along the main wall. This side was slightly darker and I really just wanted to bounce this bait back in along the bottom to see what was down there. First cast... tiny pollack. A couple of casts later, after a brief pause, I lifted in to a bit of a lump. Weed..... or so I thought. There was some weed, but there was also a specimen crab attached to my bait. He'd even snipped part of the tail off my bait (see claw below).
![Arthropod Vertebrate Organism Decapoda Terrestrial animal]()
I explored the wall for a little while but there didn't seem to be much action away from the main light source. I bumped what I imagine were probably a couple of small pollack, but nothing else to report catch wise.
Then I was back in to the light. knowing what I knew now about bright colours, I whacked on a 1.5g fluorescent jighead with a 1.5" glow worm just to have a few more casts before hometime. The fish seemed to like it and I had 3 or 4 more before calling it a night.
Another enjoyable evening. One day soon I'll hit it lucky and go down on a day when nobody is fishing the end of the main wall. I'll then be able to target the bigger fish more easily I think. In the dark.
I took a much wider range of tackle with me than last time so that I could have a proper play around. The Cormoran rod case was a godsend, being able to safely carry both rods around safely. Having them folded up in the car would also have been dodgey without it.
Anyway, I started (and stayed) under the main light on the right hand inner corner of Mevagissey harbour, just the other side of the carpark. I'd only take then solid tipped rod last time, so started on the hollow with a tiny Jackson vibration bait from the rocks. I think I had 3 fish in about the first 5 minutes, all small pollack. Then they seemed to disappear, or just started ignoring me. I had a few chucks along the wall and apart from one lost fish it was quiet. There didn't seem to be as many fish present as Friday night, although in fairness on friday i just kept moving around whenever the fish got shy. This time though I wanted to stay put to see what I had to do to get them to bite again. It could have been mission impossible, but I just thought that I'd probably learn more if I wasn't chucking baits at easy(?) fish all night.
The hollow rod/reel was loaded with 4lb Fireline Crystal (which I'm actually really liking!), but on the solid tip I was trying 4lb Fluorocarbon mainline for the first time. I'd set it up with a very light Carolina rig - just a no.1 shot about 12" above a size 14 long shanked barbless hook. This looked pretty perfect with a 1.5" Smith bait on the end. Casting was a little more limited on the Fluoro than I think it would have been the Fireline, but I was casting far enough to be in amongst the fish (if they were there). Being sat on the wall I think I would have been better at water level with the tiny bait as it was difficult following where it actually was on the retrieve - although the rod was still more than sensitive enough to feel it so it didn't matter too much. Still, on the second cast I did get another fish. For the third cast I actually upped the weight to an SSG just to see if I still caught. To my surprise, as the bait got to my feet I could see 3 small pollack crowding around the shot! - totally ignoring the bait! Bu**ers! This kind of lead me to think all sorts of things about what the fish are actually thinking, and what they're doing when they're bumping baits!
I probably caught odd fish in between, but I carried on chucking small baits at the small group of fish that I could see at my feet. It was also interesting to note that if I twitched a bait too hard or fast, the following fish scattered, or temporarily turned away.
...there was a lot of playing going on here and not necessarily a lot of 'eating'. Reaction bites will be as much a part of LRF as they are bass fishing.
I also did a lot of playing with colours. I'd tried small, almost transparent baits previously and although I'd caught one or 2 they hadn't been as good as I thought they might have been. Previously working on the idea that I needed a bait to look as natural as possible when it became hard, the opposite appeared to be true and bright pinks and chartreuse caught fish when natural ones partly failed - and this was in gin clear water so it wasn't about them being more visible through the murkyness. In theory, this again seems to suggest that the bites I was getting were really just more aggressive reaction strikes than proper hunting, eating fish.
I'd not tried drop-shotting before, so that was next on the list. This harbour is well known to hold a number of mini species, from various wrasse types to rockling and scorpion fish, so I put a white Jackall worm down in the hope of maximising chances with any of these other fish. I must admit, fishing this technique was harder than I expected. When I got there and started doing it I actually realised that I didn't really know what I should be doing with it! Eventually aftera few minutes of playing I actually got the hang of it though and quickly whipped out a couple more small pollack. Still need more practise on that one though.
I briefly clipped on a 2.5g size 4 jighead with a lovely looking, ribbed Reins soft bait to chuck out along the main wall. This side was slightly darker and I really just wanted to bounce this bait back in along the bottom to see what was down there. First cast... tiny pollack. A couple of casts later, after a brief pause, I lifted in to a bit of a lump. Weed..... or so I thought. There was some weed, but there was also a specimen crab attached to my bait. He'd even snipped part of the tail off my bait (see claw below).
I explored the wall for a little while but there didn't seem to be much action away from the main light source. I bumped what I imagine were probably a couple of small pollack, but nothing else to report catch wise.
Then I was back in to the light. knowing what I knew now about bright colours, I whacked on a 1.5g fluorescent jighead with a 1.5" glow worm just to have a few more casts before hometime. The fish seemed to like it and I had 3 or 4 more before calling it a night.
Another enjoyable evening. One day soon I'll hit it lucky and go down on a day when nobody is fishing the end of the main wall. I'll then be able to target the bigger fish more easily I think. In the dark.
