Merry Christmas!!!

A very quick post to say Happy Christmas to all the readers and followers of this blog. I hope
you all have a great time over this festive period.

Tight lines

Jay

A trip to the aquarium

I havent done a whole lot of fishing lately mainly due to the weather
and other commitments.
I did however get to spend a fews days over in the west with my
girlfriend and get to visit the ''Galway Atlantiquaria'' a fantastic
aquarium with lots of the different species that are found around the coast of
Ireland two of the species I was very interested in seeing were the European
Seabass and the Ballan Wrasse both of which I really enjoy lure angling for
but never really get a chance to see them actually swimming around.
So I made a few videos of both of these and some other species that I saw
which I hope you enjoy.
The videos dont do justice to the size of the Seabass at all almost all of which
were double figure fish with the biggest almost 18lb.

The Ballan Wrasse there were up to 9lb I could see them but not get a decent shot of
them so I just made a couple of videos of those that were closer which were still good
size fish from 2lb to around 5lb one thing I noticed was just
how terrotorial they were with each fish having its own section.....

Also some cool looking Trigger Fish well over 4lb weight....

I hoped you enjoyed those few short litttle videos. If any of you are ever in the west of
Ireland with some spare time a trip to the aquarium is worth if only to see the Seabass


Tight lines

Jay

A Dab Hand.....

I got out today and headed up to a pier a couple of hours
from where I live. I had heard there was whiting and herring
going with a possibility of a dab.

I arrived at the mark and rigged up a new rig that I hadnt used before
but had been shown by my mate David and he had been having some success
with dab and other bottom living species anyway more about that another time.

So I fished on and began to get small taps with the lure and then when I retrieved
the lure was gone so what began as a size 6 hook eventually ended up all the way
down to size 14 and started to turn up some fish

My first ever lure caught dab I was delighted this one had a small chunk out of its side. A coulpe of pics
and back it went I recast and the lure had no sooner hit the bottom and I was in again.

Another dab happy days it continued like this for another while with another 8 or 9 small dabs all falling
to the lure. The wind then picked up and I got pushed off the pier so I decided to try the inside of the
harbour but surprisingly I didnt pick up one fish for the 2 hours or so fishing. The wind had died off and I
decided to head back out to the pier again where the fishing was much better but by now the tide was
really flowing hard out of the harbour. I decided to try for some more Dab and still continue my search for a whiting and or herring....

It wasnt long until I felt a small tap tap and sure enough another dab followed by another few fish all the dab were small

I was really thrilled with the way the day went overall and to top it off I managed to sneak out a lone
whiting

Mission accomplished both my intended targets were caught although i cut it close with the whiting
I thoroughly enjoyed my day and to get 19 dab in total was just fantastic.

I hope you enjoyed the read

Tight lines

Jay

A few photos from my lasts days lrf.....

I met up with my mate David once again the plan this time was to fish up to and into darkness to
see if I could possibly winkle out a Rockling but unfortunately it wasnt to be.

I fished various rigs dropshot, texas and standard jighead but i'm finding lately the dropshot is a fantastic
but sometimes overlooked rig. I know I for one favoured texas rigging lures over it for a long while but its
quickly becoming my go to rig

A nice variety of fish and I was happy enough with the session even if I didnt manage my intended
target. I really cant get over the teeth on the goldsinney wrasse such a vicious set for such a small
fish, I wouldnt fancy being it intended target....

On another note I recently had been on the hunt for some flourocrbon to fish straight through as
opposed to braid and after much deliberation I picked up some
Sunline super FC sniper in 4lb that is 0.165mm in diameter perfect for what I want not so thin so
it will ping off rocks straight away but still thin enough to allow it to be nice and supple

I'll be sure to write up my thoughts on this line in the coming months

Thats all for now I hoped you enjoyed the read and pics.

Tight lines,

Jay

The times they are a changing.....

I decide to take another trip up my mate David last Saturday since things
had clearly started to slow down this way I wanted to see what the fishing
was like up with him after my last trip up a few weeks ago the weather had
changed alot and the cold has really set in coupled with a big drop in air
pressure of late fishing conditions have been less than perfect

I arrived up in the morning and we decided to try the local pier for a bit
David picked up a poorcod but apart from that the water was very coloured
and the fishing was poor

We went back to his place then and David decided he was going to try for conger and
I would continue fishing lrf.

