[Keith White]

I have come to the conclusion that with some forward thinking, most, if not ALL British species are capable of being 'lure caught'.

Lure encompassed plug, soft plastic,fly etc

Bass are the best known but are they the most viable and, are you perhaps rejecting other lesser known lure species in favour of being in fashion.

Believe me, recent events on finesse plastics has really opened my eye's to the 'sporting' qualities of so called lesser species.

We are in fact, enjoying year round lure sport. It changes (gear and species) but the fun never stops.

So, what fish have you targeted, would perhaps consider targeting on lures in the British Islands and Ireland ?

I'd also like to form some splinter threads concerning how we should perhaps target these species.

The poll is multiple choice. Please take part and add your thoughts in the thread below or...

If a species becomes popular, start a splinter thread.

 

[Ben Field]

Good thread Keith!

Personally, this year I'd like to target (or at least think I have a chance of catching):

Bass
Pollack
Mackerel
Garfish
Wrasse
Whiting
Pout
Scorpion fish
Blenny's/Gobies?
Black and Gilthead Bream
Triggerfish a possibility?
Flounder + other flatfish.

Having the marks to actually taget them from will be one of the hardest things though. Even more so perhaps than actually figuring out the right technique! Recently I've obviously started looking around and thinking of spots to target the smaller species. When I think about it though (at this time of year at least), it'd be nice to have some permanently filled, rocky harbours and marinas to fish. There really aren't many around me that are suitable or hold fish in the numbers I'd like - to make it easier to suss things out. I may have to cross the border in to Devon in fact to target a lot of them (potentially) in one day. I'd like to do a regular species hunt actually and see how many I can catch in one day!

 

[Ben Field]

Will Conger chase prey???????????

 

[Keith White]

Triggerfish Ben. Do it.

Had a number of those last season. This year we'll try to get more and refine the technique.
I know now, i was most likely very lucky to get them initially as the lure i first used was way too big.

Same goes for Black Bream. (will try to add lots more Bream to my list this season)

I missed the Mullet's and fish like smoothounds from the Poll but only because there were 10 options.
That alone, (running out of POLL options, speaks volumes about the potential of British lure fishing).

 

[Ben Field]

Its just tracking them down mostly I think! Although again, I think if I cross the border then there are better known places to target them from. I wouldn't know where to head for around here.

 

[Alex Jordan]

Good poll Keith

 

[Keith White]

Will Conger chase prey???????????

There you go..

I don't know but I don't see why not.

Maybe a larger deadsticked Squid (lure) or a round fish subsurface swimbait dead slow (hard or soft) ?

I would assume soft bait favourite based upon Conger experience.

Sharks too ?

Tope, Smoothound, Blue's..

Why are we all sitting here waiting and pining over 1 fish. Yes, they are beautiful but they aren't the whole story.

 

[Jeremy Hayden]

Its just tracking them down mostly I think! Although again, I think if I cross the border then there are better known places to target them from. I wouldn't know where to head for around here.

one of the many topics for discussion tomorrow ben!

i would love to get into some other species this summer. triggers, bream, mackerel & bream.

i would like to get out into the sea & away from the estuary / bay area.

 

[Ben Field]

Bring any lighter stuff you have as well Jez!

 

[Ben Field]

There you go..

I don't know but I don't see why not.

Maybe a larger deadsticked Squid (lure) or a round fish subsurface swimbait dead slow (hard or soft) ?

I would assume soft bait favourite based upon Conger experience.

Sharks too ?

Tope, Smoothound, Blue's..

Why are we all sitting here waiting and pining over 1 fish. Yes, they are beautiful but they aren't the whole story.

Yeah, was thinking the same for dogfish etc too. Flavoured, sinking swimbait. Moved rarely.

Adjusting hooks etc to suit fish that have downward facing mouths will be an objective (rays etc. Dogfish even?). Softbaits will probably be compulsory!

 

[Dave Irving]

Sharks, you bet rubbish/protein processors of the sea, Large soft baits (10" fin-s-fish?) over a chum line!!!!

Gilthead Bream, respond to lures farther south in europe, so there is a good chance there too, scrappy fish too. One for Nath to have a crack at!!
For me I think the biggest untapped area for lure fishing is Rockfishing, even the french are just starting to get into it.
I think Keith, kevin, Paul and the Squid are already showing the potential is there. But there are literally dozens of small to micro species allong the coastline that should respond to the Ultralight approach.
I still think that some of our most common species just don't get the credit they deserve, namely Mackerel, Garfish, Scad (Horse Mackerel). Pound for pound these species rock!!. I will be scaling down as far as is fair to
target them this year. Light rods, small reels, light lines, and lures light enough to allow them to show off their skills.

 

[Keith White]

Sharks, you bet rubbish/protein processors of the sea, Large soft baits (10" fin-s-fish?) over a chum line!!!!

Gilthead Bream, respond to lures farther south in europe, so there is a good chance there too, scrappy fish too. One for Nath to have a crack at!!

Very true. I know we get a number of the Bream's here. Black, White, Gilt, Red, Couches, Ray's ?

For me I think the biggest untapped area for lure fishing is Rockfishing, even the french are just starting to get into it.
I think Keith, kevin, Paul and the Squid are already showing the potential is there. But there are literally dozens of small to micro species allong the coastline that should respond to the Ultralight approach.

We are trying to do our bit. You'll see this expand hugely as sea temps rise.
Should we call it 'rockfishing' though ? I have a personal dilemma regards that.

I still think that some of our most common species just don't get the credit they deserve, namely Mackerel, Garfish, Scad (Horse Mackerel). Pound for pound these species rock!!. I will be scaling down as far as is fair to
target them this year. Light rods, small reels, light lines, and lures light enough to allow them to show off their skills.

