Bloody Tourists!!

Well July is usually the month when the weather and fishing normally hots up a bit for me, and to an extent it did. Bob and I had some good trips out on our boat, with numbers of bass starting to get into double figures, but the sizes are still small. I keep telling myself its not all about catching....but it is hard to remember that when youre out every weekend and only catching school bass time and time again. But in all fairness we have been learning something everytime we go out, new lures, techniques and locations all add up to a good trip even if it is a bit demoralising.

We found a load of bass one afternoon in amoungst some jap weed, I mean there were dozens chasing the lures, I think I saw about 30 at one point all over my surface lure, and the bigger bass were below the crazy small ones that were attacking the Z-Claw. I think we hooked out about 10 before they were gone, all good fun and out first real peice of summer fun.

So then, the tourists. Knowing so many people that love their bass fishing, and all of them wanting to learn how to use the lures I sell them, I tend to get alot of visitors coming out on the boat with Bob and me. Now I love it, seeing them experiencing Jersey for all its beauty is great, even if the fishing is tough. But, I am getting fed up with visitors coming over here and showing me how to do it!! I am joking of course, I love it really, and to know they have come here an experienced some of out beautiful coastline and bass is just superb.

So here are a few of the boys we have had out recently.

Mike Kennard (Mr Daiwa 2009) came over a couple of week ago. Mike loves his Daiwa tackle, in fact he should be a rep for them as it was a Daiwa rod, reel and lure that secured him these beauties.

Ok the first one is the normal size of a pound or so that we have been getting...sound, it got him his first Jersey bass and we hadnt been out the harbour long.

Twenty minutes later he shows us it hasnt stopped yet!!

Another few minute later and he is starting to rub it in with his third!!

So, I am happy for Mike, he is happy, we are all happy (ish). The other guy out with us that day was Martin Hall from Newton Abbot, Martin is a great angler and like me was struggling to find some fish. We were transfixed on getting some bass on the Patchinko, as we were getting rises galour and the bass were all over our surface lures but just not taking them. So as we are hell bent on a surface catch we hear Mike behind us say "Oh yes, into another one!!" And was he into one? Oh yeah. He only goes and has a scrap and a half with this little beauty, which gave some stick on his Daiwa Tournement Bass. It ended up going 7lb 5oz, and a great trophy shot for him to finish off his Jersey trip nicely.

So that was one happy tourist. Martin had to wait a bit before he caught his first Jersey bass but he got one in the end.

We had a double hook-up, and yes, Mr Fish had the smallest again, but it was good fishing and good company, friends in fishing are great friends indeed.

Next up was David "Pikey" Edwards, the Pike angler that usually prefers hooking lovely Pike on a fly rod in the UK.

Here is Dave with his first ever bass, caught litterally ten minutes after leaving the harbour. He had this bright chatreuse "Bomber" with him and it looked perfect for the bright day that it was.

And Dave managed a nice 4lb'er, which did give him a great scrap for its size. So all in all its getting better, all I need to do now is catch some fish myself.

June was a tough month!

It certainly was a tough month, Bob and me tried all our tricks and we got results, but with the effort we put in we didn't score like we usually do. We had a great start to June with Nick Hewitt getting that superb 7lb'er but that was a one off. We have touched on catching ten bass on one session a couple of times, and to many of you, you will be thinking how can we be moaning, but believe me that is a lot of casts over some of the best looking bass grounds in the world. So what are the reasons? Well, the water has been unbelievably clear, and there seems to be a huge amount of small bass about this year. Last weekend I blanked on the Saturday and Bob managed one small bass of about a pound and a half. On the Sunday I hooked two bass out within minutes of each other, both on a Smith Saruna 110 Ayu, and both were about 2lb. We went about our business for about another hour and then we stumbled across a huge school of bass, I mean it was crazy, there must have been hundreds in the Jap weed below us. We soon started hooking them on surface plugs, Bob on a Zenith Z-Claw and me on a Xorus Patchinko. It was a frenzy for about twenty minutes and we both had about half a dozen out. Whilst retrieving one bass in a saw about thirty bass all around the one I had hooked, and there were some bigger ones below, up to about three and a half to four pound I suppose. Here is Bob holding up two of them on a "Boga" style grip.

And here they are heading back to their mates at top speed!

It has been the same story for most of the month, we will find a fish or two and then go maybe hours without seeing one and then hit half a dozen in half hour. Now we have been doing this type of fishing for many years now, and patterns are hard to find when the fish are so scarce, but this year with the clear water and abundance of sandeels in our fishing area I do think the fishing is about to explode for us....always the optimist eh!

