[Andy Marquis]

... the fishing goes absolutely mental!!!!!! :-D:-D

Madness today, absolutely crazy fishing.

Went down a cliff mark over the top of one of our biggest cliffs, straight down. Might take a rope to aid a few tricky parts coming back up next time.

Started with a schoolboy error, got the the bottom, went to tie a lure on, no scissors, in the van, that's a session with no scissors or knife then!!

But the catch...

Well I lost count a bit for one mental hour.

14 or 15 pollack, 2 bass, 3 gars, 3 wrasse.

here's some pics.



The best pollack was approaching 3lb I guess and the gar in the pic was nearly 2ft long, huge fish, well over the pound mark.

What you don't see there is the other bass I caught...

it's a bit embarrasing though...

Took it on a homemade brown SP, it went mental, got it in, netted, unhooked, put down to put on lure forum measure and get scales out, two big wriggles and I saw it go between my legs, another flick and it was sliding down the rocks toward the sea in ultimate slow motion with a noooooooooooo coming out of my mouth in equal slow motion watching it smile as it entered the water head first and vanished with a flick of the tail. Gutted. It was between 4 and 5lb, I would place it at 4.5lb in my experience. really needed that for the club and would have pushed me into second.

The fishing slowed up after that and it was time to drag myself back up. Super happy but gutted beyond belief at the same time.


And, most fish on a new lure for me!! Xrap 110 in Glass Ghost, suspends almost bang on right out the box and all fish bar the gars took the front hook. The big gar got all 3 points of the treble in it's mouth.

Also lost a lot of fish on the way in, some of them felt like good bass. Why did I lose them??

IMO it was the new rod which just arrived, cheapo HRF rod in the Shimano Vengeance, the new 2011 range. £30 and it felt good in the shop but when fishing it's just too soft, I mean really really soft, not enough backbone to set the hook proper, the big bass was on the Infeet which I took down with me just in case. So review of the rod on first use is that i won't be using it much, simply too soft for lure fishing, couldn't keep contact with the lure to feel them proper and bites were missed as well as not really feelign a fight from a fish much as it was bent double the whole time. Get what you pay for I guess!!

 

[alan aubert]

well done totally the opposite for me in Jersey mind you Guernsey has always been different

 

[NeilMacfarlane]

Hi Andy that sounds amazing. What was the state of tide ? I winced when I heard about the bass but laughed a bit about leaving gear back up the cliff. Nice to know I'm not the only one who does that !. Doh.

Great fishing and nice to hear another myth busted re easterlies.

Neil and Dan

 

[Carl B]

good going there andy, wet my appetite for a fish tomorrow, thanks

 

[Andy Marquis]

The fishing dropped off about half tide up Neil, interestingly when the tide started to get going the fish stopped going so mad, for quite a time I had a hit or a fish every single cast. Interesting mark, there was nothing there in the summer, went down twice. Bit tricky in places due to scree fields but a lot of the way you can stick to the rocky outcrops.

 

[Tim Murphy]

Excellent fishin Andy, I love the Glass Ghost X-rap, I've had loads of Callig on the little (8cm?) deep diver.

 

[Mick Ward]

Unlucky on the one that was camera shy Andy, great trip though, nice mixed bag for late november.

 

[Matt Newcombe]

Nice one Andy. Sounds like a mission to get there. After my last few sessions, it's nice to read that someone hit the fish.

Also, good to hear a review of sorts on the new rod. With all the interest in HRF, people are going to snap these rods up at that price point. Unless they hear from the dogs mouth(so to speak) that they aren't up to it.

 

[Steve Payne]

Andy i just don't believe it makes any difference witch way the wind blows , i have had some of my best days fishing in strong easterly winds.

Well done on a great days fishing.

 

[Andy Marquis]

Wind direction makes a huge difference on individual marks. A lot will only fish in certain wind directions. Blank after blank followed by a great session with certain wind does it for me. Very Mark specific and normally more to do with tide direction combined with wind making lure placement nigh on impossible.

We do also have the advantage of 4 coasts racing different directions which gives us more options than most in the uk etc. Very lucky in that respect.

 

[Retired]

Four? I always thought Gsy was triangle shaped Andy. Shows what us beans know eh!

 

[Andy Marquis]

Yeah. Not much north coast. Just a couple of beaches really but still north facing and at the right end.

 

[Paddy]

Well done Andy mate, Good to see you are still catching. Fishing is finished for me for the forseeable future but hey ho at least i can still read about it on here :-D

 

[Stephen Olsen]

Well done Andy

 

[Gary A]

Nice one Andy. A really good selection of fish there.

 

[Keith White]

Well done Andy. fair play m8.

soft rods do have their uses but 'hookset' with the meat-hooks attached to most plugs isn't one of them. No ones fault and I wouldn't blame yourself as it takes a while to get used to individual sticks.

Yea, the xrap certainly is really good at suspending out of the box. In summer they sometimes slow sink and when the water temps drop again they start to sloooow float.

Did you get the fish whilst the plug was in a suspended state ?
I'm guessing your water is sub, or near 13 deg C based upon you saying the plug is holding ?

 

[Andy Marquis]

A few of the fish came in suspended state but not all, I was feeling impatient yesterday so was just pulling in slow a lot of the time... Bigger fish hit the suspended lure rather than on the retreive.

Most of the time it suspended fine but did rise a bit close in to the rocks where I could see it, more likely due to wave action on the line than anythign else I think. One of the best out the box suspenders I have tried. Ordered a larger one and also some Savage Gear Prey 115 supposed suspenders last night. It's that time of year to just let a plug whip about in the wave action in deeper water with a flick or 2 now and then.

 

[Marq]

Nice days fishing for you Well done I like Easterlies as well

 

[Keith White]

A few of the fish came in suspended state but not all, I was feeling impatient yesterday so was just pulling in slow a lot of the time... Bigger fish hit the suspended lure rather than on the retreive.

Most of the time it suspended fine but did rise a bit close in to the rocks where I could see it, more likely due to wave action on the line than anythign else I think.
It's that time of year to just let a plug whip about in the wave action in deeper water with a flick or 2 now and then.

Ah, great news then.

Yes, our water is clearing out too and tides are still getting bigger for a few days.
Normally I'd choose the late winter and the early spring for suspended HP techniques but I guess I'd better get em out there based on this report.

Well done Andy.

 

[Ritchie Campion]

nice catches mate