A 1lb Gar on a 5wt flyrod is incredible. On ultralight lure gear, I can't wait.
If a 12oz pouting is stripping line from the drag a 1lb mackerel will smoke it.

 

[Dave Irving]

Keith,
"Rockfishing", Ultralite plugging or whatever, I have no real axe to grind name wise. I just wish conditions around here would allow us to get cracking on the same style here-good news is the water is clearing, and the bait guys are starting to find fish. So we will be trying shortly.

Keith, I have a confession, I am hoping if I help enough old ladies across roads, be nice enough to every small creature (and all that cack) that fate will one day let me have a few shots at a some decent mackerel ie 3lb+, or better yet at crack at the british record (it is huge) They are fabulous fish, I have an ongoing soft spot for all tuna. Ours might be a tad on the small size, but if Bass fought as hard, we would be using heavier gear. Caught them to just over 2lb, and you really know when you hook them!!

 

[Keith White]

Keith,
"Rockfishing", Ultralite plugging or whatever, I have no real axe to grind name wise. I just wish conditions around here would allow us to get cracking on the same style here-good news is the water is clearing, and the bait guys are starting to find fish. So we will be trying shortly.

I have no axe to grind either Dave.

Rockfishing to me, means fishing from rocks. People sometimes call Wrasse rockfish. In the NE US states, Stripers are known as rockfish. ultralite plugging ?, again, a good name, i like it but should we term ultralite plastics alongside it ?

We will need a terminology sooner or later I'm guessing.

Keith, I have a confession, I am hoping if I help enough old ladies across roads, be nice enough to every small creature (and all that cack) that fate will one day let me have a few shots at a some decent mackerel ie 3lb+, or better yet at crack at the british record (it is huge) They are fabulous fish, I have an ongoing soft spot for all tuna. Ours might be a tad on the small size, but if Bass fought as hard, we would be using heavier gear. Caught them to just over 2lb, and you really know when you hook them!!

I couldn't agree more.

I've had Mackerel to 1lb 11oz
Boy, do they go !
That too was on a flyrod.

I've caught Bonito and False Albacore too. Simply awesome ! But...both either on flyrods 8#wt or 10lb class spin gear.
Anyone who has landed a 7lb Albie on 10lb gear will attest to the fact that we worry about our fish pulling or breaking
us off is totally overestimated.

For those guys who might not have seen the light plastics work we are doing here right now, here is the thread...

http://www.thelureforum.com/showthread.php?t=1332

 

[Mike Kennard]

Going off topic here but I have been fishing ultralight for mackerrel and gars for getting on for thirty years!!!! What I find incredible is how many people don't!!!! I used to use an ABU Cardinal 152 and Suecia 300 rod designed to cast up to 1/4oz. Around here the limiting factor is shallow water and if the fish are any distance from the shore you couldn't reach them. I still sometimes use an 8ft 6in float/spin rod made from a Fibatube fly blank.
Since them I have caught bream and flounders on soft plastics and small plugs and they fight at least as hard as bass pound for pound. By far and away the most fun are Mackerel and gars. Roll on the Summer!!!!
One thing that I notice more than anything else is how much better it is using ultralight tackle on fine braid (4lb Fireline). Newer monos and flurocarbons will catch up no doubt though.

 

[Keith White]

Going off topic here but I have been fishing ultralight for mackerrel and gars for getting on for thirty years!!!! What I find incredible is how many people don't!!!! I used to use an ABU Cardinal 152 and Suecia 300 rod designed to cast up to 1/4oz. Around here the limiting factor is shallow water and if the fish are any distance from the shore you couldn't reach them. I still sometimes use an 8ft 6in float/spin rod made from a Fibatube fly blank.
Since them I have caught bream and flounders on soft plastics and small plugs and they fight at least as hard as bass pound for pound. By far and away the most fun are Mackerel and gars. Roll on the Summer!!!!
One thing that I notice more than anything else is how much better it is using ultralight tackle on fine braid (4lb Fireline). Newer monos and flurocarbons will catch up no doubt though.

Not off topic at all.

I can't believe it either.

I love to fish the bombarda for those far off fish with small light lures.

It makes powerball/jif lemon rig fishing look very antiquated.

 

[Dave Irving]

Evening high tides on calm nights, when the mackerel drive the bait hard onto the beach, and then hammer them. Light tackle, small jigs, spoons, and plugs. Simplely awesome fun, even better when the scad turn up as the light fades and the fun continues. Just got a Jackson Artist 80mm, I think the Mackerel, Scad and Gars will love it, Almost as much as the fry feeding bass will.

 

[Dave Irving]

The other species I am tempted to target are Bream, a local marina seem to attract bream during the summer, I think small softies worked close to the wall have to stand a chance of success. From catching them on bait, they punch well above their weight fight wise. Could be fun??

 

[greg powell]

For me it is not a question of pining after one species. It is based more around the fact that I get limited oppportunities to fish and can't justify a wide range of gear needed to target the variety of potential out there. It is bad enough trying to get the range of kit needed to target one species effectively. Not wanting to speak for anybody else on this but for me my fishing is not limited by imagination but by time so I focus on one species using broadly one method. In my freshwater flyfishing days I would target many other species, chub, grayling, carp, pike etc but for now I'm content to try and learn how to catch bass on a regular basis!!

 

[Retired]

Will Conger chase prey???????????

Apparently. Frequently caught by western French boat anglers targetting maigres on SPs. I have seen the photos in French angling mags.

Not caught one myself on an SP - YET!