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Some visiting anglers to our caravan park had kindly donated some nice lugworm to me when they left so it seemed only right to put them to good use. What I had in mind was a wrasse bash on one of the Mull of Galloway marks.
I had not actually fished for wrasse this year myself but I had on three occasions taken youngsters out fishing for them. I was just coach on these trips so I needed balance things up. I drove over to as near to the mark as I could get and that left me a yomp of about a mile. On reaching the sea and much to my dismay I seen that the farmer had erected a new electric fence.
Now it is rumoured that a lot of the farmers simply just wire their fences into the mains electricity supply. Having had a few belts off them over the years I quite believe it. Once whilst walking to another mark I got chased by a bull in the field,I vaulted the fence as best I could and got a belt off it and landed face first into a cow pat. Looking back at it I can laugh now !!!!
Anyway I managed to "limbo" two of the fences without incident and eventually reach my fishing mark. On fishing trips I normally tale a compact digital camera with me but because the caravan had appeared to have "eaten it" I took an SLR with me. Because of this I did not want to take the camera anywhere near the waters edge so set up a few yards from the sea.
I had arrived two hours before high water and intended to make it a 3 hour session. I rigged up a sliding float and set the stop knot (elastic band) to about 12 feet and tied on a 2/0 baitholder hook. I could have went for a smaller hook and caught more wrasse but I did not want to catch tiddlers on this occasion. If I had been coaching youngsters I would have opted for a smaller hook initially though.
I started off by fishing just a couple of feet out any adjusting the stop till the bait was just off the bottom. It took about 20 minutes before I got a bite which I duly missed. I also missed the next two bites before finally hooking into a decent wrasse. As usual on a light spinning rod it gave me a good scrap before I let a wave lift it onto the rock ledge beside me. I then took it back up to where I had left the camera,took a quick photo and then carefully unhooked and released it.
It then took me about another 20 minutes before I hooked into my second wrasse which was slightly bigger than the first. I also then carried this one up to be photographed. They are bonny fish and the colour variations never ceases to amaze me.
After this I managed to get two more wrasse which were bigger again but these I simply released at the waters edge and did not bother with the camera. Well I had caught my target fish so now I changed tactics and tied on a lure,hoping to catch a pollack or two. After a couple casts I had a take and reeled in a mackerel. Now there is nothing better than fresh mackerel strip float fished for pollack so I rigged up the sliding float again. I had no sooner cast out when the float shot under and I hooked into - another mackerel !!!!!!!!!! This I also kept for bait.
Eventually on high water the pollack came onto the feed and I managed to catch 4 to about 3lb. The first,and smallest,I photographed,the rest I unhooked at the waters edge.
Well it had been a decent 3 hour session - 4 wrasse,4 pollack and two mackerel. Nothing really big but most enjoyable. I called it a day at this point and headed back to the car a happy chappie. I even managed to negociate the electric fences again without getting a shock.
John
I had not actually fished for wrasse this year myself but I had on three occasions taken youngsters out fishing for them. I was just coach on these trips so I needed balance things up. I drove over to as near to the mark as I could get and that left me a yomp of about a mile. On reaching the sea and much to my dismay I seen that the farmer had erected a new electric fence.
Now it is rumoured that a lot of the farmers simply just wire their fences into the mains electricity supply. Having had a few belts off them over the years I quite believe it. Once whilst walking to another mark I got chased by a bull in the field,I vaulted the fence as best I could and got a belt off it and landed face first into a cow pat. Looking back at it I can laugh now !!!!
Anyway I managed to "limbo" two of the fences without incident and eventually reach my fishing mark. On fishing trips I normally tale a compact digital camera with me but because the caravan had appeared to have "eaten it" I took an SLR with me. Because of this I did not want to take the camera anywhere near the waters edge so set up a few yards from the sea.
I had arrived two hours before high water and intended to make it a 3 hour session. I rigged up a sliding float and set the stop knot (elastic band) to about 12 feet and tied on a 2/0 baitholder hook. I could have went for a smaller hook and caught more wrasse but I did not want to catch tiddlers on this occasion. If I had been coaching youngsters I would have opted for a smaller hook initially though.
I started off by fishing just a couple of feet out any adjusting the stop till the bait was just off the bottom. It took about 20 minutes before I got a bite which I duly missed. I also missed the next two bites before finally hooking into a decent wrasse. As usual on a light spinning rod it gave me a good scrap before I let a wave lift it onto the rock ledge beside me. I then took it back up to where I had left the camera,took a quick photo and then carefully unhooked and released it.
It then took me about another 20 minutes before I hooked into my second wrasse which was slightly bigger than the first. I also then carried this one up to be photographed. They are bonny fish and the colour variations never ceases to amaze me.
After this I managed to get two more wrasse which were bigger again but these I simply released at the waters edge and did not bother with the camera. Well I had caught my target fish so now I changed tactics and tied on a lure,hoping to catch a pollack or two. After a couple casts I had a take and reeled in a mackerel. Now there is nothing better than fresh mackerel strip float fished for pollack so I rigged up the sliding float again. I had no sooner cast out when the float shot under and I hooked into - another mackerel !!!!!!!!!! This I also kept for bait.
Eventually on high water the pollack came onto the feed and I managed to catch 4 to about 3lb. The first,and smallest,I photographed,the rest I unhooked at the waters edge.
Well it had been a decent 3 hour session - 4 wrasse,4 pollack and two mackerel. Nothing really big but most enjoyable. I called it a day at this point and headed back to the car a happy chappie. I even managed to negociate the electric fences again without getting a shock.
John
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