We had our good friends from Ireland over a few weeks ago, Pat, Cian and Paul had a great time, once again the fishing was tough but we did manage to find a few. Pat reminded me of the magnificence of the Zenith Z-Claw surface lure. It is a lure that I used to love and do very well on, and I not only never use it these days I only had a couple left in my shop for sale!! Dam you Mr Gallagher, an order went in yesterday for 120 of them!! See how no matterhow much a tackle dealer you are you can still be influenced by seeing a few fish caught on a lure!!

Here are some of the exploits the Irish boys got up to that weekend.

From left to right Cian, Nelson and Paul

Pat had about half a dozen small bass over the two days, here is his first Jersey bass caught on a Megabass Zonk.

He also had a first over here, a Wrasse on a hear plastic

And he had a few beauties on the soft plastics

And to show us how its done he only goes and whops out a monster Pollack on a Xorus Rolling Shad. It really went well too, I was convinced it was a Wrasse. Look at its tail, I think a seal or Conger had had a bite out of it at some stage!

I managed to winkle out a few fish that weekend too, here was my best effort

So over the last month we have learnt a few tricks and found some new places and states of tide to fish them, all we need now is some decent bass to tun up and we will be away!

Here are some of the fish we have had in June anyway, Bob with a nice one on a Tackle House Feed Shallow

And another for Bob on Hart Absolut Worm

I have managed about twenty bass in June I suppose, this was a spritely one on a Saruna again

Well roll on July I say, lots to do and lots of fishing. My new webite will be ready very soon, and this blog will be intwinded in it, which means I will be reviewing lures and tackle more and videoing lures swimming etc. I cant wait, I have decided to have some lures on my site that are the modern classics and in my favourite colours, and from time to time, like each month or so, I will get a few different lures and colurs in just as one hits of just a few dozen, and see how people get on, that way there should always be something new on the site to play with.

A nice day out

I had a phone call during the week from a chap called Nick Hewitt, he was wondering if there were any bass guides on boats in Jersey. I told him that there wasn't and said he is free to join Bob and me for a days plugging if we go. So, Saturday comes, we meet Nick at the shop and head down the harbour to launch the boat. The conditions were lovely, slightly overcast and there was a chance of a bit of rain or thunder, just how I like it to be honest.

I phoned Nelson to see where the boys were, they were down the east and had had 6 bass already, not bad, and it made me want to shoot straight down there. But, knowing the best of the dropping tide had gone I knew of a couple of spots on the way that fish quite well over the low tide so decided to try there first.

Nick then informs me he had never caught a bass before! So the pressure was on to catch him his first. About one minute later he only goes and hooks into a screamer of a bass, it ran and dived and head shook all it could. After a fairly long scrap it rose to the net, and bleeding alot from the gill area I was afraid it would not survive, but luckily it did.

We unhooked it, took some pictures and had a quick debate on whether we thought it would survive or not. I washed it in the sea for the photos and it seemed to stop bleeding straight away, so the decission was made to return this beautiful fish as quickly as possible. Fair play to Nick, he totally wanted to bass to go back too and was happy to see this fine specimen returned.

We guessed the fish to be 7lb and quickly returned it, there is no feeling like watching a beautiful bass swimming back.

We moved on and Nick manages his second bass! This is becoming the normal for Bob and me, we take guys out and they show us how to do it. A little while after that I managed my first one of the trip and shortly after that we met up with Nelson and Neil and we all crept about the shallow waters searching for some more silver bars. The water was gin clear,we could see the bottom very clearly even in 20ft of water. This does make finding the fish harder, especially over the slack water period. A few drifts down some gullies and I wasnt happy, the ground was perfect if the water had been a little deeper, a little faster and a little less clear.

So with a feeling that it wasnt going to get much better and the risk of a huge down pour of rain I decided to start heading back to the harbour and try a few places on the way back. First area I saw looked much better, the tide was a bit stronger and there was weed over rocks below us in about 10 to 15 ft of water, and the tide was flowing towards a band of rocks that were breaking up the flow.

First cast and Bob hooks a fish and as I was filming it Nick hooks one too. At last, a shoal of fish, and Neil and Nelson were just behind us, they straight away started hooking fish too. Here is Bobs first of the day, and his first on the Tackle House Feed Shallow 105, a great little lure that casts like a bullet and is very easy to work as all you need is a steady retrieve.

Here are a couple of Neils, a very proud man with his new Megabass rod, and of course his beloved Megabass Vision 110's, he really is a walking Megabass catalogue!

I think Neil ended up with four or five bass for the day, which is great really for the water we were fishing, really shallow and really clear.

So we ended up with nine or ten bass, a big mackerel and a few pollack, not a bad day at all. I think boys had about the same. Happy days indeed.

Xorus Patchinko

It is my favourite surface lure of all time, the Patchinko is simply a work of art when it comes to catching bass in most top water situations. It casts further and more accurately than any other lure of its size and practically works itself.

