[Les Spedding]

Wow indeed First post so bear with me, have been reading everything on here for the last week overwhelmed doesn't do it justice. I'm from Whitby and have just got into lure fishing (oh what have I been doing for the last 40 years) only severe tennis elbow or I would still be flyfishing, you guys from the south and the islands are streets ahead mainly because you have the numbers of bass and anglers but we will learn (hopefully).
Anyway lets cut to the chase, SP's, I want to try and fish SP's into VERY heavy rocky ground and I mean HEAVY very rocky and very kelpy, using 30lb braid, Senko,s, Sluggos etc on jigs and freelining will it work or will I be wasting my time. What sea conditions should I be looking for (rough, calm, coloured, clear etc) or should I stick to plugs.
Regards
Les

 

[kevin pugh]

welcome les you have come to the right place these boys will answer or point you in the right direction thats for sure .

 

[Gwyn Edwards]

Welcome Les, plenty of info on here from the people who think out side the box

 

[Tim Murphy]

Hi Les and welcome to the forum.
You'll find a lot of folk using SPs over heavy ground (myself inc.) If you look in the LRF / HRF (Light rock fishing / Heavy rock fishing) section you'll find posts such as THIS by Andy Marquis. There are ways and means...

 

[Les Spedding]

Cheers Tim good read but I'm talking really heavy ground from the shore, the methods mentioned in the article might work but I think I will be fast up in no time, I also thought 8 strand braids were not to be used in heavy ground. I'm not being anyway critical but one mans rough ground may be a walk in the park to others, I will try to get pics at tomorrows low.
Regards
les

 

[Tim Murphy]

Andy put up some pics of some monster heavy ground he was fishing some time ago, I searched for them before I posted. He's probably out fishing it now!
It's a bit quiet on here this weekend with the Weymouth fest going on. If you can wait a few days there'll be some much more experienced answers then. Maybe if you posted some pics it might help???

 

[Carl B]

hi les, get your self some football(rugby )shaped jigheads you will lose a lot less tackle, they become free a lot easier when stuck between rocks /boulders etc, but be prepared to lose quite a lot of stuff, theres no way round it m8, always use a fluo leader but a lot longer than when pluggin about 8-9ft is the norm, are you targetting wrasse? if so try the dead and shake method has mentioned in the hrf section basically do nothing with s.p except the odd shake here and there, sounds easy but takes a lot of practise to do "nothing", good luck

 

[trev richardson]

Welcome to the Forum Les...glad to see you're enjoying it mate...:-D:-D
SP's were made for ground like that Les...fishing bullet lead heads and using weedless tactics will get you snagged up far less often...to say never would be foolish but even with rough ground like your describing you should be able to fish pretty well. Once you have an idea what's in front of you kelp..large boulders patches of smaller boulders you can adapt your tactics raising and dropping the lure in different ways can also help keep losses down...sounds like a challenge mate. If you've got locations in mind and you get the weather give me a call I'm not too far from you and would love to fish the area...:-D:-D

 

[Les Spedding]

Cheers boys, Only time will tell will get some of those jigheads, No problem Trev as long as you have a head for heights and are well insured
Les

 

[Andy Marquis]

No ground is too rough to fish with SP's.

HRF is one way to go, it's not just the lures and heads, it's about having a rod which can feel what's going on, you feel the rocks, you flick the rod tip and over the rock and then feel it bump down the other side and continue all the way in. The only way to get this "feel" is to get out there and do it. I used to lose loads of gar but don;t so much now, maybe only 5 jig heads per 2 hour session, I lose more lures but that's not the rocks, that's the wrasse eating them and biting them in half!!

I fish stuff like this:



If you find you don;t get on with HRF or you lose too many lures then a weedless rigged lure with weight on the hook might be another way and adjust the weight to skim weed and rocks.

BUT, there is nothing beter than knwing your mark inside out. I like to think I know my mars quite well, even those which do not dry on low. I know where the bigger boulders are, larger gaps between them or weedy gullies to work the lure up.

But at the end of the day, you WILL lose lures, end of, no matter how good you are or hw rough the ground is.

What are you fishing for?

 

[Les Spedding]

No ground is too rough to fish with SP's.

HRF is one way to go, it's not just the lures and heads, it's about having a rod which can feel what's going on, you feel the rocks, you flick the rod tip and over the rock and then feel it bump down the other side and continue all the way in. The only way to get this "feel" is to get out there and do it. I used to lose loads of gar but don;t so much now, maybe only 5 jig heads per 2 hour session, I lose more lures but that's not the rocks, that's the wrasse eating them and biting them in half!!



I fish stuff like this:

View attachment 2189 View attachment 2190

If you find you don;t get on with HRF or you lose too many lures then a weedless rigged lure with weight on the hook might be another way and adjust the weight to skim weed and rocks.

BUT, there is nothing beter than knwing your mark inside out. I like to think I know my mars quite well, even those which do not dry on low. I know where the bigger boulders are, larger gaps between them or weedy gullies to work the lure up.

But at the end of the day, you WILL lose lures, end of, no matter how good you are or hw rough the ground is.

What are you fishing for?

Mint pics imagine the second pic covered in wrack and the rocks a tad sharper?? Hopefully fishing for anything that swims mainly Wrasse,Bass and Billets (Coalies) but we know there is cod in there all year round (do cod take sp's from the shore ???) I didn't realise losses would be so high, its a strange mentality cos we would think nothing of chucking a 6oz lead and assoc peeler and pennel rig and expect to get nothing back unless fish hooked losing anything from 10-20 sets of gear depending on time.Its a head thing, for some reason I was expecting to lose nothing (56yr old woodenhead)
Cheers for the input Andy real eyeopener. Don't laugh were going dropshotting tomorrow (subject to weather) with 16ft rods 5oz leads and 80ft above sea level, can't wait.
Again I really appreciate your and everyone's help.
Cheers
les

 

[Les Spedding]

No ground is too rough to fish with SP's.

