St Marys is a place I have fancied fishing for a while but have never made it up there for one reason or another. Well last night I made it. So armed with my lure rod and a bag of bits I headed onto the rocks and began chucking lures out along Crisps Gully to the left of the island. It was 7pm about 30mins up from low water. Two lads who were just coming off the gully said all they had caught was one small pollack so I wasn't too hopeful but carried on anyway. For the next hour I tried spinners, rubber sandeels, isomes fired in all directions and various speeds and depths of retrieve but nothing was biting. The water seemed to be quite shallow out in the middle so I decided to move around the island a bit.
Heading over the rocks I noticed a wide crack about five feet wide and fifteen feet deep with a good depth of very still water in it being around the bend from the breaking waves. I thought this might be worth a try for small wrasse species and dropped an isome into it on a 15g Carolina rig. Instantly there was movement and I could see shapes moving out from the crevices to check out my worm. I couldn't quite make out what they were but there were a few of them and after a few missed takes I managed to time my strike right and bang! Fish on. A nice shanny at 13cm. Straight back in with the isome and bang! Another one. Then third cast a small pollack or coley which fell off just as I lifted it out of the water so could not confirm which. So fifteen minutes or so of tiddler bashing and very good fun being able to watch the fish approaching the lure and checking it out before the take.
I moved over to a position on the north east of the island where the water looked deeper just as the sun was starting to set. I put on a 28g zenith and after only a couple of casts felt a good take and pulled in a nice Pollack 33cm which gave a great fight on the light rod. A few more casts and another good take which fought about half way then the came off. It was getting darker now so I changed to a luminous yellow Gulp sandeel and caught a small coley. Then as the light almost faded completely I called it a night and headed back up the causeway about 10pm.
So an enjoyable few hours on a new mark for me which I will definitely be trying again though maybe next time over high water and first light.
Heading over the rocks I noticed a wide crack about five feet wide and fifteen feet deep with a good depth of very still water in it being around the bend from the breaking waves. I thought this might be worth a try for small wrasse species and dropped an isome into it on a 15g Carolina rig. Instantly there was movement and I could see shapes moving out from the crevices to check out my worm. I couldn't quite make out what they were but there were a few of them and after a few missed takes I managed to time my strike right and bang! Fish on. A nice shanny at 13cm. Straight back in with the isome and bang! Another one. Then third cast a small pollack or coley which fell off just as I lifted it out of the water so could not confirm which. So fifteen minutes or so of tiddler bashing and very good fun being able to watch the fish approaching the lure and checking it out before the take.
I moved over to a position on the north east of the island where the water looked deeper just as the sun was starting to set. I put on a 28g zenith and after only a couple of casts felt a good take and pulled in a nice Pollack 33cm which gave a great fight on the light rod. A few more casts and another good take which fought about half way then the came off. It was getting darker now so I changed to a luminous yellow Gulp sandeel and caught a small coley. Then as the light almost faded completely I called it a night and headed back up the causeway about 10pm.
So an enjoyable few hours on a new mark for me which I will definitely be trying again though maybe next time over high water and first light.
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