The Stray

Watching the surf forecasts at the beginning of the week it looked like a poor outlook for cod at the local hotspots so I decided to look closer to home for some smaller species. I have been promising myself a few sessions on the beaches close to Redcar in search of Bass and flatties. The stretch of beach between Marske and Redcar is known locally as The Stray and it was here that I turned my attention.
I opted for a Vercelli Besta coupled with an Akios Airloop R10 loaded with 30lb braid, on the business end was a pulley rig with a 20lb hook length and a size 1/0 hook loaded with peeler crab. As the surf was quite small I stuck with a 4oz lead. On reflection I reckon the hook link and pulley drop were a bit long, maybe more suitable for rays as a I missed a couple of unmissable bites.

I had reasonable success on what could have been difficult conditions, small surf and clear water. A school bass arrived on the first cast followed soon after by a flounder and finally a coalfish (known locally as billet.

Peeler Delivery

During all my struggles on the beaches, rocks and cliffs I've always been able to put my relative lack of success down to one reason or another.. lack of casting distance, inferior bait etc. One by one I've overcome each issue until I'm pretty much on a par with my peers and have no more excuses to hide behind. The last piece of the puzzle was having no peeler crab bait to use, this was seen off by Dan from the tackle shop who delivered 100 prime  frozen peeler for me.
I was out with my mentor last night on the rocks around Skinningrove and managed 2 barely legal sized codling (which both went back safely) to Martins 5 codling up to around 4 or 5lb. It was nice to be out in the wild weather but I just wish I could keep up!

Last Week

I was up on the cliffs last week, perched high above the north sea. The weather was good and the low pressure was sending down long lazy swells from the northern North Sea, so much so that the usually deserted car park was full of surfing fans after dark.
I baited up with cart wings, squid and mussel and cast out full of optimism... misplaced optimism! The result was about half a dozen rockling, a pouting and a small codling.
I had been inquiring at the tackle shop in Saltburn about gadgets to light up the rod tip, the lights I have at the moment are very bright but rely on a plastic clip that I'm never confident won't trap the line during a cast. After a brief discussion with Dan I bought some waggler adapters and pushed one over each end of a slim beta light then whipped the whole thing on to the rod tip. Its not as bright but will last indefinitely and are a much lower profile setup.

Change of Plan

I usually fish on a Tuesday but given that the sea is flat calm but looking better tomorrow I thought I'd postpone my trip for 24hrs.

Cod Season

After a decent start to the season I ended up at Skinningrove under the towering cliffs in search of cod. I'd been fishing for about an hour when Rob turned up and convinced me to follow him around the rocks to a spot know to be quite reliable. Its a walk of about 3/4 of a mile but with the tide still quite high but ebbing its a scramble over broken ground and fallen rocks. The irony is that at low tide the walk is over flat slate and makes for an easy return.
Casting around 80 to 90 yds lands you in a deeper area where I presented a squid, cart wing and mussel cocktail on a pulley rig. I managed 3 coddling between 2 and 4lb. It was a good session at least I had the satisfaction of knowing I'd had success during the long haul back up to the car.

Bass PB

I was out chasing the bass with lures again last Tuesday, the final day of a few days of hot weather was breaking as I got to the base of the North Yorkshire cliffs. I had a few casts with some metal lures in spots close to where I scored my sea trout and then headed out around the rock edges. I swapped to a shallow diving plug to try and avoid the kelp and only succeeded in losing the plug. As darkness wasn't far away so out of the box came a white soft plastic weedless and weightless paddle tail lure. I wanted something I could work very slowly over the weed without it sinking and snagging up.
My plan paid off as I worked the kelp beds and 4 bass to 4lb slid on to the rocks and I was over the moon. All the takes came in a space of around an hour and a half up to dusk.

A Big Cold Blank

I was hoping for a bass on my local beach but the title says it all...

Another First

I was back on the river again last night armed with my two lure rods. I managed a small chub on my light lure set armed with my new Rapala BX Brat plug. I alternated between the light set up and heavier pike gear all the way up to the top of the stretch without any luck. Even the top peg where Jay caught his pike a few weeks ago gave me no joy.
Dropping back downstream I was retrieving my lure when a pike lunged and missed the lure, I quickly recast and the fish had a second go and nailed the lure.
After a brief fight a small jack slid in to the net, at about 4lb its not even close to being the biggest pike of my life but it was my first pike on a lure and my first off the Tees.