We headed back out a few hours later and I began to fish a dropshotted red gulp sandworm
and was almost straight away into a little rock goby

I continued fishing this way picking up a few little poorcod but not much else

David met up with his mate and headed off a little bit up from me to try for Conger but I'll let you read about
that on his blog ...  East Coast Fishing

I continued fishing dropshot trying various lures but the fishing had gone really quiet which I put down to a big seal which was patrolling the water about 10 yards out from me.

As soon as the seal went I stuck on a gulp sandworm again on a dropshot rig but this time in the natural colour and managed a lovely long spined sea scorpion

I continued along the edge and got the unmistakeable tap of a wrasse which I missed reeled in and bang another much more solid hit and fish on ...

a lovely goldsinney wrasse a welcome surprise on a very cold and slow day. I recast a few yards up and got another few small taps from some tiny fish which turned out to be poorcod

I kept fishing and the poorcod kept coming they were fast becoming a staple at this mark but all were around
the size of the one above

Another nice goldsinney showed it face a few minutes later

which was followed in another few casts by a nice rock goby

A few casts later and I got another really solid thump which I knew was a wrasse but failed to connnect
so I left the lure and gave a few twitches and smack fish on!!

I knew straight away this was a much better fish than any of the previous fish of the day
and after a few good runs and dives much too my surprise up popped this lovely ballan wrasse
of just over 1lb weight

A very nice surprise and very unexpected.

I finished the days fishing with some more poorcod and another little rock goby

and that was that time to head home.

What I noticed from the days fishing that much the same as home the fishing has slowed considerably in the
past few weeks and judging by the distance between myself and David with him being further north than myself I guess the winter change has began in earnest all round...

Right well thanks for reading

Tight lines

Jay

First impressions.....

I had been toying with the idea of getting a new light/medium rod for quite some time.
While I am more than happy with the solpara which is an outstanding rod for the price
and has never let me down the only thing was its range which is 0.5-5g and recently I found myself
wanting something capable of 6g or sometimes 8g.

So I set about looking at what was out there in midrange rods and there is quite alot with more
appearing online and in various shops almost weekly.
After a bit of looking and picking a few brains I eventually settled on a Graphiteleader Tiro GOTS762L
1-12g

I contacted Cian in Absolute Fishing and he said that it would be no problem to get me the rod and after a
week or so I had my new rod.

My first impressions of the rod are very good it has a very high quality of finish coupled with what appeared to be a very nice blank.

I couldnt wait to get out and fish with it but unfortunately I had to wait until the next day.

So I decided to go and try for some wrasse and I arrived at the mark glorious sunshine and blue skies
I rigged up a 2g cone with a size4 weedless hook texas style and began to search the various gullies around
and it wasnt long before i was into my first wrasse of the session

A lively little ballan of about a pound it put a nice bend in the rod which handled it no problem.

I continued searching and found several more ballans all around the 1 pound mark but bites were
obviously not as plentiful as they had been in recent weeks.

I went back to trying to find a better stamp of wrasse but the pollock had come on the feed and
it was almost impossible to get to the bottom without getting struck by a fish on the way down even
with heavier weights the speed of the drop still didnt deter them

Average sized fish for the gullies in this area annoying when I wanted a wrasse but a welcome change all
the same

I fished a much deeper gully and felt a tap and missed the fish then recast and in the same place another
much more solid tap and zing there goes the drag on the caldia a much better fish and a definite wrasse
after a couple of good runs and a bit of prising from the kelp. I eventually surfaced a lovely ballan of just
under 3lb

A very nice fish with plenty of spirit which put a good bend in the Tiro but again I never once felt in any danger of loosing the fish.

My initial thoughts of the rod are that it has a superb through action which cushions the line much
better than any other rod I've used meaning that I can give the fish a little bit more stick than I was
previously able. The finish as I have already said is superb. It's bite transmission is awesome with the
slightest tap registering as a shock throughout the length of the blank something that I think will come in handy in the coming months when fish tend to be a little bit more subdued.

I'm really looking forward to fishing with this rod alot more in the future and a big thanks to Cian in Absolute Fishing for getting the rod for me and to John at Lure Heaven for his advice and help in choosing the rod.


I hope you enjoyed the read,

Tight Lines,

Jay