CHILLS & THRILLS
It may be tough out there right now, but keep it simple and fish smaller to carry on catching
How to keep catching LRF style.
Scattered showers and a blustery south-west wind greeted me as I made my way down to the harbour. For once, though, the winds had been calm for two or three days and I was at least confident of being able to work the lures without having to worry too much about the elements.
Because of this, I had decided to simplify my approach. It can be easy to chop and change through various lures in the hope of getting a bite.
With the water temperature at about 6°C, it was as cold as it was going to get. This time of the year coincides with the hardest fishing. However, by fishing smaller and by simplifying things, you can keep catching.
It’s a time when I used my smallest lures, not because I am just targeting mini species, although the small approach helps, but because, generally, all the surrounding prey items are small too. There is no glut of baitfish to mimic as in the summer. So, the clever little metal jigs were left at home along with the tube tip LRF rod.
Instead, I opted for a solid-tipped rod and my approach would be entirely soft lure based. The solid-tipped rod gives me a great visual indication of when I get a bite, as well as allowing a fish to suck in a delicately presented lure with minimum resistance from the rod.
I tend to favour lures under two inches at this time of year, lures of around an inch mounted on a corresponding jighead being very effective. When using wormtype lures, I chop down Isome and Gulp! sandworm using a two-inch tail section and mount either on a dropshot rig or jig-head.
Recently, I’ve been using some Japanese
Gulp! Isome, which is thinner than standard Gulp! sandworm and much softer. This softness makes the lures really wriggle with the tiniest of rod twitches and imitates the small harbour ragworms that lurk in the mud and silt all around my local Scottish east coast harbours.
My approach to the session was to simply take some leader, hooks, split shot, luminous beads, dropshot weights and a small tub of Japanese Gulp! sandworm. This minimal approach gave me a couple of different rigging options.
SIMPLE AND EFFICIENT
The water, although clear, had an angry slate grey tinge that I associate with the coldest part of the year and the least fishy conditions. I was braced for another gruelling session, but I was determined for it not to be fishless.
Fish can be widely dispersed around the harbour in winter, with previous early-winter hotspots being thoroughly barren. It was necessary to cover lots of ground to find them.
My dropshot rig consisted of a 7g weight and a size 8 hook with a luminous bead above it, which gives me a bait shield effect and helps keep the Isome on the hook. It also helps me visually keep track of the lure as it is worked along the seabed in the clear water.
My prime targets were flatfish, although it was still a bit early for them in the harbours. I was also hopeful of catching scorpion fish. To cover as much ground as possible, I cast as far as I could and very slowly retrieved the lure with little jerks and pauses, all the time keeping the weight trundling along the bottom. In a calm harbour the noise of the weight dragging along the bottom will help to attract fish.
If this retrieve didn’t result in a bite or an indication of fish, then the next cast would be a couple of feet to the side of the last cast. This way I ended up casting in a 180° arc. If no bites are forthcoming, I move and repeat the process. Fishing this way is a very quick and efficient way of covering as much of the area as you possibly can.
After about 45 minutes of fishing I had worked my way around the harbour. There were no bites or signs of fish, so I switched tactics to cover the marginal weed fringes. Here my thoughts turned to scorpion fish, as they can often be found lurking in this habitat during the winter.
I shortened the length of line between the hook and weight until it was about six inches from the bottom. I simply dropped the lure a rodlength out from the wall and worked it vertically under the rod tip by gently twitching the lure without lifting the weight off the seabed.
Again, I used a systematic approach and bounced the lure alongside the full length of the wall by taking a step and allowing the lure to reposition under the rod tip, before giving a few twitches then repeating.
I had probably gone only a few feet before I felt a small tap and saw my rod tip bob down. A flick of the wrist set the hook and a small long-spined scorpion was captured. I never tire of catching them. A few more metres of wall were worked in this fashion, and this time a brute of a long-spined scorpion seized the lure. It was such a ferocious bite that I thought it could be a flounder - it was certainly up there for specimen size.
The tide had started to ebb, so I turned my attention away from the walls and started to cover the open muddy seabed. I swapped back to my original technique now that the tide was running, which produced some good-sized coalfish. The coalies moved randomly around the harbour, appearing and disappearing after one or two bites.
By staying mobile during the ebb and searching the seabed with a dropshot rig, many of the bites were occurring where there was tide flow.
GO WITH THE FLOW
Subtle features proved to be the hotspots. For instance, as the tide ebbed, a small current formed around the angles of the wall, creating back eddies. Any suspended food items got washed into these and the fish were hunting in these tiny areas. As the ebb increased, the fish became concentrated towards the harbour mouth, where they intercepted any food items being washed out the harbour.
The best technique was to go with the flow, simply casting uptide and allowing the weight to trundle back at the same speed as the flow. When the lure was worked against the tide, bites were less forthcoming. When working back with the flow, most of the bites were very subtle, sometimes just a tiny tap as the fish sucked in the lure. However, the soft tip of the rod would arc down and give me an indication of when to strike. As the tide fell the bites dried up. It was a satisfying session, especially after a couple of blanks.
What really helped turn it into a good session was moving and staying mobile. A systematic searching of the area paid off, rather than concentrating on known areas and waiting for the fish. By keeping the techniques as simple as possible, I was able to cover lots of ground and find the fish.
Using the current to my advantage was also a big factor. Finding these areas of current and using them to gently work the lures to the fish was deadly. It gave me some great sport on a late winter’s day, and as we arrive in early spring we can look forward to more of the same, except with more flatfish. ■