Fin Nor LT 40 Spinning Reel

I decided this spring to try a bit of saltwater lure fishing, I already had a pike lure rod so just needed a reel to go with it. Dan, in the local tackle shop, recommended the Fin Nor reel and I already know good anglers who use the brand for winter cod fishing so decided to give it a go.
The reel has an aluminium body and spool, a smooth carbon washer clutch and brass main gear. Being a saltwater spinning reel there is no reverse gear which as a freshwater angler takes some getting used to.
I loaded the shallow spool with 20lb braid and took it out for a ... well a spin! The reel was smooth and lightweight and did the job without any dramas. Good reels aren't cheap but if they do the job I can't begrudge the price at under £100.

Another First

I headed down to a local reef last night to try my hand to saltwater lure fishing for the first time, I wasn't overly confident but it was nice to be out on a beautiful evening. My lack of confidence seem to be justified as time ticked on and the sun sank towards the horizon and to add to my woes I seemed to be losing a couple of lures.
I worked my way around the rock edges trying different modern lures but nothing seemed to be interested. Finally I found a wide gully between 2 rocky outcrops and selected a blue and silver Abu Toby and immediately started picking up some small Coalfish, known locally as Billet. Finally my rod hooped over and a decent SeaTrout led me on a bit of a scrap. After a quick photo the fish was measured at 52cm and released.
All in all it was a great night and I can't wait to get back out there.

Rapala BX Brat

Following my trip to the Tees I invested in a small perch plug with a shallow diving action as an alternative to the soft rubber lures.
The BX Brat from Rapala has a shallow action and is made from balsa wood with polymer coating.
The lure is reported to dive to around 3 feet making it ideal for shallow snaggy venues.

River Tees Lures

I was on the River Tees trying to catch my first River Tees pike last week and kind of succeeded... in a fashion. I had my light lure rod set up for perch and chub with a heavier set up for pike. I made the rookie error of not having a wire trace on my light lure rod and got bitten off by a pike on a small rubber shad, next I lost a decent fish on a J13 jointed lure before a good friend of mine 'borrowed' my rod and landed a fish about 7 or 8lb. A first Tees pike for either of us.
I learnt the following...
1. I must get some light wire for perch lures when pike are present
2. I now have a fairly good idea where to fish with deadbaits this winter
3. I love lure fishing
In between the pike escapades I landed a couple of perch to about 8oz but also lost a better perch or chub on a small rubber shad.

Dab Dab Dab

I headed on to my local beach last night in search of some bass and flatfish, a ray would have been a bonus. For the first time on the beach I used 2 rods, my Besta and a stiff carp rod for close in work, I'd dug some fresh lugworm at the weekend and I was pretty confident. I was using pulley rigs with size 2/0 hooks with 1 or 2 worm on each hook.
No bass showed up but my night was saved by 3 dabs. On the positive side my new Akios reel performed really well.

Akios Airloop R10

I have been looking for a solution to my barely average casting ability and came across a long cast reel that goes by name of Airloop R10 by Akios.I coupled the reel with a spool of 30lb Spiderwire braid with a 60lb braid shock leader.
I took the reel out for a cast to put it through its paces with my Vercelli Besta on the beach and the results were stunning, I managed about 25% extra on my usual distance with the better distances coming with a 4oz lead.The line lay is super precise with a long slow oscillation of the spool which itself is long and tapered. The main weak spot will be the distance that the spool travels and the forces exerted when its fully extended. To mitigate this problem I put the reel in the fully retracted position then opened the bail arm and ran the line through the rod rings to the point that I'd want the lead positioned when casting to reduce the amount of available sideways pull on the spool during casting. The other weak point may well be the apparently less than convincing anti reverse lever at the rear of the reel body.
I'm heading on to the beach tomorrow night in search of some bass so we'll see how it fares.

I'm Back

Due to an issue with my account I've not been able to log in but now I'm back!