70 THE KNOWLEDGE

All about the ballan wrasse.

Anative of the north-eastern Atlantic ranging from Norway to Morocco, including the islands of Madeira, the Azores and the Canaries, all ballan wrasse are female for their first four to 14 years before a few change into males. Large ballan wrasse are almost certainly male.

SPECIES

The only species to which ballan wrasse (Labrus bergylt) is similar in appearance and subsequently might be confused with is a corking wrasse, and even then it is only likely to be smaller specimens of under 1lb that might cause any confusion.

The colour of a ballan wrasse varies significantly from place to place, usually reflecting the type of habitat over which they are caught. Colours range from a vivid green to a heavily mottled burgundy, with a limitless range of hues in between.

The average size of ballan wrasse caught around the British Isles ranges from 1-4lb, but each year much bigger fish are caught. The current British boat-caught record for ballan wrasse stands at 9lb 7oz 12dr, which was a fish caught off Jersey in 1999.

Sadly, it has recently been discovered that wrasse can be used to clean sea lice from farmed salmon, and many are now being trapped and transported to Scotland for this purpose.

WHERE & WHEN

Ballan wrasse can be found at depths from one to 50 metres, typically among rocks, seaweed and reefs, and where such conditions exist, they are found the length and breadth of the British Isles.

A hugely popular species with shore anglers, ballan wrasse are mostly targeted afloat by anglers who are interested in species hunting. Wrasse are a species that suffers badly from the effects of barotrauma. Unless you are looking to catch fish for the table, it is best to concentrate on wrasse fishing in relatively shallow water, which minimises the effects of pressure change and, hopefully, allowing a high percentage of fish to be returned safely.

The best areas to target ballan wrasse in

the UK are throughout Devon and Cornwall, West Wales, Scotland, the rockier sections of the North East and, of course, the Channel Islands. The south and west coasts of Ireland have excellent wrasse fishing.

Wrasse can be caught year-round, but spring through until the autumn invariably provides the best fishing.

TACKLE

In many areas where ballan wrasse are found, the ideal outfit to target them would be a medium boat rod. Of course, it would be preferable to use lighter tackle that would allow the fish to show off their excellent sporting qualities, but in most situations, you need to use tackle with sufficient backbone to be able to forcibly pull these very strong fish clear of tackle-snagging structure.

RIG

Simple rigs are best for ballan wrasse.

If you are going to specifically target wrasse you are going to lose terminal tackle to snags, so not only are basic rigs the best choice from a financial perspective, with less clutter they are much less likely to get snagged in the first place.

Wrasse are not in any way selective or fussy, and if you present them with a bait they want to eat, they are going to eat it. A simple set of baited feathers or their modern equivalents will catch plenty of wrasse. If you prefer to tie rigs, then a straight-forward one or two-hook paternoster featuring short 6-8in snoods of 30-50lb monofilament terminating in a strong, short-shank size 2 to 1/0 hook such as the Sakuma 410 is productive. Avoid using longer hooklengths, as these increase the likelihood of a fish reaching cover and becoming snagged.

BAIT

Ballan wrasse can be caught on a wide selection of baits, but a crab is undoubtedly the most effective. Both peeler and hardback common shore crabs make a great bait, with many experts claiming hard backs produce the larger specimens.

Worm baits, such as ragworms and lugworms, catch plenty of fish, as will prawns and shellfish. Fish and squid baits will also catch wrasse, but from my experience, these are not nearly as effective as those baits already mentioned.

METHOD

The general method used when fishing for ballan wrasse is to fish on the drift. This ensures your bait covers more ground, and is effective when trying to locate isolated pockets of fish on large reefs.

It is important to ensure your bait is fishing very near to the bottom. Lower your rig slowly down until you feel the lead weight tap bottom, then reel in a foot or two of line to slightly raise it above the rocks or weed. Hold the rod and keep confirming your baits are working in the optimum strike zone, which is within 2-6ft off the bottom.

At the first indication of a bite, start to raise the rod tip very slowly, and at this point the fish will invariably grab the bait before immediately turning and diving for cover. As soon as you set the hook, start lifting the rod, simultaneously recovering as much line as you can in attempt at turning the fish away from the bottom, forcing it into open water.

Fishing for ballan wrasse afloat isn’t what you would call either technical or pretty, but it’s certainly lots of fun. ■