PB Perch

 Over the summer I teamed up with my old mate Cliff to target perch on the river Tees with lures and later with prawns under a loafer float. We had some decent results and I even managed a new personal best of just over 2lb on a soft plastic lure followed by another nice fish just before dark on a Big S pike plug

Tench and Prawns

 I returned to my local club water with perch on my mind but with a plan B up my sleeve. I opted for a waggler approach with prawns on the hook and loose feed with grounbait and a prawn and maggot mix. I fished the bait about a rod length out and a couple of inches over depth. I also took the opportunity to dust off y centre pin because I knew that on this water the tench wouldn't be far from a juicy prawn hookbait. Yep that was my plan B, tench! 

The plan worked well but a decent perch eluded but several small perch came my way along with 3 tench and a carp that took me on a tour of the lake before slipping the hook.

First Lure Session

 I always look forward to the first session of the year lure fishing for bass and a few weeks ago I managed a trip out under the North Yorkshire cliffs with an old mate. The sea was nice and calm an crystal clear as we threw various lures in search of some fish. I didn't manage a take this time but the summer is still young.

Back On The Beach

 A month or two ago I ventured back on to the beach to see if I could find some early season bass of flatties. It's a funny time of the year on the north east coast and the sea was fairly flat and clear so my expectations were quite low... the best I can say is that it was a nice sunset!

Another End

 They say endings are just new beginnings but this winter cod season has been hard. It started off really well in October and November but trailed off from there. Catching the dreaded Corona Virus in the middle of the best part of the season didn't help and from there I couldn't seem to buy a bite! I thought I'd have a last couple of sessions but storm Darcy ha other ideas. 

Looking forward to some better weather and the end of lockdown restriction hopefully this year will be better than last!

Cliff Tops

 I ventured up to a cliff top venue that can normally be relied upon to deliver a cod or 2. The cliff tops can be very reliable and have the advantage of having no climb down to the waters edge, a nice grassy fishing position and no issues with moving with the tide line. They do however have some noticeable drawbacks, its a long way to winch a reasonable coddling up, if anything goes wrong it's a long way to fall and sadly any fish you don't want to keep wouldn't survive the drop back into the water.

The picture shows my set up. A 15ft Any Fish Anywhere 6 an Bait, Penn Battle 2 8000 with 80lb braid. On the tripod you can see a baited trace waiting to be swapped over baited with cart and squid.

Step Change

 I seem to have been doing a lot of sea fishing recently so I decided to do something a bit different and headed for a quick session on the River Swale near Thirsk looking for Pike and Perch. Unfortunately nothing seemed interested in my lured but it was nice to be out and doing something different.

Another Trip Out

 I was back on the rough ground to catch the last of the swell, fishing cart and squid baits on a pennel pulley rig.

Revelation

 When fishing with cart (a bait made from the insides or female edible crabs) I've found that once the cart thaws and washes out I've been left with very little hookbait for the fish to find. I've found that by using a whole small squid on the hook along with a block of frozen cart there is still plenty of bait left when the cart thaws and melts away. The down side of using a whole small squid is that the bait to be cast out is pretty large which as extra casting weight to the rod and the size of the bait creates a lot of resistance during flight.

I put the plan in to operation during a recent trip to the North Yorkshire coast an it paid off quite well.

Smells Like Cod Season

 There is always a particular smell or feel in the air when autumn arrives and autumn means cod, well it does to me anyway. I kicked off at Kettleness which is hard work getting own to and back up but always worth it. The sea was picking up and the surf was about 3 to 4 foot, first day of a new swell.

My aim this season is to try not to blank but its unavoidable at times. This session saw 4 coddling and a coalfish with the biggest about 2lb, not massive but it was nice to feel the thump of a good bite again. I fished a pulley rig over the rough ground baited with cart wings, squid and fresh mussel.

Summer Bass

 I had a trip out to the beach over the summer hoping for some Bass and flounders using up the last frozen peeler crab from my winter cod fishing. The sea was pretty flat when I arrived and wading out for my first cast I realised how clear the water was, what I didn't spot until later was just how much weed was in the water. 

I had changed my rigs from a general pulley rig to a fixed paternoster with a size 2/0 hook and baited it with peeler crab. First cast and I was in to a school Bass of around 1 1/2 to 2lb and I was picturing a good session. Then it started to rain.... and that was the only bite of the whole night!

PB Perch

I've out on the river with lures searching for pike and perch, great fun on light gear. I manage to inch up my personal best perch weight to 1lb 11oz on a small rubber shad with a light Cahira wire trace for safety.

Lighting

I recently bought a new head torch to replace an almost identical model I bought a few years ago. In actual fact I bought because they have detachable battery packs I can quickly swap the power supply over without leaving my position...usually perched on a rock or knee deep in water. The lamps are extremely bright, 1200 to 900 lumens depending on the power setting with a long battery life.
The only downside of this Cree type of lamp is that there is usually no warning when the battery is about to die. The design has been changed slightly since my first purchase and now I find the cable is slightly too short although will still fit in the front pocket of my chest waders.
I bought the items from Amazon, Comunite for £16.95 each.

Ebay Shads

With an eye on next summers saltwater lure fishing and also some pike and perch on the rivers I turned to Ebay for some inspiration. The smaller lure is (supposedly) a 12cm Spikey Rage shad and the the other a (supposedly)15cm Savage Gear Cannibal shad. 

I went for the white colour for fishing in dark peaty rivers and also for the coast at night. The Cannibal shad is quite heavy so I'm hoping I can bounce it over the weed without much extra weight.

Akios Airloop R10

I've been using my Airloop on the beach and on the rocks this winter, the increased casting distance means I can put a bait in to more productive areas. As the winter went on the reel started to lose some of its smoothness so I decided to give it a good lubricate... I seem to have misplaced some of the shims that sit under the spool and now it won't turn when the drag is tightened. PLUS I can't find a parts diagram for the reel.

Rapala X Brat

Rapala lure may not be cheap but when they look and behave like these do you can understand why.

Lures

I've just been looking at some Rapala lures for pike and bass, blimey they're expensive!

Odd Turn Up

I made the long climb down one of the local cliff paths on Tuesday hoping for some cod, there was a good sea running after a long flat spell over Christmas and I was hoping the fish would be on the feed. Colour in the water seems to be directly linked to how well the fish feed and unfortunately the water seemed quite clear.
I fished a cart, lugworm and mussel cocktail bait on a pulley rig into a wide channel in the reef and was eventually rewarded for my efforts with a coddling around 1 1/2lb. Not the biggest of the year but definitely better than a blank.

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!