HRF is one way to go, it's not just the lures and heads, it's about having a rod which can feel what's going on, you feel the rocks, you flick the rod tip and over the rock and then feel it bump down the other side and continue all the way in. The only way to get this "feel" is to get out there and do it. I used to lose loads of gar but don;t so much now, maybe only 5 jig heads per 2 hour session, I lose more lures but that's not the rocks, that's the wrasse eating them and biting them in half!!

I fish stuff like this:

View attachment 2189 View attachment 2190

If you find you don;t get on with HRF or you lose too many lures then a weedless rigged lure with weight on the hook might be another way and adjust the weight to skim weed and rocks.

BUT, there is nothing beter than knwing your mark inside out. I like to think I know my mars quite well, even those which do not dry on low. I know where the bigger boulders are, larger gaps between them or weedy gullies to work the lure up.

But at the end of the day, you WILL lose lures, end of, no matter how good you are or hw rough the ground is.

What are you fishing for?

Cheers for the input Andy what gear are you using, I mean everything Rods, reels, line, lures, clips if any etc I tried to pm you but not allowed (not enough posts)

Best regards
Les

 

[Andy Marquis]

For HRF...

Rod: Daiwa Infeet 7-21g
Reel: Pfluegar Supreme
Line: Yamatoyo SW PE#1 (10lb)
Leader: Ultima Pure Power in 15 or 20lb depending where I am. Longer if it's rougher rocks etc.
Lures: Allsorts but mostly Xlayers for wrasse and Big Hammers for bass, also have lots of home made designs. Lead heads most used is 7.5g which seems about right for most of it. Rarely go heavier.

No clips, direct knot, leader tied with a modified albright.

 

[Les Spedding]

For HRF...

Rod: Daiwa Infeet 7-21g
Reel: Pfluegar Supreme
Line: Yamatoyo SW PE#1 (10lb)
Leader: Ultima Pure Power in 15 or 20lb depending where I am. Longer if it's rougher rocks etc.
Lures: Allsorts but mostly Xlayers for wrasse and Big Hammers for bass, also have lots of home made designs. Lead heads most used is 7.5g which seems about right for most of it. Rarely go heavier.

No clips, direct knot, leader tied with a modified albright.

Cheers slim,
Les

 

[Mike Kennard]

If you want a bit of help with technique and tackle then you could do worse than to get the Daiwa HRF and LRF dvds from PLAT in Japan. The downside is that the dialogue is in Japanese but that aside you WILL learn loads They give good visual explanations of how to rig and present then SPs in some pretty heavy ground. They are worth watching regardless. After seeing some of the techniques in the DVDs the explanations on here might make more sense.
The Seabass Daygame ones are very good too......

http://www.plat.co.jp/shop/catalog/default/language/en/cPath/33_353/dvd-magazine/shore-dvd.html

 

[Les Spedding]

If you want a bit of help with technique and tackle then you could do worse than to get the Daiwa HRF and LRF dvds from PLAT in Japan. The downside is that the dialogue is in Japanese but that aside you WILL learn loads They give good visual explanations of how to rig and present then SPs in some pretty heavy ground. They are worth watching regardless. After seeing some of the techniques in the DVDs the explanations on here might make more sense.
The Seabass Daygame ones are very good too......

http://www.plat.co.jp/shop/catalog/default/language/en/cPath/33_353/dvd-magazine/shore-dvd.html

Aargh !!!!!! youv'e done it now Mike ordered said dvd and couldn't resist the Infeet you and Andy have alot to answer for.:-o:-o
Cheers
Les

 

[Mike Kennard]

The Infeet is a good buy. You will see ity put to good use in the HRF dvd,

 

[Tim Murphy]

Aargh !!!!!! youv'e done it now Mike ordered said dvd and couldn't resist the Infeet you and Andy have alot to answer for.:-o:-o
Cheers
Les

Nice one Les, I can see myself making a very similar order out soon!

 

[Richard Bourne]

I agree with Les' comments about the site, just joined too and there is a lot of good info on here.

 

[Ritchie Campion]

No ground is too rough to fish with SP's.

HRF is one way to go, it's not just the lures and heads, it's about having a rod which can feel what's going on, you feel the rocks, you flick the rod tip and over the rock and then feel it bump down the other side and continue all the way in. The only way to get this "feel" is to get out there and do it. I used to lose loads of gar but don;t so much now, maybe only 5 jig heads per 2 hour session, I lose more lures but that's not the rocks, that's the wrasse eating them and biting them in half!!

I fish stuff like this:

View attachment 2189 View attachment 2190

If you find you don;t get on with HRF or you lose too many lures then a weedless rigged lure with weight on the hook might be another way and adjust the weight to skim weed and rocks.

BUT, there is nothing beter than knwing your mark inside out. I like to think I know my mars quite well, even those which do not dry on low. I know where the bigger boulders are, larger gaps between them or weedy gullies to work the lure up.

But at the end of the day, you WILL lose lures, end of, no matter how good you are or hw rough the ground is.

What are you fishing for?

Spot on reply Andy. Your fishing some gnarly ground there buddy. Some say if your not loosing gear then your not fishing it right or in the right place.

It takes some getting use to but its just as much confidence as it is technique eh. Having the confidence to leave it there twitch it around at the same time keeping contact and twitching over the boulders. Its costly at first and i know, as I use to go through 2 packs of softies a session but now, like Andy said, you can fish a whole session and loose next to nothing.