The Patchinko is a walk the dog style lure, that is a zig zag motion along the surface. This is achieved by jerking the rod to make it zig, then jerking the rod to make it zag, and all the time winding the reel. The action is made easier by the under slung connection on the head, this keeps the head up in the water and the bulbus back end of the lure, which is where the weight chamber is, makes it rear heavy and gives it true and accurate casting.

I use the Patchinko is most sea conditions, from flat milky calm, to really rough and choppy. It casts extremely well into the wind and very rarely tangles. In calm water I tend to use the lure with much more subtle actions, almost a long slide method, where you leave a second or two gap between each jerk to allow the lure to slide a bit further on each zig and zag.

In choppy water I jerk the rod quite quickly to make the lure spit water a bit like a popper, just try and make a little more commotion than the sea is. Be quite violet with it but stillnot too fast, as I find although you will catch fish even at fairly fast retrieves, you will find bigger fish with a slower retreive.

Don't forget the rod should be twitched with the wrist, not the whole arm. You make the butt of the rod bang between your ribs and fore arm. This is made much easier with fast actioned rods, and although you can use most types of spinning rod for surface work, you will tire, and will not get the best action from the lure.

Here is a video of Bob working his favourite yellow Patchinko

Here are some results of the Patchinko over the last couple of years,

The Cabot

Andy Stonehouse loves Patchinkos too!!

Bob and his beloved yellow

Me with a 7lb 12oz, I was actually not even winding the lure when the fish took it

There is no feeling like taking a bass off the surface, it truely is breathtaking and something that every angler should experience.

Still quite tough out there!

So I havnt been writing the blog much, but that doesnt mean I havnt been trying to catch fish, its just still quite tough out there. I have had a few bass, last weekend I managed six to 4lb 3oz, but to be honest I was lucky as Bob,Nelson and Neil did struggle to get one or two each.

I managed yet another decent wrasse on an Xlayer Ayu, this one didnt half scrap well as I was in fairly shallow water and had cast up between two heads and I was twitching the Xlayer back along the sand between the heads trying for a bass possibly hiding under the kelp hanging off them.

The Xlayers mounted on Xorus/Decoy heads just work a treat and we have had a few bass on wrasse on them now.

Here is that wrasse, I could catch these hard fighters alldaylong on light gear they are simple amazing fighters and pound for pound there are not many as good a fighters in our waters.

My Super Mix 240 is becoming my favourite rod ever,this little thing is impressing memore and more. Its softer tip just has so much feel in it, I am starting to be able to feel the bottom and tellthe difference between pollack,bass and wrasse that are nibbling at my soft plastics, its amazing how delicate some fish mouth bait and how other dont give you a second thought and just simply smash into your softy.

Here are some other fish that the boys have been getting recently, like I say its been hard but we dont give up easy.

He has well and truely christened his new Megabass rod with some great bass.

And Doug went out with Nelson last week and had some great fun with the wrasse and Doug even managed a cracking bass on a plug,5lb 12oz and that puts Doug in the lead at the moment in the Sinkers boat lure caught bass trophy.

My best Wrasse to date on a softy

Went out again today (you cant knock me for trying) and fished Jerseys south and west coast with my friend Paul Butel. We really did cover some ground and tried many different lures. Well after about 8 hours of plugging and vertical softy jigging we managed a few Pollack, Wrasse and Paul had a cracking Garfish of well over a pound.

So here is my PB Wrasse on a softy, I have had them to over 6lb on bait, but on a Tenryu Super Mix 240, a 50g Xorus Meastro jighead and 8" Madness Mother Worm in 50ft of water, this fish fought like a pitbull terrier all the way to the boat. Awesome.

Xlayer Ayu, fast becoming my favourite colour...

Popped out for an hour today and on my third cast had this nice 4lb 6oz. I was using a Megabass Xlayer Giant Ayu with a standard 3/0 leadhead. I am getting more confident with my soft plastics now, I am begining to feel the bottom as the lure touches it. Its a strange method to master (if you ever can!) but it is something new for me and its always good to have some other options when out there.

I had one on friday morning too, a bit smaller, about 3lb, that was on a Megabass Xlayer Original in Ayu.

And my mate Alex from London was over for the weekend on his stag party. He managed to wiggle out a bass on a Megabass Xlayer in White, a nice little scrapperof about 2lb which made the groom to be very happy.

These Xlayers are starting to do some damage, and on my new Tenryu Super Mix 240 they went very well indeed. The softer tip of the Super Mix is lovely when its bent double and the power in the butt section is amazing for stopping and turning the bass in their tracks.

I am looking forward to hooking a monster on it, in fact I cant wait to see what this little rod does in such a situation.
And Nelson was happy, his ship was in the harbour so he went aboard to check if all was ship shape.....